Roza Sarkisian - Theatre Director and Curator
Roza Sarkisian is a theatre director and curator. She holds degrees in Theatre Directing from the National University of Arts named after I. P. Kotlyarevsky in Kharkiv (2012) and in Political Sociology from V. N. Karazin National University in Kharkiv (2009). From 2014 to 2017, she served as the artistic director of Kharkiv’s independent theatre DeFacto. From 2017 to 2019, Roza was the principal theatre director at the First Ukrainian Academic Theatre for Children and Youth in Lviv, and during the same period, she also worked as a theatre director at the National Academic Drama and Musical Theatre in Ivano-Frankivsk.
Notable Works
Her notable works include:
- My Granddad was digging, My Dad was digging and I will not (a Ukrainian-Polish coproduction, co-directed with Agnieszka Błońska, 2016)
- The Great Filter Theory (Theatre of Contemporary Dialogue, Poltava, 2017)
- Psychosis (Actor’s Theatre in Kyiv, 2018)
- Wonderful, Wonderful, Wonderful Times (First Theatre in Lviv, 2018)
- Macbeth (Lesya Ukrainka Academic Drama Theatre in Lviv, 2019)
- H-effect (a Ukrainian-Polish-German coproduction, NGO "Art-Dialog", 2020)
- Radio Mariia by Joanna Wichowska and Krysia Bednarek (Powszechny Theatre in Warsaw, 2022)
- Ship. Bridge. Body (a coproduction of the Theatre of Playwrights in Kyiv, Schaubühne Lindenfels in Leipzig, and Festspielhaus Hellerau, Dresden, 2023)
- Fucking Truffaut (a coproduction with Reszka Foundation, Dramatic Theatre in Warsaw, and Gorki Theater in Berlin, 2023)
Artistic Focus
Her productions focus on themes of collective and individual memory, national identity, non-normativity, power, and social oppression. She combines radical imagination with queer art strategies, often using devised theatre techniques, personal stories, and elements of (post-)documentary theatre and autoethnography to connect personal experiences with broader social contexts and explore the boundaries between reality and fiction. Working with both professional and non-professional actors, she rethinks conventional aesthetics, introduces new ways of thinking, and creates space for alternative narratives.
Awards and Recognition
Roza has been recognized with several prestigious accolades, including:
- British Council Ukraine’s Taking the Stage 2017 competition
- Gaude Polonia Scholarship from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland (2017)
- International Mobility Grants through Culture Bridges
- Ukrainian Cultural Foundation Scholarship
- Culture Moves Europe
- Artistic Scholarship of the President of Ukraine for 2019/2020
- Warsaw City Artistic Scholarship (2023)
- "Personality of the Year 2018" in the Theatre category in Lviv
Artistic Projects and Curated Works
In addition to her theatre work, Roza has initiated and curated various artistic and educational projects for young people and children, including:
- Desant UA: Independent Ukrainian Theatres Review (2017, Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute, Warsaw)
- Drama Teen Lab (2019, Lviv)
- Young Directors for Children (2018, Lviv)
- Voices of the Neighborhood (2019, Lviv)
- Documentary Theatre for Children Evacuated from near Kyiv (2022/2023, Kahl-am-Main, Germany)
- Korczak Festival: Focus on Ukraine (2022, Warsaw)
- Film and Theatre Workshops (2022, Warsaw)
Roza has led numerous workshops for teenagers and has created performances featuring young non-professional actors and people with disabilities.