YANA TUMINA

Sonya Dimshits

Yana Tumina is a director, Associate Professor of the Department of Acting and Directing of Puppet Theatre at RGISI, winner of the Russian National Theatre Award THE GOLDEN MASK (2017, Kolya’s Composition). For over than 15 years she has been an actress, co-author, and director of AKHE Russian Engineering Theatre. In 2009 Yana started working as an independent director. She is a dynamic teacher, delivering workshops in Russia and abroad. One of the few directors-puppeteers who is working in the direction of “social theatre” today, combining it with the experimental spirit of her creative searches and continuing to elaborate the poetic, imaginative nature of the language of puppet theatre and the theatre of objects.

This experience includes the production I Am Basho, an inclusive project of Uppsala-Circus which features children with particularities in development. We discussed with Yana the nature of social theatre, the differences between professionals and amateurs, the aspects of teaching, and, of course, her plans for the future.