Welcome
Dear friend,The Theater of Changes (ToC) was founded in 1998 by Vilia Hatzopoulou, Thodoris Atheridis and myself (Evdokimos Tsolakidis).
I feel the need to make a short account of the work that has been done so far and set certain goals for the future.
ToC gives you the opportunity to study acting by you selecting the teacher whose method will bring you closer to achieving your goal of becoming an actor.
This system has already been a novelty amongst the existing working systems applied in Greece and it is satisfying enough that other drama schools have now applied a similar system.
ToC’s flexibility regarding its academic curriculum, joined – maybe for the first time – professionals and amateurs of the acting world who realized, after overcoming the first traces of awkwardness, that there is no real division between them. Yesterday’s amateur may become tomorrow’s excellent professional through hard work. In all cases, the issue – as far as their training is concerned – is for both the same: the role and performing it at its best.
ToC gave the opportunity to actors and actresses that have studied in other drama schools, in the past, to continue with their training and keep themselves updated with new methods and techniques concerning their profession. Many of ToC’s acting students take part in theatrical, movie and television productions.
ToC’s students realize from the very first lesson that becoming a good actor requires hard work, very hard work, in fact. However, students learn that they must decide themselves when they feel ready to start their career and not transfer this responsibility to someone else to do so on their behalf. Sometimes, this may lead to someone overestimating their abilities but other times acting students decide soon enough to take matters into their own hands. In this regard, we are proud to witness many of ToC’s graduates participating in theater groups all over the country.
Our students follow ToC’s ethos, which is based on hard work. Those students who have shown integrity, consistency and discipline have been awarded with scholarships and participation in international festivals, as well as free attendance at seminars given by some of the most important theater professionals.
Amongst our primary goals is our cooperation with other corresponding theater organizations, contacts that will bring us closer to new cultures and techniques. For this reason every July, ToC organizes the International Festival of Making Theater (In.F.o.Ma.T.)
Another of our goals is the encouragement of our students to participate in as many Acting Groups as possible. Students make up a group, select a piece to work on (it may be a theatrical play or even an idea), rehearse it and finally present the outcome of this work at the Acting Groups’ Festival which takes place at the Theater of Changes every September.
Last but not least ToC aims at offering its students a consistently better level of knowledge within a pleasant and creative environment.
Finally, I want to seize this opportunity to thank all students who have chosen ToC for their training during all these years.
Evdokimos Tsolakidis
Artistic Director