Evdokimos Tsolakidis, Greece 2025
He was born in Thessaloniki in 1962. He studied at the Medical School of the University of Rome. He was awarded his BFA degree of the Drama School of the National Theatre of Northern Greece with honours. He continued his studies in drama, acting and directing in New York City (H.B. Studio) funded by the U.S.A. Government (Fulbright Foundation). While in NYC he attended classes as an auditor at the Actors Studio. In 2013 he graduated from the Greek Open University BA (Humanitarian Studies, European Culture). In 2016 he got his Master degree from the Open University of Cyprus MA (Theatre Studies: Acting-Directing).
He has worked as an actor in many troupes, took part in film and television productions and directed plays in Greece and abroad. He is the founder and the Artistic Director of Theatre of Changes (http://www.toc.gr, founded in 1998) where he directs plays and teaches to this day.
He has taught in many acting schools and drama departments of universities as well as in different parts of Greece. Every year since 2005, he organizes ''In.Fo.Ma.T.''(International Festival of Making Theatre), an international meeting of theatre makers from around the world. He has published books on acting and improvisation as well as theatrical plays that have been produced in Greece and abroad. He speaks English, Italian and French. He has travelled to almost all the length and breadth of the planet and in the summer of 2008, he made the round of the world in a month, leaving to the east and returning from the west!
The power of the Mask
A Mask is more than a prop—it’s a ritual tool that drives the actor’s everyday personality out and invites another “spirit” or presence to take over. The actor becomes inhabited, not merely playing a role. The workshop includes:
• Physical warm-up to release inhibition.
• Participants choose a mask and, wearing neutral garb, enter designated spaces.
• The reinforcement of the mask through music.
• The mask is treated as a newborn entity: unknowing, silent, and open, meant to explore the world freely.
This balance between anxiety and curiosity—between reassurance and ritualized unfamiliarity—is key to triggering the transformative effect.
Once the Mask is worn, participants interact with simple, ambiguous objects—scarves, bells, fabric—without instructions or expectations. The aim is not performance, but discovery. Actors begin to behave instinctively as the Mask would, building its physicality, posture, and tone organically.