On 3 June, the results of the open call for the pilot edition of the SPOTLIGHT developmental residency programme were announced. The programme is addressed to artists with a cultural background other than Polish who live and work in Poland. The selection committee chose eight participants from over one hundred applications, and the selected group of artists begins their residency today.
The objective of the SPOTLIGHT programme is to create a platform for the exchange of experience, the development of artistic practice, and the building of relationships between residents representing different backgrounds, countries, and fields of practice. “We wanted to bring together a team of people with varied experiences, coming from different countries and backgrounds, who could inspire and support one another — drawing not only on the programme’s resources but also on each other’s expertise and experience”, reads the statement of the programme selection committee.
The residency is intended for artists with a cultural background other than Polish who live in Poland and wish to develop their artistic practice here. The programme focuses on supporting the theatre and performance arts community, facilitating the exchange of knowledge and expertise, and introducing new voices into the domestic artistic landscape.
The residency participants represent diverse fields of theatre and performative practices, working across varied theatrical aesthetics and movements. They also come from different regions of Poland. The residency team comprises directors, playwrights and writers, lighting designers, performance artists, visual artists, and interdisciplinary creators, as well as people developing their own ensembles, foundations, and artistic initiatives. A key element of the programme is the opportunity for professional development through group work and meetings with mentors from the Polish theatre community.
Meet the SPOTLIGHT residents
Maryia Bialkovich, fot. Hanna Sharko
MARYIA BIALKOVICH (Belarus/Warszawa)
Maryia Bialkovich is a Belarusian playwright whose plays and adaptations have been produced or presented in Belarus, Poland, the USA, Estonia, Israel, Turkey, Kazakhstan, and Russia, as well as through performative readings. Her original plays have been translated into English, Polish, German, and Czech, and have appeared on numerous lists and shortlists, including the AURORA 2022 list of plays recommended for production.
Romano Dautanac, fot. Dinko Čvorić – Doringo
ROMANO DAUTANAC (Croatia/Poznań)
From a wartime childhood in a small Croatian village, through philosophy and arts studies in Zagreb, to a clowning school in Barcelona. Romano D. Franto is a many-faced artist whose creative profile is almost as varied as his life story: philosopher, actor, musician, clown, mime, improviser, provocateur — drawn to seeking out creative ‘in-between spaces’: between different art forms, between performer and audience, between the sacred and the profane. For him, art is an inseparable part of life, not something apart from it. Something people should breathe and weave into their daily lives, to become better, happier versions of themselves.
Żenia Dawidenka fot. Alicja Jasińska
ŻENIA DAWIDENKA (Belarus/Gdańsk)
Żenia Dawidenko is a theatre director, actress, and playwright from Belarus. She is a graduate of the Belarusian State Academy of Arts in Minsk, where she studied dramatic theatre directing. In Belarus, she worked as a director at the Republican Theatre of Belarusian Drama, creating productions and other projects both in state institutions and independent spaces. Since 2022, she has been based in Gdańsk, where she continues to pursue her artistic path. She stages productions and performances, writes plays, and takes part in competitions, creative laboratories, and festivals. She enjoys combining different theatrical genres and draws inspiration from events, documents, and facts, which she transforms into subjective, multilayered worlds. Her central concerns include justice, memory, humanity, and loneliness, as well as the tension between document and fiction.
Rachel Karafistan, from a private archive
RACHEL KARAFISTAN (Great Britian/Germany /Poznań)
Rachel Karafistan is a British / Turkish-Cypriot performer, director, and teacher. Inspired early by Odin Teatret and third theatre practice, she specialises in devised performance, training with practitioners including Philippe Gaulier, Marcello Magni, and Roberta Carreri. She is a co-founder of Cosmino Theatre (1998), has created over 17 original works, and has performed internationally, including with Teatr Biuro Podróży and alongside Kathryn Hunter at the Arcola Theatre. Her directing credits include Greenwich Theatre, Salzburg Landestheater, and UK universities. Her work engages with theatre for social change, most recently AY KASH / IF ONLY, created with young Afghan women and HEARTBURN addressing the erosion of women’s rights in Europe. Rachel holds a PhD exploring shamanic dimensions in contemporary theatre and is also a trained CBT hypnotherapist. She has taught widely in higher education and, until recently, was the Pedagogical Co-Director at Arthaus Berlin (formerly LISPA). She is based in Poznań.
Victoria Myronouk, fot. Bohdan Yemeć
VICTORIA MYRONYUK (Ukraine/Wińsko in Lower Silesia)
Victoria Myronyuk is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, and theatre-maker. She holds a degree in cultural studies from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, a Master’s in Moving Performance and Visual Culture (MPECV) from Madrid, and a postgraduate diploma in Advanced Performance and Scenography Studies (APASS) from Brussels.
Her practice sits at the intersection of theatre, writing, and visual arts, with a particular focus on participatory formats. Her performances and texts explore ritual structures, their boundaries, and their potential to create new scenic relationships among participants. She frequently reconstructs and deconstructs traditional ritual patterns, building intimacy through play-based methods that foster trust and enable the sharing of personal stories. Her work has been presented at numerous theatre festivals, including Bliscy Nieznajomi, ParadeFest, GogolFest, Zürcher Theater Spektakel, and Festival Belluard Bollwerk International. She relocated to Poland following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Olesia Nezhyva fot. Piotr Nykowski
OLESIA NEZHYVA (Ukraine/Szczecin)
Olesia Nezhyva is a theatre director and video artist. She is currently studying experimental film at the Academy of Art in Szczecin, having previously completed a degree in dramatic theatre directing at the Kharkiv National University of Arts. She works as a stage manager at the Pleciuga Puppet Theatre in Szczecin. Her artistic practice centres on documentary theatre, memory, and the migratory experiences of war. She has taken part in international festivals and residency programmes, including EMAF in Osnabrück, Scena Nowej Dramaturgii in Rzeszów, and a residency at the Theatre Institute. She is a recipient of the Gaude Polonia scholarship (2023).
Andrei Novik, fot. Ewa Kochman
ANDREI NOVIK (Belarus/Warsaw)
Andrei Novik is an actor and director. He was born in Stolin, Brest Region. In 2014, he graduated from the Belarusian State Academy of Arts (Zoya Belokhvostik’s workshop) as a theatre and film actor. From 2014, he worked at the Theatre of Belarusian Drama and in independent projects. From 2016, he performed at Theatre Alpha. Over the course of his acting career, he has played more than 30 theatre roles and over 40 film roles. In 2020, following the elections, he resigned from his theatre post in protest, after which he was blacklisted and stripped of the ability to work creatively in Belarus. In 2021, he relocated to Warsaw with his family. He made his directing debut in 2022 with the production How Are You. Since then, he has made a short film and directed three theatre productions. His work has been presented at seven international festivals, with invitations to six more in 2026: Art Weekend (Białystok), Kierunek Wschód, Konfrontacje Teatralne (Lublin), and Sopot Non-Fiction. He is the recipient of the film critics’ award Chyrvony Veras for Best Actor. He currently serves as head of the BY teatr
Siarhei Rylko, fot. Sergei Krasnoukhov
SIARHEI RYLKO (Belarus/Warsaw)
Siarhei Rylko is a lighting designer, video artist, and technical director. He has been working on theatre and opera projects for nearly 20 years, combining artistic practice with technical expertise. He holds degrees from the University of Radio Electronics in Minsk and the Theatre Academy in St Petersburg. He has collaborated with theatres and institutions across Europe, including La Monnaie in Brussels, Teatro Real in Madrid, and the Ivan Vazov National Theatre in Sofia. Following 2022, he relocated to Poland and is now based in Warsaw. In Poland, he works with director Mikita Ilyanchyk on productions including Emma, Pygmalion, and The Doll, as well as with the Inexkult Foundation, serving as lighting designer and technical director, most recently on the production Radio Prudok.
The participating residents were selected by a committee comprising the following committee members: Anna Galas-Kosil, Theatre Institute Deputy Director for Programming; Krystyna Mogilnicka, Head of the International Cooperation Department at the Theatre Institute; Szymon Adamczak, curator and programme coordinator, theatre artist; Lena Tworkowska, curator and producer; and Sviatlana Haidalionak, manager of culture and the ICORN programme coordinator.
Over one hundred applications to the residency programme were received from countries including Ukraine, Belarus, Turkey, Italy, Nigeria, Rwanda, China, the United States, and Croatia. Following a careful review of the submissions, the committee invited selected candidates to interview, on the basis of which the final residents of the first edition of the SPOTLIGHT residency programme was chosen.
