Athens Center for Theatre Studies (ACTS)
Directors of the Center:
- Mr. Hugh O’Gorman, Professor and Head of Performance, California State University, Long Beach, USA.
- Mr. Stephen Simms, Director, Birmingham School of Acting, Birmingham City University, UK.
Welcome to the Athens Center for Theatre Studies (ACTS), a division of ATINER.
2500 years ago in the countryside outside of Athens an agrarian festival honoring Dionysus gave birth to modern western theatre. Today the Athens Center for Theatre Studies (ACTS) continues this essential work begun by the Craftsmen of Dionysus. The ACTS is an international hub for studies dedicated to the promotion, exchange and collaboration of academic and practical theatre-related endeavors. The mission of this vital nexus is to bring together artists, academics, practitioners, theorists, historians and researchers to promote one of the world’s oldest art forms. The center is located in the birthplace of Western theatre Athens Greece and consists of two streams: The Praxis Stream and the Academic Stream. The aim of the Praxis Stream it to perpetuation and development of acting techniques, craft and approaches to actor training. The aim of the Academic Stream is to facilitate conferences, colloquia and academic exchanges.
As Plato writes in the Timeas, the Athens Center for Theatre Studies believes the theatre is an essential artistic and human vehicle in the rediscovery of self:
“The motion akin to the divine part of us are the thoughts and revolutions of the universe. These every man should follow, correcting those circuits in the head that were deranged at birth, by learning to know the harmonies and revolutions of the world; he should assimilate the thinking being to the thought, renewing his original nature.” – Plato.