Árpád Schilling

Árpád Schilling (1974) began staging productions at the age of 20 and set up Krétakör Theatre in 1995, the same year in which he started his directing studies at the Academy of Theatre and Film Art in Budapest. He continued to run Krétakör in parallel with his studies; from 1998 to 2000 he was invited by Gábor Zsámbéki to be a guest director at the Katona József Theatre in Budapest. He staged ’Platonov’ by Chekhov in 1999 with students from the Théâtre National de Strasbourg, performing the play at the Union of the European Theatres Festival. The same year he won the Hungarian theatre critics' prize in the "up-and-coming professional" category for his production of István Tasnádi's ’Public Enemy’ at the Katona József Theatre. In 2001, he directed "Walpurgis Night" by Yerofeyev at Schaubühne Berlin, in 2002 he staged "Richard III" by Shakespeare at Piccolo Teatro in Milan. After rejecting several offers to join institutional theatres, along with cultural manager Máté Gáspár he turned Krétakör Theatre into a permanent theatre company. The most emblematic of their work is Chekhov's "The Seagull", which premiered in 2003. In 2008, Árpád Schilling restructured his creative team, moving from a repertory system to project-based work. He also dropped ‘theatre' from their name, retaining just the word Krétakör. He embarked on large-scale artistic experimentation, focusing on education, social development and talent management. Since 2008 he’s been working as artistic director on several cultural and educational programs both in Hungary and abroad (Paris, Prague, Munich), moving his projects into schools, small communes and outlying communities in difficulty. Since 2006 he’s been leading workshops and courses in several European theatre academies and universities. In October 2012, he presented his own work "Noahplanet" at the Théâtre National de Chaillot in Paris, in December staged Verdi's "Rigoletto" at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. In 2015 he worked in Burgtheater Wien/Akademietheater as director and writer (together with co-writer Éva Zabezsinszkij) on "Eiswind / Hideg szelek", and in 2017 he staged a play written by him (together with co-writer Annamária Láng) "Upadanie / Falling" at Teatr Powszechny. In 2018, he directed Lohengrin by Wagner at Staatsoper Stuttgart in Germany and he worked on "Pansion Eden" as director and writer (together with co-writers Juli Jakab and Éva Zabezsiszkij) in Zagreb Youth Theatre – ZKM in Croatia. He has won numerous awards, including the Stanislavski Prize from Moscow in 2005, the Légion d'honneur from the French Ministry of Culture in 2008 and the Europe Theatre Prize in the New Theatrical Realities category in 2009. His foundation, Krétakör was awarded with the ECF Princess Magriet Award for Culture for its artistic and social work in 2016.