The Greek National Opera launches a collaboration with the Municipal and Regional Theatre of Kavala, aiming to strengthen its network of partnerships with organizations across Greece and support new artistic creations. As part of this partnership and a new, joint initiative, the four new productions from this year’s 68th Philippi Festival will travel to Athens, hosted by the GNO, from 12 to 16 September 2025. These productions were all commissioned from emerging artists by the Festival, which is organized by the Municipal and Regional Theatre of Kavala.

Three of these performances – (Tree)², The Infallibility of One (1) DaisY, Rock + Thread + Heart = – will be held at the Stavros Niarchos Hall Backstage at the SNFCC on the 12^th, 13^th, and 14^th of September, bringing the audience in direct contact with site-specific works. The fourth production – (All)^ν those things we leave behind < for a tomorrow that will never come… – will take place at sea on the 15^th and 16^th of September, along the Piraeus – Egina route, transforming the ship into a stage and turning the journey into a memorable experience.

Inspired by the life and work of Chronis Missios – a literary figure and member of the Greek Resistance from Kavala to whom this year’s Festival is dedicated – and guided by the paradoxical equation of generosity 8-3=11, the performances will engage in open dialogue with the institution’s theme, connecting speech, music, and performance to the surrounding space and the audience.

What happens when everything you believed seems to be overturned?
And what if, in the end, there’s no key waiting for you under the geranium pot?

Inspired by the texts and life of Chronis Missios and other fighters and intellectuals, this performance aspires to carve out its own, distinct path.

Using the body, voice, and music as tools, it aims to portray onstage the life journey of a romantic fighter who, after standing up against a repressive system that crushes people and enduring torture and imprisonment, ended up witnessing his dream fall apart. We watch him gradually lose faith in everything that once gave him strength and turn to a new, different ideology that could perhaps give him the answers he was looking for as he reaches the twilight of his life. We watch him seek tenderness and romance, finding refuge in nature and love as the only remaining sources of human happiness. Four narrators and one musician will build, dismantle, and reconstruct his dream, frustration, fights, and hope, creating, through fragments of memory, a romantic story from an old time that bears a striking resemblance to our own.

Sonia Kalaitzidou
She graduated from the Karolos Koun Greek Art Theatre Drama School and has been working as an actress since 2017. Indicative plays in which she has participated include: Goodnight Margarita (dir. Fotis Makris, National Theatre of Northern Greece), I Want a Country (dir. Marianna Calbari, Greek Art Theatre / Athens Epidaurus Festival). Among others, she has collaborated with the directors Christos Sougaris, Pantelis Flatsousis and Katerina Kleitsiotis. Since 2019, she has been a founding member of the Rodez group, with which she co-created the performances Vita Brevis, Today is the Day, and The Mute Bell. She has also participated in the short film Nightgrind by Giorgos Evdoridis. Additionally, some of the workshops she has attended include “The Method of Theodoros Terzopoulos” (Attis Theatre) and “The Suzuki Method” (SCOT, TOGA). In 2024, she was awarded by the Scriptwriters’ Guild Of Greece for her performance in a theatrical monologue. Finally, she holds a Master’s degree in “Greek and World Theatre: Performance, Dramaturgy, Education”, and creates theatre education programmes, which she implements with children and teenagers in both formal and non-formal educational settings.

Marios Kritikopoulos
Graduate of the Drama School of the Karolos Koun Greek Art Theatre (2017) and valedictorian of the Department of Theatre Studies at the University of Patras (2014). He has collaborated with National Theatre of Greece, Athens Epidaurus Festival, Greek Art Theatre, Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, Kykladon Street Theatre – Lefteris Vogiatzis, Michalis Cacoyannis Foundation, Anesis Theatre, as well as with directors such as Ulrich Rasche, Timofey Kulyabin, Theo Abazis, Sofia Vgenopoulou, Dimitris Degaitis, Katerina Evangelatou, Fokas Evagelinos, Stathis Livathinos, Marianna Calbari, Menelaos Karantzas, Aris Biniaris, Eleni Boza, Aikaterini Papageorgiou, Tilemachos Tsardakas and Pantelis Flatsousis, in works from ancient drama, classical and contemporary repertoire. He has appeared in the period TV series Life in the Grave directed by Tasos Psarras (ERT) and in the mini-series Vardianos at Sporka directed by Manousos Manousakis (ERT). In 2019, he co-founded the theatre group Rodez with other artists, aiming at theatrical research and interdisciplinary collaboration. He also studied contemporary singing, Byzantine music, and contemporary dance.

Nikitas Kissonas
Born in Athens in 1980. After completing his classical guitar studies, he continued studying the electric guitar while completing his music composition diploma. He then attended Bath Spa University to complete a Master’s degree in Music Composition, followed by a Master’s degree in Music Therapy at the University of Macedonia. He is a founding member of the musical project Methexis, through which he has released four records, with many more to come in collaboration with other musicians and bands. In terms of composition, he endeavours to write contemporary music with a rock aesthetic and merge it with other art forms. Over the past 20 years, he has composed music for theatre and dance performances, performing in numerous concerts as both a solo artist and a group member.

Nikolas Chatzivasileiadis
He graduated from the EMBROS Theatre Workshop Drama School in 2011. He then continued his studies, graduating from the National School of Dance in 2016. In theatre, he has collaborated with directors including Ektoras Lygizos, Thanos Papakonstantinou, Anna Makraki, Froso Lytra and Yiannis Kakleas, among others. In dance, he collaborated with the Hellenic Dance Company from 2014 to 2018. He has also worked with Anastasia Valsamaki, the Krama Dance Company, Millicent Hodson and Kenneth Archer, and the Syn-Kinisi Contemporary Dance Company. In 2020, he presented his debut choreography, 3 and a HALF, at the Arc for Dance Festival 13. In 2021, he presented the solo – Not Now. – But When? at the Patras Art Festival (PAF). As part of the “Between the Seas: Mediterranean Performing Arts” residency programme, he presented a collaboration with Christina Skoutela titled State of Limbo, which included a composition and performance. He choreographed the work Tzitzimitzichotziria together with Stella Michailidou for the Municipal and Regional Theatre of Kozani. Finally, he was movement director in the play The Mute Bell.

Alexandra-Anastasia Ftouli
Costume designer. She was born in Athens, where she lives and works. She studied Political Science at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She is a graduate of the postgraduate programmes “Political Science and Sociology” (NKUA) and “History and Theory of Art” (Athens School of Fine Arts). She works as a costume designer and set designer in theatre and cinema. She has participated in productions of National Theatre of Greece, Athens Epidaurus Festival, Onassis Stegi, Poreia Theatre, Tzeni Karezi Theatre and others. She has collaborated with Katerina Evangelatos, George Koutlis, Dimitris Tarlow, Angelos Triantafyllou, Takis Tzamargias and others.

Nikos Yalelis
Born in Thessaloniki. He graduated from the Veaki Drama School (1998) and from the Department of Communication and Media of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (2007). He holds a Master’s Degree in Cultural Management from Panteion University (2020). In 2002-2003 he attended the Acting and Directing Workshop of the Experimental Stage of the National Theatre of Greece (Acting). In Greece, he has worked with National Theatre of Greece, Onassis Stegi, Athens Epidaurus Festival, Municipal Regional Theatres of Patras, Rhodes and Larissa, as well as with many independent theatres, groups and companies. From 2009 to 2013, he worked in France, in Théâtre des Amandiers (Paris – Nanterre) and Théâtre Liberté (Toulon). He has appeared in several television series and worked as a documentary narrator. Since 2013, he has been teaching acting and improvisation at two drama schools in Athens.

Anthi Savvaki
Born in Veria, Imathia, and grew up in Rethymno. She graduated with honours from the School of English Language and Literature at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2013). She completed her postgraduate studies with distinction in the “Contemporary Performance Practices” programme at Royal Holloway, University of London, specialising in the relationship between voice and text in postdramatic theatre (2014). Upon returning to Greece, she studied acting at the Karolos Koun Greek Art Theatre Drama School, and she has worked as an actress since 2017. She has performed in The Reunion of North and South Korea (dir. Nikos Mastorakis), Blackbird (dir. George Kimoulis) and Whoever Wants to Separate, Raise Their Hand and 42497 (dir. Giorgos Kapoutzidis). She made her television debut in the STAR series Three Miles and has also appeared in The Ladies’ Paradise on ALPHA and The Sorceress / Flaming Heart on Antenna. In 2019, she co-founded the Rodez Theatre Group with other artists to promote theatrical research and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Electra Sarri
Born and raised in Athens. She studied at the Department of Primary Education at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and later at the Karolos Koun Art Theatre Drama School. She also holds a Diploma in Classical Piano with honours and a first prize from the Iambic Conservatory. As an actress, she has participated in the plays I Want a Country (dir. Marianna Calbari), Un souffle grec (dir. Matthew Bauer), Pinocchio (dir. Pantelis Dentakis), Thesmophoriazusae (dir. Vangelis Theodoropoulos), The Good Person of Szechwan (dir. Nikorestis Chaniotakis), Bacchae (dir. Christos Sougaris). She has also appeared in the musicals The Courtyard of Miracles and Scrooge, Ghosts & Rock ’n’ Roll (dir. Christos Sougaris), and others. She has appeared in the TV series Ta Noumera, Pagidevmenoi, Erotas Fygas, Paralia. Her film credits include: Apples (dir. Christos Nikou), Hippo (dir. Theofylaktos Argyrou), Hot Milk (dir. Rebecca Lenkiewicz). She takes voice lessons with Nikos Roussakis. Since 2018, she has had her own theatre company, Rodez, with which she has directed and staged the plays Vita Brevis, Today is the Day, The Mute Bell.