Paata Tsikurishvili

A native of the Republic of Georgia, Paata is an innovative, award-winning international artistic director, director and educator with more than 30 years of experience fusing the classical elements of drama, movement, dance, pantomime and music. Since Synetic Theater’s founding in 2001, Mr. Tsikurishvili has received an impressive 25 Helen Hayes Award Nominations and has won the awards 9-times. Together with his wife and co-founder Irina, he was named “Washingtonian of the Year” in 2013.

Mr. Tsikurishvili has directed over 60 productions including Salomé, Bohemians, Jason and the Argonauts, The Dybbuk, Faust, Frankenstein, Macbeth, Animal Farm, The Fall of the House of Usher, A Christmas Carol, Romeo and Juliet, Carmen, Dante, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Antony and Cleopatra, Othello, King Arthur, King Lear, Don Quixote, Twelfth Night, Much Ado about Nothing, The Three Musketeers, Alice in Wonderland, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Jekyll & Hyde, The Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest, As You Like It, and The Man in the Iron Mask. Synetic’s inaugural production, Hamlet He has received 3 Helen Hayes Awards for Outstanding Director, Outstanding Resident Play and Outstanding Choreography.

As an educator, Mr. Tsikurishvili has trained hundreds of actors in movement technique through Synetic Theater and has taught at leading universities such as American University, Catholic University of America, and Georgetown University. Before moving to the USA he co-founded Mimodrama Theater in Germany and has toured worldwide. Paata holds an MFA in film directing from Tbilisi State University and a BFA in acting from The State Institute of Theater and Film in Tbilisi, Georgia.