guest artists & crew

LARS JUNGGREEN

Director Vodka Talks

A guest production by HIT International Theatre Arts

With an impressive acting career spanning more than 40 years in Danish film and TV as well as on the Danish stage, Lars is a well-known name in Denmark. He has worked as a theatre director and taught drama continuously since 1974, at all three National Danish drama schools in Århus, Odense and Copenhagen, most recently in a 5-year position as associate professor at the Danish National School of Performing Arts DDSKS.

​A graduate of Århus Teater National Theatre School, Lars went on to play leading roles as an actor, including Hamlet at the age of 27, as well as the lead in Cabaret, Richard III, The Merchant of Venice, La Cage aux Folles, A Christmas Carol, Gray, Night Creatures (Noreen), Three Penny Opera, Waiting for Godot, The Wild Duck, King Lear, Total Eclipse and more.

For significant periods Lars has been artistic director of Aarhus Theater, board member for both Aarhus Theater and Theater Plan B, a member of the National Danish Performing Arts Committee and resident dramaturgist at Ålborg Teater and Århus Teater, working at theatres such as Det Danske Teater, Svalegangen, Alle Scenen (Betty Nansen Teatret), Cafe Teatret, Banden ( Odense ) , Filuren, Mungo Park Kolding and more.

As a theatre director, Lars has more than 35 theatrical productions in Denmark under his belt, including "Hard Times" by Charles Dickens ,"Blackbird", "Besættelse”, "Elling" , "Grounded" "Et Juleeventyr" " The Rocky Horror Picture Show" "Narnia" , Shakespeares samlede værker" "Gæld uden ansigt" and directing for Det Kolde Bord in 2017.

(Headshot @ Olaf Højgaaard)

ARNE NIELSEN

VODKA TALKS, originally entitled Die Vodkagespräche has been touring successfully in German as a staged reading, in the last few months, in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It has since been a fixture in the repertoire of the Renaissance Theatre in Berlin.

 VODKA TALKS marks Arne's debut as a playwright. Arne Nielsen writes prose, short stories, poetry, in German, to great critical acclaim, including ”Donny hat ein neues Auto und fährt etwas zu schnell” ,” Buddeln, 1-3 : Erzählungen”, and his brilliant debut novel “ Der Elefantenbäcker” (2013/15.) Arne’s writing has cult status in Germany. He is currently working on his next new play "Avantgarde 99".

Arne Nielsen is the son of a Danish mother and a Norwegian father and grew up bilingual in Denmark and Norway. Now based in Hamburg, Arne Nielsen lives with his family and is married to the German actress Karoline Eichhorn.

Arne once completed an apprenticeship as a men's tailor, studied economics after working lengthy shifts on trawlers in the Barents Sea, then worked internationally as a Danish diplomat. Today Arne is a member of the artist group J.A.C.K. whose first joint project, a short film based on his story "Donny has a new car and drives too fast" premiered at the Hamburg Film Festival. Arne is also the singer and lyricist of the electro-pop duo Der Büro. .

KATRIN WEISSER
Actress, voice of the  mother
VODKA TALKS 
A guest production by HIT International Theatre Arts

German actress Katrin started filming at the age of 14, trained at the Stage School of Music, Dance and Drama, in Hamburg and is now based in Denmark. Katrin has had a successful career in TV, film and theatre including the highly successful TV series 

“ Gegen den Wind” , the Bestseller film adaptation “In search of an impotent man”, playing Portia in “ The Merchant of Venice “ at Schauspielhaus Kiel, in Henrik Ruben Genz's feature film “ Tordenskjold og Kold”, Parminder Singh'ssatirical series Partiets Mand, Danish television’s “ Arvingerne” and most recently in the comedy series Hånd i Hånd II, to name a few.

One of Katrin’s greatest successes in Danish theatre is the role of Clara Schumann in Clara – Indre Stemmer and later Brecht's Refugee Conversations and playing Alma Mahler at Theatre Republique.

Katrin gives theatre concerts, most recently KREUTZERSONATE with Daniil Trifonov and Nikolaj Szeps Znaider.

Matthew Short from the UK is the masterful guest director of Playmate's 2022 production of SUNDAY IN SODOM. Matthew is a director, writer, and dramaturg currently working intermittantly in Skåne, in Halland (Sweden) and in the UK. He graduated from the University in York in Writing, Directing, and Performance, and has since been practicing his creative craft and theatre skills with Teater Dictat.
With his masters in Applied Cultural Analysis from Lund University, Matthew's work bridges the gap between creative expression and cultural examination.

British-born Richard Pates, based for the past few years in Sweden, has supplied brilliant voice talent for Playmate's performance of "The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?" and as the voice of Isaac in SUNDAY IN SODOM. 
Richard is a natural talent with previous  strong film experience, has dabbled in stage roles both comedic and dramatic and has a passion for performing.

Playmate is delighted to say British/Icelandic actress Karen Olrich-White plays the lead role of the charming title character in "Sylvia" by A. R. Gurney (2020). 
Karen got her acting & performance degree at Cogan Academy of Dramatic Arts, UK. Karen moved to Malmö to persue her career after performing in film, theatre and fringe in London and the UK. She is now making her mark in film in Scandinavia and can be seen as the lead in the award-winning Swedish short film UNTITLED EARTH SIM 64                 

Now based in Sweden, character actress Michaela Palmer spent 10 years in the UK, started acting at the age of 11, was an ensemble member at Kristianstad Teater and Kristianstad Scen Forum among others. She received training in musical theatre (LDMG) and screen acting at Pinewood Studios.

Previous stage roles include The Stronger, Puck in A midsummer night’s Dream, Yente in Fiddler on the Roof, Kit Kat Girl in Cabaret, The sister in Evita and many more.

Short films include The Nurse in Sister of Mercy, The woman in Domestic and The Girl in Prizefighter.
Michaela plays the daughter Sahrah in SUNDAY IN SODOM.

[PHOTO CREDIT Smallfield Photo ]

Paul Glaser 
Director HAP

A guest production by HIT International Theatre Arts

Paul Glaser is the artistic director of the English Theatre of Hamburg, the oldest private, professional English language theatre in Germany. He has a strong list of international theatre credits behind him, he directed among others "Thrill Me" by Stephen Dolginoff at West End’s Jermyn Street Theatre.

Swedish-born Paul Glaser is remembered by audiences in Malmö as a successful musical theatre artist, as Tony in Westside Story at Slagthuset, Jack in Into the Woods, from Kinateatern in Stockholm, from SVT series Solstollarna and more. HAP marks his return to Swedish theatre, this time as director and for an English-language play, after many years of Paul working internationally and all over Germany as musical theatre artist, composer and director for the theatre.

British director/actor/writer Joseph Sherlock directs "Sylvia" for Playmate (2020),  Now based in Copenhagen, he started directing in Australia, with new playwrights in found spaces; has worked on award-winning one act plays , large scale musical theatre, straight drama and ensemble comedy. Joseph has taught performance and Shakespeare in China, the Czech Republic, the UK, Denmark and also writes and performs comedy.  He is one of the founding members of KSK, the brand new Copenhagen's Shakespeare Company which opened in 2021        

Inna Syzonenko is a Ukrainian actress based in Southern Sweden who plays Nana in SUNDAY IN SODOM.
Inna has been building her professional acting career in Scandinavia since the year 2015, acting mainly in English and Swedish on the fringe stage in dramatic and comedic roles, as well as taking on small roles  in commercials, film and TV.

Inna has considerable theatre and TV experience from her native Ukraine, has had international drama training and is fluent in Ukrainian and Russian, English and Swedish.
Currently Inna is working towards a part in the second season of the award-winning Swedish TV series “Tunna Blå Linjen”.

Other recent appearances includes a supporting role as Kyra in Swedish feature film "The Redneg" and on stage in A Midsummer Night's Dream at Malmö Opera. 

Jana Pulkrabek
Actress & Producer HAP
Actress VODKA TALKS

Guest productions by: HIT International Theatre Arts

German-Czech actress Jana is a writer, director and producer for theatre and film. Jana studied in New York at The Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, was a regular guest intern at The Actor’s Studio with Ellen Burstyn, Eli Wallach, Lee Grant, Arthur Penn. Lead roles in New York, Hamburg, Copenhagen and Malmö include: “Secret Deliriums of a rented mind”, “Old Times”, “The Clean House”, “The Lover”, “Slapstick Sherlock”, “Lovers, Authors and other Strangers”, Yulia in “No Exit-Reloaded”; roles in film and tv include “Ich heirate meine Frau”, “Occasus”, “Nocturnal Ecstasy”.
Jana plays joint lead in "HAP" by BAFTA award-winning John Foster (2021).

Anna Iau, our light & sound wizard designer and backstage crew for “Sylvia” is a highly qualified theatre sound designer, video artist, LX designer and technician, from Spain. Anna is also an experienced stage manager, who has worked successfully in theatres in Spain, Norway, the UK and Sweden   

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