{"id":54,"date":"2017-02-28T11:50:35","date_gmt":"2017-02-28T11:50:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cosmino.org\/cosmino\/?page_id=54"},"modified":"2026-03-23T11:19:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T11:19:06","slug":"about-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cosmino.org\/en\/about-us\/","title":{"rendered":"TEAM"},"content":{"rendered":"
\nCosmino Theatre was founded in Coventry, UK, in 1998, by Rachel Karafistan. Two years later, amid the ruins of Coventry Cathedral, during Millennium Mysteries, a collaboration between the Belgrade Theatre and Poland\u2019s Teatr Biuro Podr\u00f3\u017cy, Rachel met Polish actor Kuba Pierzchalski. From that meeting, a shared life in art began. Today, Cosmino moves between Pozna\u0144, Berlin, and London, carried by collaboration, curiosity, and the rhythms of family life with their two children.<\/p>\n

WHY COSMINO?<\/strong>
\nIn Romania, in 1997, I met a young homeless boy. I gave him a bottle of shampoo. The next day he found me again, beaming from ear to ear, and showed me his hair, washed on one side, untouched on the other. When I asked why, he said he wanted to show me the difference.His name was Cosmin. (We added the \u2018o.\u2019) He could turn cartwheels like joy itself.In ancient Greek, Cosmin means to stand in solidarity with life. Dirty and clean. Light and dark. Cosmino makes theatre in solidarity with the full complexity of being human.<\/p>\n

ABOUT US<\/strong>
\nCosmino Theatre has been dreaming theatrical experiences into being since 1998. We believe in art as a meeting place, where borders soften, new futures are imagined, and positive change begins.Cosmino has created over seventeen productions, collaborating with artists and institutions including the State Theatre of Salzburg and Greenwich Theatre, London. Current touring works include Dreams Die Hard, Rachel\u2019s award-winning solo performance inspired by her grandmother\u2019s wartime diary and her Turkish Cypriot roots; Heartburn, a lament for the erosion of women\u2019s rights in Europe; and Ay Kash \/ If Only, created with Under the Starry Afghan Sky, a collective of eleven young women based in Afghanistan.Alongside performance, Cosmino nurtures learning and exchange, curating theatre training opportunities across the world. In 2026, we will launch our Certificate in Advanced Theatre Practice, continuing our commitment to art as a living, shared practice.\n<\/div>\n

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RACHEL KARAFISTAN<\/h3>\n

Artistic Director, actor, composer (she \/ her)<\/span><\/p>\n

\n Rachel is a British performer, teacher, academic and theatre director
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\n with 30 years of professional theatre experience. After falling in love with third theatre and Odin Teatret at the age of eleven, Rachel embraced the potential and autonomy of devised performance. Her teachers include Philippe Gaulier, Frankie Armstrong, Marcello Magni, Roberta Carreri & Odin Teatret. Rachel is the co-founder of Cosmino Theatre (founded in 1998) and has created over 16 original performances. Rachel has performed alongside Kathryn Hunter in \u2018Yerma\u2019 at the Arcola Theatre, London and was an actor with internationally acclaimed Polish company, Teatr Biuro Podr\u00f3\u017cy. Her PhD research into Shamanic dimensions within contemporary theatre practice saw her collaborate on workshops with \u2018Way of Wyrd\u2019 and \u2018Way of the Actor\u2019 author, Brian Bates. Rachel is also trained CBT Hypnotherapist which informs both her teaching creating and directing practice. <\/p>\n

Rachel has directed for Greenwich Theatre, East 15 Acting School, Northampton & Leeds Universities and Salzburg Landestheater, Austria. She has a long history of making theatre for social change including most recently the hybrid award winning production, AY KASH \/ IF ONLY which was created in collaboration with 11 young women, living in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. Rachel has held posts at Manchester Metropolitan, Rose Bruford College and Leeds Universities and has worked as an External Examiner at East 15 Acting school, UK. Since 2018, Rachel has been a member of faculty at Arthaus Berlin International Training and Research Centre for Devised Theatre & performance, taking over as the school\u2019s Pedagogical Co-Director overseeing a range of MA & MFA performance degrees in 2024. In 2025\/6 Rachel is happy to be working with Studio Teatralny at Zamek Culture Centre in Poznan on a new production.<\/p>\n

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KUBA PIERZCHALSKI<\/h3>\n

Technical director, actor, composer (he \/ him)<\/span><\/p>\n

\n Kuba Pierzchalski is a theatre and music artist whose work moves
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fluently between acting, directing, and composition. With many years of international experience, he has collaborated with a wide range of theatres, ensembles, and festivals across Europe, creating performances that connect physical presence, sound, and strong visual imagery.<\/p>\n

At the heart of his artistic practice lies a deep interest in ensemble work and long-term collaboration. Kuba\u2019s projects often grow out of collective processes, where music and movement play an essential role in shaping dramaturgy and atmosphere. His work spans classical theatre, contemporary and interdisciplinary productions, as well as physical and musical theatre.<\/p>\n

He received together with Rachel Karafistan an award for directing of Ay Kash at the 37th International Festival Valise in Poland and has worked as a director and composer at the Salzburger Landestheater. Kuba has composed the music for all productions of Cosmino Theatre, shaping the sonic identity of the company over many years. Between 1997 and 2003, he also performed as an actor with the renowned Polish company Teatr Biuro Podr\u00f3\u017cy, touring internationally and contributing to multiple original productions.<\/p>\n

He has been closely associated with Cosmino Theatre and has performed internationally with renowned companies, including Blue Man Group. His productions have been presented at major festivals and have received audience and jury awards, reflecting his commitment to theatre that is both artistically bold and deeply engaging for audiences.<\/p>\n

Kuba\u2019s work is driven by curiosity, openness, and a belief in theatre as a shared space of encounter\u2014between performers, sound, movement, and the people watching.<\/p>\n

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PATRICK CAMPBELL<\/h3>\n

Associate Artist & Creative Consultant (he \/ him)<\/span><\/p>\n

\n Dr Patrick Campbell is a Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader
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of the BA (Hons) Drama and Contemporary Performance Programme at the Manchester School of Theatre, Manchester Metropolitan University (UK). His teaching focuses on psychophysical training, with an emphasis on the holistic links between corporeal expressivity and vocal freedom. His academic research looks at the ways in which contemporary theatre artists in Europe and Latin America are challenging monolithic, phallogocentric framings of subjectivity, representability and heritage through performance and training.<\/p>\n

From 2014-2021, Campbell worked alongside Dr Jane Turner, carrying out an analysis into the contemporary value of Third Theatre \u2013 a transnational theatrical community first identified by Eugenio Barba in the 1970s, characterised by a laboratory ethos and practice. Together, Campbell and Turner carried out research into the training, dramaturgy and participatory strategies employed by the Third Theatre community, particularly in Latin America and Europe, mapping and critically examining the myriad configurations of Third Theatre, particularly in relation to interstitial, intercultural and postcolonial debates. Their monograph, A Poetics of Third Theatre: Performer Training, Dramaturgy, Cultural Action was published in 2021 as part of the Perspectives on Performer Training series, edited by Maria Kapsali and Rebecca Loukes.<\/p>\n

For the past twelve years, Campbell has studied with Roy Hart Theatre founder member Margaret Pikes, who has developed a unique approach to extended vocal practice entitled Wolfsohn-Hart Voice. Campbell has trained to be both a practitioner and a pedagogue within this vocal tradition and co-authored with Pikes the monograph Owning Our Voices: Vocal Discovery in the Wolfsohn-Hart Tradition, which was published by Routledge in 2021 as a part of the Voice Studies series.<\/p>\n

Links:
\nwww.theatre.mmu.ac.uk<\/a>
\nwww.crosspollination.space<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

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EVA RUFO<\/h3>\n

Associate Actor (she \/ her)<\/span><\/p>\n

\n Eva has been dancing since she was 4 years old and the rigour
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of this discipline has never left her body or her work. She is excited by the potential of creating performances outside of \u2018traditional\u2019 performance spaces and since 2006 Eva has been producing her own performances inspired by the Cuentacuentos (storytelling) tradition. Eva has created ten performances to date: Zapomina\u0107=Zabi\u0107 (2006) Nosotro$ollE (2007) Mujeres-Kobiety (2008), Me too (\u2026I want to be an Almodovar girl) (2009) Art. 182 ust.1-3 kc (2009), \u00a1\u00a1\u00a1Oooooleee!!! (2012), Rayuela (2014), Todo Cambia (2014), Christmas Tales (2016), With Wine, About Wine \/ Z winem o winie (2017).<\/p>\n

Eva regularly runs workshops in dance, storytelling, and TIE throughout Poland: i.e. the Puppet Theatre (Poznan), Off Opera (Poznan), STOP-KLATKA Association of Drama Practitioners (Warsaw), Imaginarium, One World Association (Poznan) and in many primary and secondary schools.<\/p>\n

Eva teaches Spanish at the Institute of Linguistics (UAM), where since 1999 she organizes with her students an annual story telling event and since 2006 the Story Festival \u2018Una Semana de Cuento\u2019.<\/p>\n

In 2018, she directed the \u201d Five Worlds Project\u201d, the closing concert of the Days of Cultural Diversity at UAM, Poznan. Heartburn is Eva\u2019s first production with Cosmino.<\/p>\n

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JO JOHNSTON<\/h3>\n

Artist, Graphic Designer (she \/ her)<\/span><\/p>\n

\n Jo Johnston, originally from the UK, is now based in Berlin.
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Jo studied at the Birmingham College of Art and finds inspiration in every walk of life. You can visit Jo\u2019s website here. <\/p>\n

Jo curates a joint project with Marcel Kr\u00f6ner called \u201dThe Little Window Galerie\u201d. Allegedly the smallest art gallery in Berlin, each month one artwork from a diverse range of artists is exhibited in a \u201cSchaufenster\u201d. The \u2018little window\u2019 is on the busy Berliner Strasse in Pankow, Berlin for everyone to enjoy as they pass by. Jo is passionate about finding ways to release and encourage creativity and works with children and young people on a daily basis.<\/p>\n

Jo\u2019s has created artwork for two Cosmino productions, Dreams Die Hard and Heartburn. <\/p>\n

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Cosmino Theatre was founded in Coventry, UK, in 1998, by Rachel Karafistan. Two years later, amid the ruins of Coventry Cathedral, during Millennium Mysteries, a collaboration between the Belgrade Theatre and Poland\u2019s Teatr Biuro Podr\u00f3\u017cy, Rachel met Polish actor Kuba Pierzchalski. From that meeting, a shared life in art began. Today, Cosmino moves between Pozna\u0144, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1042,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cosmino.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cosmino.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cosmino.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cosmino.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cosmino.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54"}],"version-history":[{"count":150,"href":"https:\/\/www.cosmino.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3412,"href":"https:\/\/www.cosmino.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions\/3412"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cosmino.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cosmino.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cosmino.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cosmino.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}