about the founders
Lisa Channer
Co-Founder
Lisa Channer moves between theatre, film and performance as a director, producer and performer. Although she happily directs classic scripts, she primarily celebrates the making of new work in all forms through collaborations with exceptional writers, designers, choreographers, composers, actors, and producers. She is a co-artistic director of Theatre Novi Most in Minneapolis and a freelance artist. Her work has been seen across the U.S., Ireland, Europe, and Russia and she is a Fulbright Scholar.
Since 2007 she has been based in Minneapolis where she raised two humans, Sasha and Daniel, and is on the faculty at the University of Minnesota as Head of the BA in Performance Creation program. She is originally from New York’s Hudson Valley and holds citizenship in the U.S. and the U.K.
Training: MFA directing, Yale School of Drama
Member: Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers
Vladimir Rovinsky
Co-Founder
Vladimir Rovinsky attended the St. Petersburg Academy of Theatre Arts, Russia, graduating with an MFA in Directing in 1999. In addition, he trained with Alexei Levinsky in the system of Biomechanics, which was created by Vsevelod Meyerhold as a non-realistic physical training system for actors. He studied with Dutch director Willem Kuvenhoven and performed in his production BECKETTS HEAD at The Alexandrinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg (1996) and was a company member for THE MEYERHOLD PROJECT, a bilingual examination of Meyerhold’s production of INSPECTOR GENERAL that toured to America, Holland and Russia under the direction of Gennady Trostianetsky and David Chambers (1997-2000). He was co-founder of Studio WE in St. Petersburg from 1991-1993 and was associate artist at the Turgenev Drama Theatre in Oryol Russia from 1998-2001
Since moving to US in 2000 Vladimir has worked as a director, actor and teacher at several Universities in America, including the University of Massachusetts, University of Minnesota, Saint Cloud State University, Macalester College, Stanford University, and at several overseas programs in China, Canada, Puerto Rico and Russia.
Vladimir is currently an associate professor of theatre at Minnesota State University, Mankato in Minnesota.