Christina Penna (Xristina Penna) has been working as a theatre designer in Theatre, Opera, Devised performance, Site-Specific productions, Performance Installations, Events and Education in Athens, Greece but also in London, Poland and Mexico. Throughout her studies and career as a set designer she has worked in groups, but has also carried out independent projects, which have been positively reviewed in the Press. She has been trained as a set/costume designer in the Drama Department of the Aristotle University, School of Fine Arts, Thessaloniki, Greece, (five year tuition). Furthermore, she has obtained a Master of Arts in Scenography at Central St. Martins College of Art and Design. She has also participated in a full - year puppet making and operating workshop, with the puppeteer S. Markopoulos, (UNIMA-Hellas). In her MA degree is where she started producing work in the form of video, animation and performance. Her work is highly symbolic and is experimenting with confronting traditional motifs and their symbolism with today’s reality, thus creating environments that mix reality with dream and relate to the uncanny. Since October 2006 Xristina has co-founded Poemstomyotherself, a group of visual and theatre artists with different backgrounds ranging from music and performance to visual arts and creative writing. "We have come together, crossing each others path in our attempts to explore the possibilities of interdisciplinary exchange." The group is currently working in London.
Work
- 2008, Scenographer, A Kiss From The Last Red Squirrel by Elyssa Livergant and Rough Memory, Camden People's Theatre/Shunt Vaults
- 2007, Production Designer for short film, Revolution, London
- 2007, Artistic Director/ Designer, Holes, Round Chapel, Hackney
- 2006, Set Designer, Future Cinema/Metropolis, Fabric, London
- 2006, artistic director/designer,(coll. with M. Krawecka, Fantasia Fundraising Event, Friends of the Petrie Museum, South Cloisters, University College London
- 2006, costume designer, Dreams in a Pink Glass by Usanu Theatre, Old Sorting Office, Barnes, The Place, Oval Theatre, London
- 2006, Director/writer/designer, Topsy Turvy 2, Baron's Court Theatre, Write Side of the Brain Festival, London
- 2005, Set Designer for Opera(collab.with Los Kapelankas), El Barbero de Sevilla, Teatro Degollado, Guadalajara, Mexico (tour for 2006, Aguascalientes, San Luis Potosi)
- 2005, Director of movement/designer/writer, Topsy Turvy (performance), White Space, Back Hill, Central St, Martins College of Art and Design, London.
- 2005, Work in group with CSM MA Scenography students in, Sketches on The Death of Ivan, Cricoteka, Centre for the documentation of the art of Tadeusz Kantor, Krakow
- 2004, Set designer/costume consultant (collaboration, with C. Poulopoulou) On The Edge (durational performance), Multicultural space BIOS, Athens, Greece
- 2004, Set designer, Alpha-Omega (video), Athens, Greece.
- 2004, Set/costume designer, Seeking Oedipus (mime performance), Apo Michanis Theatro (Exmachina), Athens, Greece
- 2004, Set designer/costume consultant (collaboration, with C. Poulopoulou) Restricted Area (performance installation), Multicultural space BIOS, Athens, Greece
- 2003, Set designer/costume consultant (collaboration, with C. Poulopoulou) 22 Rooms (performance installation), Technopolis - Gazi, K. Kavafis building, Athens, Greece
- 2003, Set designer/costume consultant, One Bird's Only Voice (play), Experimental Stage of the National Theatre of Greece, Empty Space Festival, Athens
- 2002, Set designer/costume consultant (collaboration, with C. Poulopoulou) Dark Room (performance), Theatro Vafeio, Athens, Greece
- 2002, and 2003, Set/costume designer (collaboration, with A. Chalkiadakis) Now or Forever, a Performance on Time (performance), Ex military camp Kodra, Thessaloniki and Studio Lydra, Athens, Greece
- 2001, Set/costume designer, Agamemnon (performance), Vafopouleio Foundation, Thessaloniki, Greece
