Anastasia Chanturaia

Country: Georgia

Biography

Anastasia Chanturaia is a Tbilisi-based actor, playwright, and director working across theatre
and performance. She graduated from the Acting Faculty of the Shota Rustaveli Theatre and
Film Georgian University, where she studied under Temur Chkheidze. Since 2016, she has
worked as an actor in numerous theatre productions and has collaborated with independent
theatre projects in Georgia.

In 2025, Anastasia became a laureate of the Tsinandali Prize for her acting work, specifically
for her performance as Titania in Davit Doiashvili’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Royal
District Theatre.
In the same year, she wrote her first original text, Persephone (Where the Light Forgets Me),
which became one of the winners of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation’s playwriting competition.
For the first time, Anastasia took on the roles of both playwright and director, staging the
work at the independent theatre company Haraki, where she also performed as an actor.
Her decision to create and stage the work independently emerged from the increasingly
restrictive environment for artists in Georgia. Following a strike by actors and their
subsequent departure from the state theatre, Anastasia brought together independent artists
around her idea and sought an independent space where the work could be developed and
presented freely. Haraki supported the project by providing a space for this first authorial and
directorial attempt.
Anastasia has also participated, and continues to participate, in numerous projects at Haraki
as an actress. Her work is particularly connected to independent artistic practice and the
creation of spaces for artistic expression, collaboration, and the exchange of ideas.

Persephone

Persephone (Where the Light Forgets Me) is the debut authorial work of Anastasia
Chanturaia, created through an extensive research-based process. The main character of
the performance is a woman, which frames the entire piece as a gender-sensitive
observation of the contemporary world.
The author explores how childhood experiences influence emotional perception and the
process of becoming a woman. The performance offers an interpretation of the well-known
story of Persephone from Ancient Greek mythology. In this attempt to rethink the myth in a
modern context, several themes intertwine: abruptly stolen childhood, girlhood, sexual
violence, inner transformation, and the return to one’s own identity.
Persephone’s transformation into the queen of the underworld symbolically reflects the
painful journey of becoming a woman — a process marked by struggle, resilience, and
survival.