Mario Banushi

Country: Albania

Biography

Mario Banushi is a director and performer. He was born in 1998 and lived in Albania until the age of six, before moving permanently to Greece. He studied acting at the Drama School of the Athens Conservatory.

He graduated in 2020 and made his first short film “PRANVERA”, which participated in the 2021 TIFF Film Festival. In 2017, he worked as an assistant to Euripides Laskaridis in the performance THIRIO, which took part in the Athens Biennale. He has been active in the field of performing arts since graduating in 2020, and his most recent collaboration was the work « Marcel Duchamp » (2022) with Nova Melancholia.

His first work as a director was the performance “RAGADA”, a part of which he presented at Gerasimos Kappatos’s ROOMS2022 Festival, before it opened at the Sala theater. His next work was « GOODBYE LINDITA », which was presented at the experimental stage of the National Theatre, while his third work, « TAVERNA MIRESIA MARIO BELLA ANASTASIA », the final part of the trilogy, was presented in July 2023 at the Athens and Epidaurus Festival.

Mario Banushi is an Onassis AiR Fellow for 2023-24 through the Dramaturgy Fellowship.

MAMI

Conceived and Directed by Mario Banushi

With Vasiliki Driva / Katerina Kristo, Dimitris Lagos, Eftychia Stefanou / Ilia Koukouzeli, Angeliki Stellatou, Fotis Stratigos, and Panagiota Υiagli

Set & Costume Design: Sotiris Melanos

Original Music & Sound Design: Jeph Vanger

Lighting Design and Associate Dramaturg: Stephanos Droussiotis

Artistic Collaborators: Aimilios Arapoglou, Thanasis Deligiannis

Assistant Director: Theodora Patiti

International Relations & Tour Management: Nikos Mavrakis

Production Management: Rena Andreadaki & Christos Christopoulos – TooFarEast

Line Production: Ioanna Papakosta – TooFarEast

Auditions & Residency Coordinator: Konstantina Douka Gkosi – TooFarEast

Tour Lighting design: Marietta Pavlaki

Tour Sound Engineer: Kostas Chaidos

Set assistant: Sofia Theodorou

Costumes assistant: Nikoleta Anastasiadou

Set Construction: Michalis Lagkouvardos

Special Constructions: Alahouzos Brothers, Alexandros Loggos

Special Lighting Constructions: Giorgos Ierapetritis

Rehearsal Technical Coordination: Aristidis Kreatsoulas – TooFarEast

Rehearsal Electrician: Konstantinos Mavrantzas

Rehearsal Technical Support: Stefanos Ntaoulas, Iason Papantoniou, Grigoris Zkeris, Paris Asimakopoulos

In collaboration with OMAZ civic non-profit company

Commissioned and Produced by Onassis Stegi

Co-produced by Berliner Festspiele [DE], Odéon – Théâtre de l’Europe [FR], FOG festival / Triennale Milano Teatro [IT], & Espoo Theatre [FI], Festival d’Avignon [FR], Grec Festival Barcelona [ES], Théâtre de Liège [BE], Noorderzon Festival / Grand Theatre Groningen [NL]

Special thanks to Aliki Atsalaki, Sozon Bessis / Bessis Textiles, Marissa Bili, Eleni Choumou, Panos Delinikopoulos, Giorgos Koutlis, Katerina Kristo, Eirini Kyriakou, Katerina Liatsou, Julian Mommert, Dimitris Papaioannou, Petros Papazisis, Giorgos Sofikitis, Theodoros Terzopoulos, Pinelοpi Tsoutsouva, Elena Viseri, Chryssi Vidalaki, Mark Yeoman & Raydun Bolk and the team of Grand Theatre Groningen, all the participants of the audition workshops.

Initial research & development were made possible with the support of the Onassis AiR Dramaturgy Fellowship [GR] and the Centre Culturel Hellénique—Paris [FR]

Supported by the Onassis Stegi Touring Program.

Synopsis

Drawing inspiration from personal experiences, Banushi creates an unholy shrine to the mother-child relationship. To celebrate it. To exorcise it. To fill it with vows and curses. To fall in love with it. For, as he himself notes, “I have always said that birth is love in reverse.”

The stage becomes a landscape of memory. As eerie as it is familiar. The performers, immersed in silence, create moments of profound emotion and urge us to recognize and confront our own memories, our own relationships, and the emotional legacy we carry.

This breakout director’s new creation is a visual poem about the mother-child relationship. A show that is a tribute to the women who nurtured us.