Student of Comparative Dramaturgy and Performance Research: I don’t just have classmates in Helsinki, but in five locations around Europe
Anna Korolainen Crevier’s understanding of dramaturgy and theatre has expanded at lightning speed, thanks to her fellow students and teachers. Read more about her studies between Helsinki and Paris.
Tell us about yourself and how you came to study at Uniarts Helsinki?
I am Anna Korolainen Crevier, an actress and theatre maker currently studying Comparative Dramaturgy and Performance Research (CDPR) at the University of the Arts Helsinki and the University of Paris Nanterre. I am co-artistic director of the Nordic theatre collective Spindrift Theatre, and have also founded the Feminist Improvisation Theatre Vendetta with my colleagues in Finland. I am passionate about collaborative theatre making, physical theatre, feminism in the performing arts, absurd and dark humour on stage, and radical kindness in artistic processes.
I’m from Helsinki and I’ve been following with great interest the development of Uniarts Helsinki’s Theatre Academy into a more international and multidisciplinary direction over the past ten years. A colleague of mine told me about the CDPR programme when it first started and, thanks to its thoroughly international ethos, it immediately seemed like a programme that would suit me well.
I studied drama in the UK, where my Bachelor of Arts degree included a compulsory exchange to another European theatre academy, in my case the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. I also did my Master of Arts internship in Paris as part of the Erasmus+ programme, and through my Nordic theatre company Spindrift, I had spent extended periods in Iceland working and researching for our projects.
Eventually I applied for the 2023 programme. Having created performances with my colleagues since 2013, I felt that the CDPR programme would give me a different perspective, tools and the theoretical framework that I needed to deepen my understanding of dramaturgy and performance making.
Tell us something you remember about applying to Uniarts Helsinki.
The written part of the entrance exam involved writing a research plan for the two-year MA programme. I found it extremely liberating to really dream about a project I wanted to do, without the financial burden or worries about visibility and audience numbers.
It also pushed me to think about my work in epistemological terms: from which thinkers or theories would I learn the skills I longed for? What did I not yet know, and whose work could lead me into these unknown territories? Although my research plan has changed many times since I began my studies in 2023, I still use it as a concrete tool for redefining and analysing my artistic and academic needs.
The CDPR entrance exams were held on Zoom with candidates from all around the world. It was extremely inspiring to discuss our projects, present our work and even have the opportunity to perform together. Meeting everyone on Zoom also helped to create equality among the applicants as no one had to travel to Finland to explore the possibility of studying at CDPR. I hope to keep in touch with everyone I met.
What do you think is the best thing about studying here?
I am fortunate to be able to refresh my artistic thinking without the pressure to monetise my work as in the professional world. In fact, I just had a discussion with a colleague and friend of mine about wasting time in an artistic process and how that adds value to the work. CDPR invites us to delve deeper into our art, to let research open up new, unexpected pathways, and to take a critical look at our own art and the context in which we work.
The CDPR programme is split 50/50 between two universities, so the amount of new input you receive is abundant. I have had the opportunity to study dramaturgy, curating, playwriting, directing, devising and producing, to name just a few of the disciplines. Each of the CDPR’s partner universities has its own focus and unique character, so you can tailor your studies through your choice of study locations. For example, Paris Nanterre’s strong focus on directing was a perfect match for my dramaturgy-oriented studies at Uniarts Helsinki.
In addition, the programme has given me the opportunity to move to Paris and deepen my understanding of French theatre culture, something I have dreamed of doing for many years. Besides, I don’t just have classmates in Helsinki, but in five locations around Europe.
I have had two absolutely unique experiences through CDPR: a week at the international Open Aesthetics seminar and workshop in Budapest as part of the Dunapart Festival, and the Sediments dramaturgy festival, organised by the CDPR students from Frankfurt. I cannot emphasise enough how inspiring it was to meet all these artists from all over Europe. My understanding of dramaturgy and theatre has expanded at lightning speed, thanks as much to my fellow students as to my teachers.
What has been the most challenging part of your studies?
The most difficult thing for me was that CDPR is a new programme in Helsinki and hasn’t quite found its place in the institution and the Finnish theatre landscape. I often had to explain the content of the course to others. There has also been a surprising amount of confusion about the fact that the programme is mainly in English, and Uniarts Helsinki has sometimes struggled to adapt to the daily use of multiple languages. I hope that both study and working life in Finland will become more multilingual and diverse in the coming years.
The CDPR doesn’t give its students a ready-made career path, but the artists who study on the course are free to use the dramaturgical knowledge they gain in any way they choose. It is a privilege to have this freedom, but I think that CDPR students need to come to the course with a healthy self-esteem and clear professional goals. The programme requires the student to navigate between two countries, institutions and their theatre cultures, and to be a pioneer in the new discipline of comparative dramaturgy.
What has been your most memorable experience during your studies?
I immensely enjoyed a two-week course on style periods, organised in collaboration with the Näty acting students at Tampere University and the directing students at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. The course included lectures on different style periods in the performing arts, discussed from different perspectives: visual arts, history, music and politics.
The intensive devising sessions, where we explored a given genre from our own perspective, brought together actors, directors and dramaturges, and it looks like the next cohort will also have the opportunity to work with designers. We also did evening visits to theatres to see how different style periods are used on stage today. The course was a totally exhilarating and positively overwhelming experience.
What do you dream of doing after you graduate?
I want to continue with the theatre I’m already making, but with a broader range of skills than before. In addition to acting and producing, I would like to make performances from the position of director and dramaturge. I’m also interested in exploring the structures of the theatre industry and furthering my experience in arts management and research.
My final project, which I am preparing under the title ‘Abundance – Feels Like Flying’, is my way of combining all these ambitions: I am writing and directing a play and conducting my own artistic research in the process. Having spent most of my professional life in non-hierarchical working groups, I am also experimenting with the position of artistic team leader. The play is about money and shame and will premiere at the Theatre Academy in February 2025.
What advice would you give to someone applying to the master’s programme in Comparative Dramaturgy and Performance Research?
Before you apply, do some soul-searching and be clear about what you already know as an artist and what skills you want to develop during your studies. Be bold about your own work: your craft, values, aesthetics and taste, but don’t be afraid to be inspired by others. Due to the structure of the course and its short history in Finland, CDPR is a challenging programme, but it will open doors to places you couldn’t have imagined before you started the journey.