Border Crossings creates new intercultural, multi-media theatre in response to the contemporary globalised world.
The company works across the borders between cultures and art forms, and between nations and peoples. Since 1995, Border Crossings has collaborated with artists and companies from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Croatia, France, Germany, Ghana, Hungary, India, Ireland, Mauritius, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Sweden, the USA and Zimbabwe, as well as the diverse communities of the UK. Border Crossings productions have toured the UK, Brazil, Egypt, France, Hungary, India, Mauritius, Mexico, the Seychelles and Zimbabwe.
"Borders may appear in many guises: psychological; racial; sexual; sociological; professional; as well as geographical. Paradoxically, the border may be at once what provides us with some security about our identity, demarcating ourselves from others, while also being the barrier that prevents us from developing new capacities or trying on new identities. Theatre processes, on the other hand, depend upon the willingness of the actor to cross borders not only to impersonate the dress, manner and speech of another but also to achieve, temporarily, the ultimate expression of border-crossing, empathy."
(Prof. Tim Prentki: "Introduction to Border Crossing" - in The Applied Theatre Reader. Routledge 2009)
Patron: Peter Sellars
Peter Sellars is one of the leading theatre, opera, and television directors in the world today, having directed more than one hundred productions, large and small, across the world. A graduate of Harvard University, he also studied in Japan, China, and India. At twenty-six he was made Director of the American National Theater at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. He was Artistic Director of the 1990 and 1993 Los Angeles Festivals, and the 2006 New Crowned Hope Festival in Vienna. He is Professor of World Arts and Cultures at UCLA.
Peter has collaborated with The Wooster Group and was featured in Jean-Luc Godard's film of King Lear. He has also directed a rock video for Herbie Hancock, radio and a feature film, The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez, which is silent in colour. Peter has directed many contemporary operas: particularly the work of John Adams, including Nixon in China, The Death of Klinghoffer, El Niño , Dr. Atomic and The Flowering Tree.
Other projects include a 25-year survey exhibition of the work of American artist Bill Viola, Peony Pavilion composed by Tan Dun and featuring renowned Kun Opera performer Hua Wenyi, and Agents and Assets, a symposium about the 'war on drugs' presented in collaboration with John Malpede and the Los Angeles Poverty Department.
He is a recipient of the MacArthur Prize Fellowship and was awarded the Erasmus Prize at the Dutch Royal Palace for contributions to European culture.
Artistic Director: Michael Walling
Michael Walling founded Border Crossings in 1995. He studied History at Oxford University, and subsequently trained at Trinity College, Dublin. He has directed numerous productions across four continents, winning awards for Two Gentlemen of Verona in the US and Paul & Virginie in Mauritius. He has directed the bulk of Border Crossings' productions, and is responsible for the overall direction of the company. Productions elsewhere include: Die Zauberflote (Spain), The Good Soul of Szechuan, Attempts on Her Life, Victory, Hard Times, The Art of Success, Macbeth (Mauritius), The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, The Tempest (India), Cosi fan Tutte, Romeo and Juliet (USA), The Great God Brown, Play with Cocaine, Beardsley, Spokesong, Sir Thomas More.
Michael also teaches regularly at Rose Bruford College, and Central School of Speech and Drama. For Rose Bruford's Distance Learning courses, he has written Modules on The Social Stage, Shakespeare, The Designer, Elements of the Performance, Post-Colonial and Black Theatres and Ways of Talking about Theatre / Opera. His many publications include pieces in Suspect (Toronto, Alphabet City 2005) and Peripheral Centres / Central Peripheries (Saarbrucken, 2006).
Michael directed the ENO's acclaimed workshop productions of Wagner's Ring at the Coliseum and Barbican. He was Associate Director to Peter Sellars on Nixon in China, and to Phyllida Lloyd on The Handmaid's Tale (Canada). During summer 2008, he directed A Midsummer Night's Dream for Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, USA.
Click here for Michael Walling's blog.
Board of Directors
Emma Courtney -
Previously Head of Marketing, Audience Development and Research at ABL Cultural Consulting Emma established Courtney Consulting in 2007 with a specific focus on marketing and development for the creative and cultural industries. Before moving to London Emma was Head of Marketing at Northern Ireland’s only professional producing theatre, The Lyric. Emma regularly lectures and trains on the subjects of Brand and Marketing Communications for clients such as the British Library Business and Innovation Centre, Arts Council England, National Council for Voluntary Organisations and Create KX. She was recently listed on the Observer’s Courvoisier Future 500 as ‘one to watch’.
Sarah Davis - Sarah is the legal director of The Guardian.
Shelagh Prosser - Shelagh is an established equality and diversity practitioner with nearly 20 years experience, primarily within the public sector. Prior to becoming an independent consultant she held senior equality and diversity posts in the Civil Service, the BBC and the transport industry. She is a chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
Peter Scott - a founder member and Chartered Accountant: Peter was formerly Finance director of Birmingham Repertory Theatre, and now teaches drama.
Literary Advisor
Dr. Roshni Mooneeram - originally from Mauritius, Roshni is a specialist in post-colonial literature, and currently teaches Literature and Linguistics at the University of Nottingham's campus in Ningbo, China.