Antonis Diamantis

Actor, director

Graduated from the Higher School of Dramatic Art of the Athens Conservatory (1986). He studied Philosophy at the University of Philosophy in Athens and is a graduate from Technological Educational Institute, Department of Economic Management. He has done theatre seminars at the Odin Theater in Denmark, with Eugenio Barba and his actors, with actors from the Jerzy Grotowski Theater Workshop and at the Jerzy Grotowski’s and Thomas Richards Research Center. He is one of the founding members of the OMMA STUDIO Theater (1991). From 1997 - 2000 he was a theatre teacher at the Workshop for actors, an actor in 3 theater productions and a kinesiologist at the Experimental Stage of the National Theatre. He has directed and acted as an actor in over 35 theatrical productions of OMMA STUDIO theatre, which have been presented at international festivals abroad in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. In two of them (Russia and Iran) his performance entitled: "Martyrima" was awarded as the best foreign language theater performance. He has organized a number of theater seminars at the OMMA STUDIO theatre (Athens and Heraklion, Crete) and has studied theatre with Greek and foreign actors and directors.
He has also collaborated with other theater groups in Athens (Magic Theater, Theater of the Sun, etc.) and has taken part in the feature films: "Quiet dsays of August" by Pantelis Voulgaris and "The Deserter" by Giorgos Korras. He also starred in the short film "Where are we Going?" of Cyreneos Papadimatos.

He was the director in charge of the Theater Workshop of the Municipality of Heraklion (2000-2002), whose production entitled Mara/Sad" by Peter Weiss, was presented at the Experimental Stage of the National Theatre (Empty Space, 2002) and the theater group and theater workshop of the Municipality of Ierapetra (Crete, 2001-2008). He directed 7 plays there, while his theatrical adaptation and direction with this group, "Zorbas" by Nikos Kazantzakis traveled and was presented in Boston and New York (2007).
He is a member of the Greek Actors Association.

He has taught as a theater teacher at the Artistic High School of Heraklion. Together with Irini Koutsaki, he has translated into Greek the theater books: "The Edge Point of the Performance", by Thomas Richards and "The Land of Ashes and Diamonds" by Eugenio Barba (Gavrielidis and OMMA STUDIO Publications) as well as the book "The Blind Horse" by the Odin theater actor, Iben Nagel Rasmussen (Dodoni Publications).
Since 2002, he has founded the Theater Workshop OMMA STUDIO, where he teaches Acting and Language Education. Eight students from this School studied and graduated from Higher Schools of Theater Art in Athens (Drama School of the National Theatre, Athens Conservatory, etc.) and abroad (Le Coq School in London).

He founded the Center for Theatrical Anthropology where he is also its artistic director (Heraklion, Crete, 2020). The Center has so far organized 3 scientific conferences in collaboration with the Universities of Crete (2021, 2022) and Patras (2023).
With the Omma Studio theater he has participated as Artistic Director in International European Programs (Creative Europe, Erasmus+).
Since 2009, he has been conducting a research together with the actors of the Omma Studio theatre whose theme is :" The Relation between Theatre and Ritual" and is presented through the performance opus of "Ascetica" by Nikos Kazantzakis. So far it has been presented in: Heraklion, Patras, Amsterdam (Netherlands), Schwerte (Germany), Ludz and Goleniu (Poland), Holstebro (Denmark), Mostar (Bosnia-Herzegovina), Seville (Spain), Rome (Italy). The theoretical results of this research, which continues, have been presented by him at the International Conference for the 60th anniversary of the death of Nikos Kazantzakis, "The Position of Nikos Kazantzakis in Education, in Greece and Abroad" (Employment Options in Teaching and in Research, Heraklion, Crete, 2017), at the "Performance: Theoretical Approaches and Practical Applications" conference of the University of Patras (2022) as well as at the 2nd Scientific Conference-Symposium "Crete, Place and Art" (2023).

He is the director and producer of the film documenter: “Yes.. we c an hope again”which present the life of Yiannis Theodorakis,brother of Mikis Theodorakis,a very important journalist and poet,an activist of Democracy and peace.