Dec
SEMINAR: Breaking Multilingual Silence in the Nordic Performing Arts
SEMINAR: Friday, 5 December 2025, at 9:30–17:00
Lunch is included for all participants who register by 3 December. Please register here.
The keynote speeches and panel discussion will be streamed (link TBA).
The seminar is led by Dr. Vanja Hamidi Isacson (SWE) and Director David Kozma (FI), coordinated by Post Theatre Collective (FI) in collaboration with Teater Aros (SWE) and The Swedish Algerian Association (SWE).
Throughout the Nordic region, multilingualism is an integral part of daily life for many people. The use of multiple languages in everyday interactions is not only common but often essential. However, this rich linguistic diversity is rarely reflected in the performing arts. This limited representation means that the multilingual reality of many Nordic residents is not adequately reflected on stage. Within this seminar we call this Multilingual silence – the suppression of linguistic diversity. The seminar will discuss possibilities and strategies of breaking the silence. By doing so we wish to empower multilingual speakers, both professionals and audience, and contribute to a more inclusive and diverse performing arts landscape in the Nordic region.
The seminar will include:
- Two keynote speeches:
The Potential of Multilingualism and Translanguaging in Performing Arts by Carla Jonsson, and What Do Multilingual Actors Do In/To Theatre? by Kasia Lech – see presentations and abstracts below. - A panel discussion featuring actors (TBA) from various Nordic countries, together with the keynote speakers. The discussion will be moderated by Kozma and Hamidi Isacson.
- A workshop session where all seminar participants are invited to engage in a collaborative discussion on strategies for increasing the visibility of diverse languages on stage.
Program:
09:30–10:00 Door open & Coffee
10:00–10:10 Welcome
10:10–11.10 Keynote with Q&A Carla Jonsson
11:15–12:30 Panel with Q&A
12:35–13:30 Lunch in the café (Included for participants who register before the 3 December)
13:40–14:25 Keynote Kasia Lech + QA
14:45–16.00 Workshop + presentations in small groups
16:00–16:15 Closing words
16:15–17:00 Mingle & Coffee
Keynote speeches:
What Do Multilingual Actors Do In/To Theatre? by Kasia Lech
This talk will explore the role of multilingual actors within European theatre systems, which are primarily organised around and conducted in specific national languages. Using examples from various countries and contexts, Lech will address the following questions: Who are multilingual actors? What roles can they play in theatre? How do they shift existing training, dramaturgical, and performance practices? What silences become evident and are challenged when a multilingual actor can fully engage in their doings.
Kasia Lech is a scholar, theatre-maker, and Associate Professor at the University of Amsterdam. Her research focuses on theatre in relation to multilingualism, acting training, verse, dramaturgy and migration, combining practice-based and traditional scholarship. She has authored several works related to multilingual theatre and training, arguing for the necessity of displacement within acting training practice, including the awarded monograph Multilingual Dramaturgies: Towards New European Theatre (Springer 2024). Kasia performed internationally and co-founded Polish Theatre Ireland, a multilingual theatre company based in Dublin. She serves as Executive Director at TheTheatreTimes - thetheatretimes.com.
The Potential of Multilingualism and Translanguaging in Performing Arts by Carla Jonsson (Abstract TBA)
Carla Jonsson works as Professor in Educational Work at the Department of Language Studies, at Umeå University and is Associate Professor in Bilingualism at Stockholm University.
Her research interests include multilingualism in education and work life, translanguaging, translingual literacies, language and power, language and identity, language ideology, language policy, minority languages and linguistic ethnography. She was principal investigator of the research project “Mother tongues, minorities and linguistic heterogeneity: Teaching methods and teaching practices in preschools and schools with a focus on literacies” (funded by The Swedish Institute for Educational Research, 2022-2024). She has published in journals such as Tesol Quarterly, International Journal of Multilingualism, International Journal of the Sociology of Language, Discourse, Context and Media.
Find out more about Carla Jonsson on the following webpages: www.umu.se/personal/carla-jonsson, http://www.carlajonsson.com/
Vanja Hamidi Isacson is a Swedish Finnish playwright and artistic researcher based in Malmö, Sweden. She is an affiliated guest researcher at Malmö Theatre Academy, Lund University. In 2022, she earned her doctorate from Stockholm University of the Arts with a thesis titled ”The Potential of Multilingualism in Dramatic Works”. Hamidi Isacson was also a co-founder of the multilingual theatre company Teater JaLaDa in Malmö.
David Kozma is a Romanian-Hungarian actor and director based in Helsinki. A graduate of the Drama Department at Babeș-Bolyai University (2001), he began his career in Romanian and Hungarian theatre and television before relocating to Finland in 2006. Since then, he has worked extensively across Finnish theatre, film, and television, known for his multilingual, cross-cultural approach to performance and storytelling.
Kozma is a co-founder of the European Theatre Collective, now known as Post Theatre Collective, which emphasizes socially engaged, multidisciplinary productions that foreground underrepresented voices.
He has also contributed to cultural policy and advocacy, working at the Arts Promotion Centre Finland on the Development Programme for Cultural Diversity and Mobility. Kozma continues to work as a freelance director and actor, with a focus on inclusive narratives and intercultural dialogue.
Workshop facilitators:
Anna-Maria Wiklund Matala, Teater Aros (SWE)
Languages: Variations of English and the Languages of the Participants.
The seminar is part of the larger project Breaking multilingual silence In The Nordic Performing Arts Coordinated by David Kozma and Vanja Hamidi Isacson, produced by Post Theatre Collective (Helsinki) supported by Nordic Culture Point.
For more information see: Post Theatre Collective - theatrecollective.com
or email David Kozma: david [at] theatrecollective [dot] com (david[at]theatrecollective[dot]com)
WORKSHOP: Breaking Multilingual Silence in the Nordic Performing Arts, 6–10 December 2025
For Multilingual Actors from the Nordic Countries
Are you a professional actor with a multilingual background based in the Nordic region?
Read more about the workshop here!
With the support of Nordisk kulturkontakt.
About the event
Location:
Inter Arts Center, 4th floor, Bergsgatan 29, Malmö (Red Room)
Contact:
david [at] theatrecollective [dot] com