Vera Boitcova

She was born in St-Petersburg, Russia – 1988. She got a BA degree in Musical Theatre Directing, St-Petersburg. Directorial debut – Larson’s Rent in St-Petersburg, got censored (all LGBT topics were erased) – that made her immigrate. Boitcova got an MA degree in Theatre and Performance (but really, Live Art) at Queen Mary University of London - 2015. She then stayed in England for a few years – performed at numerous venues, including BAC, Camden People’s Theatre, Brighton Dome, etc. Mostly queer cabaret, drag, lipsync, live art, video performance. She worked at the Barbican Art Centre. Boitcova moved to Beijing, China where she worked as a Drama Teacher and directed shows with local students. She started Tales of Transformation project – an international communal trauma archive and got grants and awards for it. She moved back to Russia during the political activism phase and joined Eve’s Ribs (feminist) and Coming Out (queer) organisations. Curated festivals for both. She did a lot of protest- and community art (minorities, people with disabilities). She started writing plays and won awards for her first play Today My Cat Died. She then decided to focus on dramaturgy. She started her second double MA at Uniarts Helsinki and Goethe University Frankfurt and is currently writing her second play and working on a documentary queer show for MadHouse Helsinki.