Kostis Mihailidis

He was born in Athens in 1912 and studied at the Drama School of the National Theater of Greece. He first worked as a journalist with the newspapers Estia and Neos Kosmos. In 1934 he became a member of the Association of Greek Actors and occasionally appeared in performances of the Royal Theater (Richard II, Papaflessas, etc.). He initially worked as an assistant director alongside his teacher, Fotos Politis and later by Dimitris Rontiris. In later years of his long career, he directed works of classic and contemporary repertoire by Greek and foreign playwrights, as well as works of ancient Greek drama. With the National Theater, he worked initially as an actor (1933-1950) and then as a director (1940-1981), making his debut in the play Ena potiri nero (A glass of water). He became a permanent staff member of the National Theater of Greece in 1947, working as a tragedy director and choreographer also for the Epidaurus Festival. He also worked with the National Theatre of Northern Greece (1967-1981) in the plays Trisevgeni, Babylonia, Erotas kai radiourgia (Love and Intrigue), O peirasmos (The temptation), To tragoudi tis kounias (The song of the swing), O kalokardos grousouzis (The kind-hearted hoodoo), Maria Magdalini (Mary Magdalene), To fyntanaki (The little seedling), I megali kampi (The big turning point), Medea, Ornithes (The birds), Ploutos (Wealth), etc. He also worked for the Free Theatre and various local festivals in Greece. In 1946, he put together an amateur theater troupe in Cyprus. In the 1950s he founded the Kostis Michailidis School of Theater and later the Ancient Tragedy Troupe. He was an artistic director of the troupes Mary Aroni – Dinos Iliopoulos (1958-1959) and Theodore Aronis (1959-1960). In 1960 he was assigned the task to organize the State Theatre of Cyprus. He also directed a movie (To mavro stachi [The black cob], 1968) and collaborated with the Greek Public Radio and Television (ERT, 1977-1980). He directed two GNO productions, O protomastoras (The masterbuilder, 1942-1943) and Kassiani (Cassiane, 1972/73, 1975/76). He was the brother of composer and conductor Dimitris Michailidis. He died in Athens in 1981.

Source: Greek National Opera – Educational Virtual Museum