Niki Triantafyllidi

Niki Triantafyllidi (Athens, November 27, 1942 – Athens, May 13, 2013) was a Greek actress, director, and writer.

She was the daughter of the composer Panos Triantafyllidis. She graduated from the Drama School of the National Theatre. She first appeared in theatre in 1963 in Federico García Lorca’s ‘The House of Bernarda Alba’ with the troupe of Aleka Katseli. She acted in several Greek films and collaborated with important directors like Alexis Minotis, Minos Volanakis, Lefteris Charonitis, and others.

In 1969, she briefly served as the artistic director of the ‘Christian Theater’ organization, where she staged Eugene O’Neill’s ‘Long Day’s Journey into Night’.

In 1970, she won the directing award at the Thessaloniki Film Festival for her short film ‘An Ordinary Dream,’ and in 1971, she was honored by the ‘Center for the Study and Research of Greek Theater’ with the ‘Marika Kotopouli’ award as the best actress of the 1970-71 period.

She taught at the State Theater of Northern Greece, Pelos Katselis’ school, and Mary Tranga’s school. She was a founding member of the Theater Ensemble and the Panhellenic Cultural Movement and in the 1990s, she founded the ‘Triantafyllidi’ Theater in Vathi Square.

She wrote plays that she also directed. She also translated and adapted well-known works from the global theatrical repertoire, including ancient Greek theater. She bequeathed all this significant material to her daughter, the actress and director Zoe Masoura.

She deeply loved the world of theater, especially actors, and wanted new theatrical groups and productions to stage her written, adapted, and translated works. Her most significant recent performance was the adaptation and translation of Lorca’s play ‘Pirliplin and Belissa’ which was well received with two roles played by Leontios Petmezas and Zoe Masoura. Academics Evangelos Moutsopoulos, Nikolaos Laos, theater critics Yiannis Varveris, Leandros Polenakis, Rozita Sokou, Minas Christidis, Nestoras Matsas, Kostas Georgousopoulos, and many other intellectuals wrote positively and approvingly about this performance. Her swan song as a writer was the translation-adaptation of Aristophanes’ ‘Ecclesiazusae’ staged by Zoe Masoura, dedicating the performance to her memory, with the theatrical group Penia’s Arts in June 2013.

She had retired in the last 20 years due to serious health problems. She was married to actor Kostas Messaris.

Niki Triantafyllidi politically belonged to the Left and for a time was a municipal councilor with the Communist Party of Greece (KKE).

Source: Wikipedia