Director
Anna-Maria Lipponen
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Introduction
Anna-Maria Lipponen is a director, actor, and screenwriter who lives and works in both Finland and Zurich, Switzerland. She graduated as an actor from the University of Tampere’s Department of Acting, and in 2021 she began her directing studies at the Zurich University of the Arts (Zürcher Hochschule der Künste). She graduated in 2025 as Master of Arts in Theatre Directing (MA Regie). Since 2018, Lipponen has built an international career in Central Europe and the Baltics. Among her most significant theatre productions are the site-specific piece Dreams for Sale (2021), created in collaboration with the National Museum of Finland; Requiem for a Dream (2024), based on the novel by Hubert Selby Jr., directed at the Rakvere Theatre in Estonia and marking the play’s world stage premiere; and Farm der Tiere (2025), staged in Zurich and based on George Orwell’s Animal Farm.
In autumn 2025, Lipponen will direct her first production at the Lucerne Theatre in Switzerland: Der Rückfähr der Fährfrauen, a new play by Swiss playwright Sarah Calörtscher, who received the Heiner Kleist Prize for her debut play in 2024.
Anna-Maria Lipponen is also the artistic director of the Helsinki-based theatre collective Studio Total, which she leads together with her partner, set and lighting designer Petri Tuhkanen. As a director, Lipponen is particularly drawn to themes such as freedom, power, and the various roles within society. Her productions often feature strong female characters through whom she explores and portrays the world. Animal figures also appear as a recurring element in her work. Lipponen’s pieces are layered, total works of art that combine compelling storytelling with physical performance, cinematic video narratives, and multidimensional scenography and sound design.
Lipponen is excited about the upcoming Contemporary Opera program. She is especially interested in the opportunity to explore opera both in terms of content and form. She values a program like this, where there is time and space to seek and discover artistic solutions collaboratively with other artists before the actual production begins. In her upcoming work, she is particularly intrigued by the creation of hybrid aesthetics within the opera context and by the journey of combining visual elements with music.
(Photo: Tero Ahonen)