People

A native of the Republic of Georgia, Paata is an innovative, award-winning international artistic director, director and educator with more than 30 years of experience fusing the classical elements of drama, movement, dance, pantomime and music. Since Synetic Theater’s founding in 2001, Mr. Tsikurishvili has received multiple Helen Hayes Awards and nominations, for directing, sound design, and adaptation. Together with his wife and Synetic co-founder Irina, he was named “Washingtonian of the Year” in 2013. Mr. Tsikurishvili has directed and performed in Hamlet … the rest is silence, The Master and Margarita, The Crackpots, Dracula, Host and Guest, Frankenstein, and The Island of Doctor Moreau, and The Immigrant. He has directed over 60 productions including Salomé, Bohemians, Jason and the Argonauts, The Dybbuk, Faust, Frankenstein, Macbeth, Animal Farm, The Fall of the House of Usher, A Christmas Carol, Romeo and Juliet, Carmen, Dante, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Antony and Cleopatra, Othello, King Arthur, King Lear, Don Quixote, Twelfth Night, Much Ado about Nothing, The Three Musketeers, Alice in Wonderland, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Jekyll & Hyde, The Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest, As You Like It, The Man in the Iron Mask, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Sleepy Hollow, and The Immigrant, among many others. Synetic’s inaugural production, Hamlet… the rest is silence, received three Helen Hayes Awards for Outstanding Director, Outstanding Resident Play, and Outstanding Choreography. As an educator, Mr. Tsikurishvili has trained hundreds of actors in movement technique through Synetic Theater and has taught at leading universities such as American University, the Catholic University of America, and Georgetown University. Before moving to the United States he co-founded Mimodrama Theater in Germany and has toured worldwide. Paata holds an MFA in film directing from Tbilisi State University and a BFA in acting from The State Institute of Theater and Film in Tbilisi, Georgia.

A native of the Republic of Georgia, Irina has been nominated for the Helen Hayes Award dozens of times and a 14-time recipient for her outstanding choreography and acting. Irina has choreographed all Synetic Theater’s productions including The Crackpots, Dracula, Host and Guest and Frankenstein, Island of Doctor Moreau, Salomé, Bohemians, Jason and the Argonauts, The Dybbuk, Faust, Frankenstein, Macbeth, Animal Farm, The Fall of the House of Usher, A Christmas Carol, Romeo and Juliet, Carmen, Dante, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Antony and Cleopatra, Othello, King Arthur, King Lear, Don Quixote, Othello, Twelfth Night, Much Ado about Nothing, Three Musketeers, Alice in Wonderland, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Jekyll & Hyde, The Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest, As You Like It, The Immigrant, and much more. She has taught at Georgetown University and continues to run intensive movement workshops and train Synetic cast members. With her husband Paata, she is the co-founder of Synetic Theater. They were named Washingtonians of the Year in 2013. Irina graduated from Chabukiani National Ballet Academy in Tbilisi, Georgia, and holds BFA in Performing Arts.

Artist, filmmaker, teacher and arts administrator Ben Cunis first joined Synetic Theater in 2006 as a recent alumnus from the Drama program at the Catholic University of America. He started training under Paata and Irina Tsikurishvili and in 2007 performed as Macduff in Macbeth. He spent ten years, all told, at Synetic Theater working as an actor, fight choreographer, teacher, Director of Development, Artistic Associate, director, and writer. He has received three Helen Hayes Awards for his work as a fight and action choreographer, along with additional awards as a part of the ensembles of Twelfth Night, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet…The Rest is Silence. From 2012-2017, Ben worked as the Development Associate for Hope Connections for Cancer Support in Bethesda, Maryland. In 2016, he moved to Los Angeles where he pursued his MFA in Film and TV production at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts, where he produced, directed, performed and stunt coordinated on many films. Several of Mr. Cunis’ films are heavily influenced by his time at Synetic and have seen festival runs, including the Telluride Horror Show, the Golden State Film Festival, the Macabre Faire Festival, the Knoxville Horror Show, the Jack Oakie Comedy Festival, and the Artemis Women in Action Festival. Upon graduation, Ben was hired to teach directing at USC and was soon promoted to Lead Faculty on the foundational graduate course, Production I. He also co-founded the Virginia-based production company, Granite Kiss Creative, and worked with Lunacy Productions’ Stu Pollard to create Trunacy, a non-profit dedicated to helping local indie filmmakers in Kentucky and the Midwest. Originally from Plymouth, New Hampshire, Ben lives with his wife, Betsy Summers, who he met while she was stage managing at Synetic on Lilia Slavova’s Nutcracker. They have two children and two cats.

Phil has been building sets and props for Synetic Theater and Synetic Family Theater over the last several years. He has designed the Helen Hayes Award-nominated sets for The Island of Dr. Moreau and King Lear and designed the sets for RMT’s West Side Story and AMS’s The Producers.  Mr. Charlwood also works with local schools to develop their technical drama programs.

Megan has worked in design and advertising on both the East and West coasts since graduating from Hamilton College with a degree in Fine Art. She spent a year as an artist/printer at Robert Blackburn’s Printmaking Workshop in New York City and then got her first real job at a 3D graphics software company in San Francisco. Megan returned again to New York and co-founded a design firm whose clients included Pfizer, Barnes & Noble and the LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts. She have been back in California for the last 15+ years working as a freelancer out of her home office in the Santa Cruz Mountains while raising her two boys.

Konstantine is a native of Tbilisi, Georgia. He has composed original music for dozens of Synetic productions and has received seven Helen Hayes Award nominations for his sound designs and received two awards. He has also composed original music for the films First Steps, Essay (both directed by Paata Tsikurishvili), and Mirage. His theatrical work includes Hunter from the Sun, Guest of the Night, Mimikria, Labyrinth, and The Decameron. His compositions have also been performed at music festivals across Europe, including the Max Ophuls Festival in Germany and the International Gaudeamus Music Week in Amsterdam. Konstantine received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Tbilisi State Conservatory.

A native of the Republic of Georgia, Vato Tsikurishvili is an award-winning actor, choreographer, and educator with more than a decade of experience imparting Synetic Theater’s unique style to audiences and students of all ages. Performing with his parents, Synetic co-founders Paata and Irina Tsikurishvili, since the age of 4, Vato also has an extensive athletic background, having trained in fencing under Olympic coach Vladimir Nazlymov and in gymnastics with his grandfather, the world-renowned Olympic coach Arnold Kvetenadze. Performing credits include lead and supporting roles in dozens of Synetic productions: Host and Guest, Othello, Antony and Cleopatra, King Arthur, Macbeth, The Taming of the Shrew, The Home of the Soldier, The Tempest, The Three Musketeers, Twelfth Night, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Hamlet… the rest is silence, Beauty and the Beast, Much Ado About Nothing, Alice in Wonderland, Dante’s Inferno, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Sleepy Hollow, The Immigrant, and many more. His recent work as a fight choreographer includes The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Dante’s Inferno, and The Man in the Iron Mask, as well as Titus Andronicus and The Adventures of Peter Pan, for which he was also assistant director and co-director, respectively. Vato has trained Synetic company members, travels throughout the DMV area teaching stage movement to students of all grade levels, serves as an instructor at Synetic Studio, and, alongside Irina Tsikurishvili, trains the Synetic Teen Company.

Nathan is a founding company member of Synetic Theater, having started with the company in 2001. He has been resident dramaturg since 2005 and has adapted many of Synetic’s most successful productions, including Dracula, Faust, Animal Farm, The Fall of the House of Usher, Jekyll & Hyde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Trial, Cyrano de Bergerac, as well as Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra, Othello, The Tempest, Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, and Richard III for Synetic’s wordless Shakespeare series. His adaptations of The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Sleepy Hollow, and The Immigrant each received a Helen Hayes Award nomination for Outstanding Resident Play or Musical Adaptation. He won the award for his adaptation of The Tell-Tale Heart.