East of Eden

Petre Barbu: Born in Galati in 1962. He graduated from Mechanical Engineering Faculty in Galati. Senior Editor of Capital magazine. He made his literary debut in 1993, with a volume of short stories The Orange Shirt (Cartea Romaneasca Publishing House). He also published two novels, God Bless America and The Last Outbreak of the Legionary Submarine (both for Nemira Publishing House, 1995 and 1998). For his first play, God Bless America, he received the Camil Petrescu Award in 1997. Two other plays, Left of the Father and The Duellist, were nominated for Best New Play at the Uniter Gala, in 1998 and 2000. He finally received the prize in 2002 for Our Father Who Art in the Supermarket.
Mimi Branescu: Born in 1974 in Lehliu, in the Calarasi region of Romania. He studied acting at the Bucharest Theatre and Film Academy. As an actor, his most important creations include Lucentio in Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare (Bulandra Theatre); Bottom in Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare (Resita Theatre); Jerry in Zoo Story by Edward Albee (Targoviste Theatre); Valerio in Leonce and Lena by Georg Büchner (Targoviste Theatre). His first play, The Garbage Man, was produced in 2003 by the Act Theatre in Bucharest and by the Fanny Tardini Theatre in Galati. Other plays he has written include Hair Curlers (produced by the Nottara Theatre in Bucharest), The Dragons and The Panel at the End of the Bed (produced by the Maria Filotti Theatre in Braila). He also worked as a film actor in A Pack of Kent and a Pack of Coffee, directed by Cristi Puiu (Golden Bear in Berlin, 2004), and in Filantropica, directed by Nae Caranfil.
Lia Bugnar: Born in 1969. She studied acting at the Bucharest Theatre and Film Academy. She has played numerous characters in theatre and cinema. Her most successful plays include You Can't Feel It Here and Bones for Otto, both of them produced by Green Hours Theatre in Bucharest. The two productions were invited to be performed at the Dublin Fringe Festival in 2004, where the company received the Project-Fringe Award.
Gianina Carbunariu: Graduated in directing from the Bucharest Theatre and Film Academy in 2004. One of the initiators of DramAcum project for the support of Romanian playwriting. As a director, she is best known for Stop the Tempo! (also written by her) at the Green Hours Theatre in Bucharest and Luck Helps Those Who Dare by Xavier Kroetz, at the Act Theatre in Bucharest. She made her debut as a playwright with Adventures from the Wild East. Her most recent play, madybaby.edu, was premiered early in 2005 at the Little Theatre in Bucharest, under her direction. The play was created during a residency at the Royal Court Theatre in London in the summer of 2004
Michael Collins: Before turning his hand to playwriting Michael Collins studied Engineering at Dublin City University. His plays include The Hackney Office (Druid Theatre Company, 2001) and Tadhg Stray Wandered In (Fishamble Theatre Company, 2004). He is currently working on a new play for Rough Magic Theatre Company.
Paul Meade: Writer, director, and actor and joint Artistic Director of Guna Nua Theatre Company. Previous work includes the plays, Skin Deep (winner Stewart Parker Award 2004) and Scenes From a Water Cooler (with David Parnell, winner Best Production Dublin Fringe 2001) and the translation of All These Guys by Gianina Carbinariu. Paul is from Limerick and studied acting at Trinity College and holds a M.A. in Modern Drama from U.C.D.
Christian O'Reilly: A Listowel writer who writes for theatre, television, film and radio. Druid have produced two of his plays: It Just Came Out and The Good Father, directed by Garry Hynes and joint winner of the 2002 Stewart Parker Award. Screenwriting credits include the award winning film Inside I'm Dancing, which is based on his original story.