Anthony Nikolchev

Anthony Nikolchev grew up in California's Bay Area. He studied at Wesleyan University under his longtime friend and mentor, Yuri Kordonsky - a student of Lev Dodin in St. Petersburg, Russia and a direct descendant of training tracing back to Konstantin Stanislavsky. Chicago was his first professional theater home, working for one year amongst Chicago companies such as Lookingglass and others (including a lasting friendship with actor Stephen Louis Grush, the artistic director of XIII Pocket Theatre, of which Anthony was a ensemble member). Following the Chicago premiere and success of his first self-written solo performance, "Look, What I Don't Understand," about his Bulgarian father's escape from communism, Anthony received an invitation to tour his performance to a theater festival in Yerevan, Armenia. This changed his life, as Anthony would return to Chicago only to buy a one way ticket to Poland, selling all belongings that wouldn't fit into a backpack, and jumping into a five-year odyssey to capture the training, life experiences and exposure to theatre and art offered by the deep traditions and progressive contemporary practice found in Central Europe and beyond. Anthony has since performed his original solo performances and other plays on stages in Moscow, Warsaw, London, and throughout the UK, Germany, Poland, Armenia, Switzerland, Czech Republic and Slovakia. He has performed his two Best Actor (NYC's United Solo Festival) award-winning one man shows in New York City (Theater Row), Los Angeles (Odyssey Theatre Ensemble) and Chicago. The LA Times has called his performance a "tour de force," while critics around the world have acclaimed his acting and writing as "brilliant," "formidable" and "breathless." Anthony has written several professionally produced plays for the stage, and regularly collaborates with Vivien Wood, a dancer/choreographer trained at the Royal Ballet in London and a performer with DV8 Physical Theatre Ensemble, as well as with members of the Polish theatre ensemble, Studio Matejka, with whom he trained extensively in the physical expression of the actor at the Grotowski Institute in Wroclaw, Poland (2010-2012). Anthony has been awarded three Best Actor awards in various theatre and film festivals, working on screen and stage in the US and Europe, and teaches at the California Institute for the Arts School of Theater.