Gábor Tompa


Gábor Tompa is an internationally renowned Romanian-Hungarian theater and film director, poet, essayist and teacher. Since 2007 he has been Head of Directing at the Theatre and Dance Department of the University of California, San Diego. He is the general and artistic director of the Hungarian Theatre of Cluj since 1990, the theatre is member of the Union of the Theatres of Europe since 2008. Founder and artistic director of the Interferences International Theatre Festival in Cluj, Romania. President of the Union of the Theatres of Europe since 2018.

Professional career

He graduated in stage and film directing at the I.L. Caragiale Theatre and Film Academy in Bucharest in 1981 as a student of Liviu Ciulei, Mihai Dimiu, Cătălina Buzoianu, founders of the world-famous Romanian school of stage directing. Since 1981 Tompa has directed plays at the Cluj-Napoca Hungarian Theatre in Cluj-Napoca. In 1987 he became the artistic director of the theatre, after the Romanian Revolution of 1989 he became the managing director of the theatre as well. He has staged more than 80 plays and produced other 80 in the United Kingdom,France, Germany,Spain,Austria,Serbia,Czech Republic,Canada,South Korea and the U.S. in addition to Romania and Hungary - in English, French, German, Romanian, Hungarian,Catalan and other languages.
His feature film, Chinese Defense, a Hungarian-Romanian-French coproduction has been presented at the Festivals of Berlin, Karlovy Vary, São Paulo, Trieste, Istanbul, Budapest, Soci and has been awarded the Best First Feature in Salerno,Italy.
Since 1989 he has been professor at the Szentgyörgyi István Theatre Academy in Târgu Mureş. He founded the Faculty of Dramatic Art in Cluj and has run its directing programme since 1991. From 1990–1995 he was head of directing at the Theatre Academy in Târgu Mureş; in 1991 he founded the Theatre and Drama Faculty in Cluj-Napoca. In 2005 he directed the M.A. program at Brunel University, London, UK. He has taught classes and workshops for actors and directors in Spain, the UK, Germany, Hungary,France and South Korea. From 2007-2015 he served as Head of Directing at the Theatre and Dance Department of the University of California, San Diego, where he keeps teaching Theatre Directing and History of Directing.
From March 2006 to April 2008, he was an individual member of the Union of the Theatres of Europe.
Founder in 2007 and artistic director to the present of the biennial Interferences International Theatre Festival in Cluj. In 2018 he has been elected President of the European Theatre Union.

Children

Eszter Tompa, Ábel Tompa, Sára Tompa

Works Worldwide

Shorts:
Features:
* Head of Directing at the Theatre Academy in Tg-Mures, Romania, 1990-1995
* Founder of the Theatre and Drama Faculty in Cluj, Romania, 1991
* Classes for actors at the State Theatre School in Freiburg, Germany, 1995-1999
* Theatre Academy, Barcelona and Institut del Teatre, Terrassa, Spain, 1999–2000
* Workshops for directors: International Workshop Festival, Manchester, UK 1993
* International Workshop Festival, Glasgow, UK 1994, International Workshop Festival, Belfast, UK 2000
* Festival de la Francophonie, Limoges, France 2003 Workshop on Shakespeare's Clowns, Palma de Mallorca, Spain 2003
* Brunel University, London, UK 2005
* Festival Iberoamericano de Teatro, Bogota, Colombia '
* Workshop for young directors on Hamlet
*Workshop for young directors on Woyzeck

Awards

- Nominated for Best Performance Award, 2011

- Nominated to the Best Performance Award, 2005

- Nominated to the Best Performance Award, 2003

- Winner of Award for Excellence – 2002

- Winner of Best Director of the Year in Romania

- Winner of Best Performance of the Year in Romania
- Best Director

- Best Performance