From the very outset, the objective of the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation has been to highlight and strengthen, on an international level, Greece’s central role in the study and research of Ancient Greek Drama, as well as its cultural, social and educational significance, with particular emphasis on cultural diplomacy.

• The Programme, entitled “Ancient Drama: Influences and Contemporary Approaches,” was launched in 2012, within the framework of the Operational Programme “ATTICA” of the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) 2007–2013, co-financed by Greece and the European Union. The inaugural collaboration was with Stanford University, USA, and featured the performance “The Wanderings of Odysseus,” directed by Rush Rehm. At the same time, a series of seminars and workshops was held by distinguished Stanford University academics.
• The same format was maintained in the following years, with collaborations such as that with the University of Leeds, UK, which presented a new and contemporary interpretation of Sophocles’ Antigone, directed by George Rodosthenous.

This collaboration led to the writing and publication of two academic volumes by Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, focusing on the adaptation and presentation of Ancient Greek Tragedy on the contemporary stage, with extensive references to the Programme, the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation and Greece.

• In 2014, in collaboration with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a futuristic physical narrative of “Lysistrata,” directed by Emmanuella Amichai, was presented under the title “Lysistrata-X.”

The production “Lysistrata-X” received the Quality Award from the Artistic Committee of the European Move Awards, recognizing it as an outstanding visual theatre production for 2015. Out of 78 countries that submitted entries, the production was selected as one of the four finalists.

• The following year, in 2015, in collaboration with the Aalto School of Art and Design and the Theatre Academy Helsinki, Finland, the production “Antigone Reloaded” was presented — a contemporary version influenced by comics and the films of Quentin Tarantino.

This collaboration led to the establishment of a Chair of Greek Studies, with a focus on Ancient Greek Drama, at the Theatre Academy Helsinki, an initiative that also followed a recommendation by the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs within the framework of the cultural diplomacy policy required at the time.

Over the years, the institution evolved and acquired its present form through the addition of an International Forum and a visual arts event under the title “Ancient Drama: Interdisciplinary and Cross- Art  Approaches.” The Programme was incorporated into the action “Establishment and Promotion of International Institutions of Contemporary Culture in Attica”, within the framework of Regional Operational Program “ATTICA” Partnership Agreement 2014-2020.

• The first collaboration within this framework, in 2017, was with the Fundación de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, which presented the performance “Displaced,” directed by María Escobar and Juanfra Rodríguez, in collaboration with academic institutions from Italy and the United Kingdom.
• In 2018, in collaboration with LabexArts-H2H (ArTeC), Département Arts et Technologies de l’Image, Université Paris 8 Vincennes–Saint-Denis, France, an International Forum was organized on the theme “Ancient Drama & the Digital Age.” The Forum brought together academics, researchers and artists from Greece and abroad. It was accompanied by the presentation of the performance “Prometheia” by Medea Electronique & Cie Sébastien Perrault, a multimedia adaptation of the myth of Prometheus.
• In 2019, we collaborated with the Forum Internationale Wissenschaft of the University of Bonn, Germany, to organize an International Forum focusing on Ancient Drama and Political Science, entitled “Grand Narratives / The Return Athens_2019,” with the participation of academics, researchers and artists from Greece and abroad.

At the same time, the performance “The Suppliants,” directed by Dimos Avdeliodis, was presented, while the visual arts exhibition “Oresteia Reversed” was created specifically for the purposes of the Programme. The exhibition subsequently toured Greece and received a highly positive response from the public.

• Following a hiatus due to the exceptional circumstances brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Programme resumed in 2021 with a combination of hybrid seminars and a Forum, in collaboration with the Laboratory of Ancient Drama and Theatre Studies of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, within whose activities ARCNET and the Czech Centre Athens also participate. The theme was Ancient Drama and Folk Tradition.

At the same time, the theatrical production “Hercules” by Prague City Theatres, directed by Tomáš Loužný, was presented on the Theatre stage in May 2021. We also hosted the visual arts exhibition “Electras of the World,” which has since begun touring across Greece.

In September 2024, within the framework of the action “Ancient Drama: Interdisciplinary and Cross- Art  Approaches,” incorporated into the action “Establishment and Promotion of International Institutions of Contemporary Culture in Attica” “, included in the Partnership Agreement 2021-2027, co-funded by the European Union, we had the pleasure of hosting the internationally renowned McGill University, Canada, and the multi-award-winning Italian theatre company MOTUS.

The theme of the programme was “Ancient Drama: Between Tragedy and Horror.”

• Professors from McGill University, in collaboration with academics from leading universities around the world — including the University of Edinburgh, the University of British Columbia, Berkeley College, Loyola Marymount University, Laurier University, Memorial University, and others — organized a series of hybrid seminars and workshops. Funding was also secured to cover the participants’ travel and accommodation expenses in Athens.

The seminars and workshops explored different manifestations of horror, using the works of the great Greek tragedians as a starting point, while also examining their influence on the work of significant contemporary creators.

The presentations once again placed the Programme “Ancient Drama: Interdisciplinary and Inter-artistic Approaches” at the forefront of international study and research into Ancient Drama.

As part of the theatrical programme, MOTUS, through a contemporary and groundbreaking approach, adapted Euripides’ “The Trojan Women,” retelling the story from the perspective of the defeated.

The visual arts component was likewise inspired by The Trojan Women. Twenty-four contemporary comic artists contributed their own perspectives to the exhibition entitled “The Trojan Women: Struggle in the Ruins.”

• In September 2025, the institution “Ancient Drama: Interdisciplinary and Cross-Art Approaches” featured Brazil as its partner country, with the distinguished researcher Rafaella Uhiara of the University of São Paulo as its lead academic partner.

Together with her colleague Ana Wegner and Filippo Fabbri, Professor of Advanced Music Education at Paris-Saclay University, they developed the framework for the hybrid seminars, Forum and workshops, held under the central title:

“Climate, Myth and Tragedy: Intercultural Dialogues in the Anthropocene.”

The hybrid seminars and workshops, organized in collaboration with academics from the Universities of Copenhagen, Bergen, Prague and Weimar, as well as the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, explored the position of contemporary humanity in the face of the challenges of the post-human era.

At the same time, they opened a meaningful intercultural dialogue around key issues concerning the environment, culture and the reinterpretation of the classical texts of Antiquity.

The performance “Prometheus Cancelled” by the theatre company Trupe Pé na Arte, directed by Rafaella Uhiara, offered a bold and contemporary reading of the myth of Prometheus. Through a contemporary theatrical language, it explored how a society balancing technological expansion, human intervention in the environment and the renegotiation of universal human values might receive, today, the fire-bearing benefactor of humanity.

The anti-war tragedy “The Persians” by Aeschylus, the oldest surviving theatrical work in the world, served as the source of inspiration for the 28 visual artists who participated in the visual arts event entitled:

“Atossa, What Are You Dreaming Of?”