Dimitris Potamitis

Dimitris Potamitis was born in 1945 in Cyprus, specifically in Limassol, and studied at the Athens Drama School. He first performed with the Manos Katrakis-Alexis Solomos troupe, and in 1989, he played "Orestes" at Epidaurus with the Cyprus Theatre Organization. He founded the Theatre of Research in the Zografou area and was the heart and soul of this theatrical corner, which presented many pioneering performances for thirty years. The theater eventually closed, not only for financial reasons, as its founder mentioned, but also for aesthetic and ethical reasons. In a "manifesto" he released in November 2002, he pointed out that "he could not resist the cultural triviality and cultural pornography." From 1971, when the theater opened in the Zografou neighborhood, it staged works such as "The Elephant Man," "The Greek Frog," and many other plays from the classical and modern repertoire. He authored six children's books, including "The Upside-Down Fairy Tales," "Stories of Grandpa Aristophanes," and "Socrates' Leash." He strongly believed in children's theater and mentioned in an earlier interview that "with children's theater, we prepare tomorrow's good audience, tomorrow's conscientious citizen, but above all, tomorrow's Prime Minister of Greece." His passionate views on theater and art often brought him into conflict with political authority, and he criticized it at every opportunity. He passed away in 2003 at the age of 58 after a long battle with an incurable illness.