Live Arts: Tatou Dede On the Five Things You Need to Create a Highly Successful Career in Broadway, Theater or Live Performance Art
An Interview with Savio Clemente
Never give up. On my second show, Anti gone, in Thessaloniki, the theatre that we were about to perform in closed unexpectedly. Instead of giving up, having done a ton of rehearsals and research, I made it clear to my team that the show will happen even if we need to present on the street! That motivated me and my team to find another theater and do our show in the best possible way. That was a victory I will never forget.
As a part of our series about creating a successful career in theatre, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Tatou Dede.
Tatou Dede is a theatre director. She studied piano at the Music Conservatory Association of Athens where she got her Diploma with Distinction and First Prize. She holds a Bachelors in Piano from the Department of Music Science and Art from the University of Macedonia. She has a dance diploma from Rallou Manou, the Professional Dance School, and an acting diploma from Athinaiki Skini, the Drama School. She holds an MFA in Theatre Directing from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts).
In 2011, she founded her non-profit company TATOU in Athens, Greece, where she led as an actress, musician, and dancer in self-produced theatre performances. In 2013, she directed her first performance “7SEVEN” and since then has directed shows like “ANTI GONE”, “en (se res)semble”, and more, funded by the Greek Ministry of Culture.
In 2021, she came to the U.S. to complete an MFA at CalArts, during which she directed two highly interdisciplinary productions. Her latest work is the new play TERAS by Giorgis Despotakis, presented in Los Angeles at the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble last April.
She has traveled with her work to numerous festivals, including the United Solo Theater Festival in New York, and she has attended numerous seminars in Piano, Dance and Theatre. She is a member of the IETM, the multimedia art festival SCHMIEDE and the Greek MENSA.
You can see her work here: www.tatou-mdt.com
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?
I grew up in a small town in Peloponnesus, Greece, called Kranidi. I was very close to nature and the sea. Winters were sweet and cold, we had community around us and dinner nights around the fireplace, while we spent the summers at the beach or on my father’s boat, under the Greek sun, eating lots of watermelon and having lots of fun!
Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?
It was 2007 in Athens, Greece, when I went to watch THE QUARTET by Heiner Muller in Direction of Bob Wilson. I was amazed and in awe of what was unfolding in front of my eyes. I never thought that theater could be done this way. I still remember every detail of that show. Even though my first direction happened 6 years later, that’s when I knew that I wanted to do what Bob Wilson was doing. It engraved inside me and I unconsciously led my path to this direction.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
As the saying goes: “it takes a village”. I would talk about more than one person. First and foremost my family. Without them none of my creative achievements would happen. They are the pillars of my career and my dreams. We lost my dad when I was 24, so my mom and my brother continued to support me all the way, through thick and thin, through successes and failures. My extended family, aunts, uncles, and cousins, are always an important support net for me. They are present in every concert or show I have created, cheering on me and supporting me. I am lucky to be born into such a family. My mentors through the years that have been always there guiding me and encouraging me, Irene Moundraki, Petros Sevastikoglou, Janet Sarbanes, Chris Akerlind, and Ellen McCartney.
You probably have a lot of fascinating experiences. Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
To me the most interesting moments of this career are the interactions with the audience. That makes my work extremely interesting and fulfilling. When someone from the audience comes to talk to me after a show, and tells me that they saw themselves in the characters, that they were touched, they cried, they laughed, they experienced something, that is for me the most precious gift.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Theatre is a very difficult line of work. Whether you’re directing or you’re performing, the stakes are always high. The moment of the mistake is usually not funny, but tragic. The fun though, comes later, at the end of a show where everyone is relaxed and has survived the performance. At that time, that the danger is gone, you share difficult moments, mistakes and laugh out loud with your peers. What I learned is that theatre is about community and solidarity. Even in the hardest times you have people to support you and then laugh about it, to be open about your insecurities.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?
I just finished with a theatre project called TERAS, a new play by Giorgis Despotakis. I worked with some amazingly talented people and a great cast. The show was presented in April at the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble in Los Angeles. The production is in the works for its international tour. I am super excited to announce that I am in pre-production of a new project, a dream of mine, but unfortunately the only thing I can say about it is that it’s going to be a Greek tragedy — reimagined. It is a multidisciplinary work that I can’t wait to start putting together.
You have been blessed with success in a career path that can be challenging. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of rejection, lack of support, or failure?
Never give up. Keep going and believe in yourself and your ideas. As long as the ideas in your head are bigger than your feeling of failure, don’t give up on them. Through my career I pushed through very difficult situations, insisted on my ideas and found the people that will support them. It’s all about believing in yourself and finding your people. It takes a village…
Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in the live performance industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?
I would say always challenge yourself. Do something that sounds bigger than you, more complicated, find the thing that people tell you not to do and do it. In that way, even if it’s extremely tiring and exhausting, it keeps you fresh. You continue to reinvent yourself and therefore not “burn out”.
Thank you for all that. This is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career in Broadway, Theater or Live Performances” and why?
- Never give up. On my second show, Anti gone, in Thessaloniki, the theatre that we were about to perform in closed unexpectedly. Instead of giving up, having done a ton of rehearsals and research, I made it clear to my team that the show will happen even if we need to present on the street! That motivated me and my team to find another theater and do our show in the best possible way. That was a victory I will never forget.
- Find your people. Always look for collaborators that will eventually become family. For a director it is extremely important to have people they trust deeply around them. My collaborator, video and interactive technology designer, Melanie Thewlis, has been working with me for 10 years now. And after all that time we don’t need to talk much, I tell her my idea and she generously creates miracles. We have built a deep artistic connection.
- Believe in your instincts. Since I started, my instincts have become stronger and stronger. That is because I believed in them from the beginning. Of course I made mistakes, and have failed myself, but I was able to always come back to my core. Even if sometimes that voice inside our heads feels small, even then we should stand by it. She is the one that will keep us on track of our dreams.
- Always be professional. In my experience, confusing personal and professional relationships in a work never helps to do the best you can. Our profession is certainly one that has a lot of depth, feelings, and drama but that ends with the rehearsals, you cannot carry that into your personal life. It creates confusion and it also affects the quality of your work.
- Lead with love. Even in the hardest times, love your actors, your designers and yourself. You are all there to serve the work and you are all doing it with the best of intentions. If you catch yourself becoming frustrated, or rude, apologize and find a way to heal. At the end of the day theatre has to be a cathartic experience. Not only for the audience but for the creators as well.
For the benefit of our readers, could you describe how the skill-sets you need in a theater performance are different than the skill-sets you need for TV or Film?
In my opinion the skill-sets are the same wherever you work. The work environment changes, but if you are a good theatre director, you will be a good TV or Film one, too. I say that because a director’s knowledge on how to guide the actors, their aesthetics and their leadership, are skills don’t change. In both cases they have to be at a high level. What makes a director move from theater to TV or Film and vice versa is not the skill-sets, but the love for live performance or camera performance. It has to do with how a director sees performance.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I would put all my efforts to stop people that take advantage of others, that step on others’ backs to succeed. I would support and empower women leaders and make sure that education and culture is shared with everyone, no matter their financial class.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” — Samuel Beckett
That quote helped me through my life to not be afraid of failure. And no matter what, to always get up and start over. I am not afraid of beginnings. They are hard, but they make you mature and strong.
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
Amy Poehler and Tina Fey! Firstly, I believe that being a (woman) comedian means a high level of intelligence. And secondly these two women have managed to succeed in life, do their own careers and still remain friends. That shows a lot on women’s solidarity, empowerment and leadership.
How can our readers continue to follow your work online?
Through my Instagram profile: @tatoua
This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!
Live Arts: Tatou Dede On the Five Things You Need to Create a Highly Successful Career in Broadway… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.