Qëndrim Rijani
Qëndrim Rijani is an Albanian director of theatre, film and opera. He has directed many plays, Albanian and foreign, that were performed in many different countries in Europe and that have been honored with many awards in various festivals. His plays are characterised by his direct and rough style. He is the director of the first Albanian opera in North Macedonia. Early life Qëndrim Rijani was born on 30 March 1990 in Kichevo, North Macedonia. He attended elementary and high school in his hometown. He got a theatre director degree in the Arts University of Tirana. In this same university, he got his master's degree in Spectacle and Theatre Directing with his thesis called: "Kiçi dhe kthetrat e tij". He also has taken part in some specialty workshops in his field. Career He brought his first play on stage independently (without an artistic supervisor) in the third year of his university studies. He has directed many successful plays, Albanian and foreign, that were produced in Albania, North Macedonia and Kosovo, plays which also have been performed in theatrical festivals in many European countries including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Russia, Switzerland and Turkey. His career took off around 2014–2015 with the plays “Doktor Shuster” and “Gjymtimi”, which were very successful and won a considerable amount of awards considering the young age of the director and gave a boost to his artistic life. In 2018, Qëndrim Rijani was selected to be part of the jury in the Nationwide Theatrical Festival in Tirana. In 2019, Qëndrim Rijani brought to his audience the play “Xhelatët” and opera “Skënderbeu”. Two works of in higher cultural category, each having required two years of work to prepare. His now the in-house director in the Albanian Theater in Skopje, outer professor in the Arts University in Tirana where he teaches Acting Mastery and outer professor in the State University of Tetova where he teaches Theatre Directing. To this day, he has directed 16 plays in professional national and city theatres: “Ne vijmë për Ajër” (Catastrophic Love Puzzles in Outer Space) - Scotto Moore “Kapitulli i Dytë” (Chapter Two) - Neil Simon “Gjymtimi” (A Behanding in Spokane) - Martin McDonagh “Doktor Shuster” (Doktor Šuster / Doctor Shoemaker) - Dušan Kovačević “Art” - Yasmina Reza “Gënjeshtër Pas Gënjeshtre” (The Big Lie) - Anthony Neilson “Ushtria e Ui Tomasit” (The Lieutenant of Inishmore) - Martin McDonagh “Shtëpia e Bernarda Albës” (La casa de Bernarda Alba / The House of Bernarda Alba) - Federico Garcia Lorca “Darka e Thërrimeve” - Refet Abazi “39 Hapat” (The 39 Steps) - Alfred Hitchcock “Gratë” (Huit femmes / Eight Women) - Robert Thomas “Roberto Xuko” (Roberto Zucco) - Bernard-Marie Koltès “Në Det” (Na pełnym morzu / At Sea) - Sławomir Mrożek "Jashtë Bie Borë" (...e fuori nevica! / And It's Snowing Outside) - Vincenzo Salemme "Xhelatët (Hangmen)" - Martin McDonagh "Opera për tre grosh" (The Threepenny Opera) - Bertolt Brecht "Plus 18" - David Mamet & Arian Krasniqi "11 Të Xhindosur" (Twelve Angry Men) - Reginald