András Visky

András Visky (born April 13, 1957) is a Hungarian-Romanian poet, playwright and essayist and the resident dramaturg at Cluj-Napoca Hungarian Theatre, Romania, where he also holds the position of associate artistic director.

His plays have been staged in several countries including Romania, Hungary, France, Italy, Poland, Slovenia, England, Scotland and the United States.

Visky's father, Ferenc Visky, was a minister of the Hungarian Reformed Church who in 1958 was sentenced to 22 years in prison and forced labor by the Romanian Communist authorities for "the crime of organization against socialist public order."

Shortly after, his wife and their seven children were deported to the Bărăgan (see Bărăgan deportations); Visky was only two years old at the time.

In 1964, his father and other political prisoners were released during a short-lived period of relative thaw in which the regime relaxed its repressive policies.

Visky himself was released the same year along with his mother and siblings.

Visky joined the Hungarian Theatre of Cluj as dramaturg in 1990.

This was also the beginning of his long professional collaboration with Gábor Tompa, the artistic director of the theatre.

The pair have worked together on innumerable performances, including plays by Shakespeare, Chekhov, Ionesco, Caragiale, Gombrowicz and Beckett, and Tompa has directed Visky's Júlia, Tanítványok, Hosszú péntek, Visszaszületés and Alkoholisták.

Visky has also worked with directors Dragoş Galgoţiu, Mihai Măniuţiu, Robert Raponja, David Zinder, Robert Woodruff and Karin Coonrod.

He has a DLA (Doctor of Liberal Arts) from the University of Theatre and Film, Budapest and since 1994 he has lectured at the Babeş-Bolyai University in the Department of Theatre and Television.

He is one of the co-founders and the former executive director of Koinónia Publishing.

For the 2009–2010 academic year, Visky was the Spoelhof Chair at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he taught courses in playwriting and Hungarian and Romanian theatre.

He has also led workshops or taught as a guest lecturer at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (Budapest), Northern Illinois University (DeKalb IL), the University of Michigan (Kalamazoo MI), the University of California, San Diego (CA), Yale School of Drama (New Haven CT), Károli Gáspár University (Budapest), Josai International University (Tokyo, Japan), and Osaka University (Osaka, Japan).

2010 - Alkoholisták (Alcoholics) - Hungarian Theatre of Cluj, directed by Gábor Tompa.

2010 - Juliet (English version of Júlia) - Theatre Y, Royal George Theatre, Chicago, directed by Karin Coonrod.

2010 - Backborn (English version of Visszaszületés) - Laboratory Theater, Calvin College, Grand Rapids MI, directed by Stephanie Sandberg.

2011 - Megöltem az anyámat (I Killed My Mother) - Hungarian Theatre of Cluj, created by Csilla Albert and Áron Dimény.

2012 - Porn (English version of Pornó) - Theatre Y, Chicago, directed by Éva Patkó.

2012 - Ha lesz egy férfinak... (If A Man Has...) - Gólem Színház, Budapest, directed by András Borgula.

2012 - I Killed My Mother (English version of Megöltem az anyámat) - Theatre Y, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, New York, directed by Karin Coonrod.

2013 - Juliet (English version of Júlia) - Sacred Playground Theatre Project, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, directed by Robin Witt.

2013 - I Killed My Mother (English version of Megöltem az anyámat) - Summer Dialogue Productions, Rosemary Branch Theatre, London, directed by Natalia Gleason.

2014 - Fatelessness, based on the novel by Imre Kertesz, adapted by Andras Visky and Adam Boncz - HERE Arts Center, New York.

2014 - Caravaggio Terminal (Caravaggio Terminal), a project by András Visky and Robert Woodruff - Hungarian Theatre of Cluj, directed by Robert Woodruff.

2015 - Pornó (Porn)- Szatmári Északi Színház and the Harag György Társulat - Bethlen Téri Theatre, Budapest, Hungary..

2016 - ''The Unburied.

The Saint of Darkness'', a radio play - Above the Arts – Arts Theatre, London.

2016 - Megöltem az anyámat (I Killed My Mother) - Petőfi Theatre, Sopron, Hungary.

2016 - Pornó (Porn)- Teatr Nowy, Poznan, Poland.

2016 - Juliet – Ruse, Bulgaria.

In 2017 he spoke at the European Division of the Library of Congress.

Over the course of his play writing, Visky has developed what he terms a "barrack dramaturgy".

Having grown up in an eastern European gulag, he returns again and again in his plays to what it means to be a prisoner and the problem of being set free.

His most well-known plays include Júlia (Juliet), Megöltem az anyámat (I Killed My Mother), Tanítványok (Disciples), Alkoholisták (Alcoholics), Visszaszületés (Born for Never or Backborn), Hosszú péntek (Long Friday), Pornó (Porn), and Caravaggio Terminal (Caravaggio Terminal).

Notable productions include:

2017 - ''The Unburied.

The Saint of Darkness'', [Foreign Affairs], Rose Lipman Building, London, directed by Camila França & Trine Garrett.

2017 - I Killed My Mother - Spooky Action Theatre, Washington, D.C., directed by Natalia Gleason Nagy.

2017 - Júlia (Juliet) - Pesti Magyar Színház, Budapest.