Gianina Cărbunariu is a playwright director, born in 1977 in Piatra Neamț. She graduated “Petru Rareș” Theoretical High School in Piatra Neamț (1996), attended courses of the Faculty of Letters of the University of Bucharest (1996 – 2000) and is a graduate of the Faculty of Theatre, Theatre Directing section (2004) as well as of the Master in dramatic writing, at the UNATC I.L Caragiale Bucharest (2006). She delivers her doctoral thesis, “The playwright director” (Magna Cum Laude). in 2011, at UNATC I.L Caragiale.
     As a director and playwright she cooperates, after 2004, with various public or independent theatres in Romania: Teatrul Național Radu Stanca in Sibiu, Teatrul Mic, Teatrul Odeon, Teatrul Luni, Teatrul Act iin Bucharest, Fabrica de Pensule, Teatrul Maghiar de Stat in Cluj, as well as with theatres abroad: Kammerspiele Theater Munchen, Emilia Romagna Fondazione (ERT), Royal Court London, Schaubuehne Berlin, Royal Dramatic Stockholm etc.
In Romania she had performances in the I.L Caragiale National Theatre Festival, the International Theatre Festival in Sibiu, the Romanian Dramaturgy Festival in Timișoara, the International Festival for Young Public in Iași, the TESZT International Festival in Timișoara, the Short Theatre Festival in Oradea, the Comedy Festival in Bucharest, the Temps d’Image Festival in Cluj etc.
     The Solitaritate performance, a co-production of TNRS Sibiu, of the Avignon Festival and of the National Theatre in Brussels, was presented in the official selection of the Avignon Festival in 2014. She returned to the official selection of the Avignon Festival in 2016, as the author of the text The Tigre, produced by the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm and the Swedish company Jupither&Josephsson.
     Other participations in international festivals: New Plays From Europe Bienale in Wiesbaden (2004, 2006), Wienner Festwochen, TransAmeriques Festival in Montreal, Dialog Festival Wroclaw, New Drama Budapest, New Drama Moscow, LIFT London, Divadelna Nitra Slovakia, Kontakt Festival in Torun, Mladi Levi Ljubljana, the Theatre Festival in Pecs, the International Festival in Valladolid, the International Festival in Limoges, Premieres Festival in Strasbourg, the International Festival in Almada, the International Festival in Liege etc.
     Her performances were presented on various tours in theatres abroad: State Theatre in Freiburg, National Theatre in Brussels, State Theatre in Dresden, National Theatre in Prague, Trafo in Budapest, National Dramatic Centre in Madrid, Wallonie-Bruxelles Centre in Paris, Volksbuhne Vienna, Onassis Centre in Athens, HAU Berlin, TR Warsaw etc.
     The texts of Kebab, Stop the Tempo, The Tiger were translated and performed in various languages (English, French, German, Swedish, Spanish, Italian, Hungarian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Serbian, Bulgarian, Greek, Turkish, Portuguese, Japanese, Danish). The texts of Stop the Tempo, Solitarity, Kebab, The Tiger, Tipographic Capital Letters, The day after tomorrow the day before yesterday were published by publishing houses such as Oberon Books, Actes Sud, Martin E. Segal Theatre Center Publications, Theater der Zeit, L’espace d’un instant etc.
     She held theatre workshops for young professionals in Romania and abroad (Dramaturgy of the Everyday at the UBB Cluj, Master in Theatre Studies at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles and University Royal Conservatory in Brussels, the Advanced study program of ERT in Modena, New Text, New Theatre in Istanbul, workshop for young actors and playwrights in Madrid, dramaturgy workshop in the framework of the Master in dramatic writing, at the UNATC I.L Caragiale in Bucharest). Between 2013 – 2015 she was a lecturer at the Faculty of Theatre of the Babeş – Bolyai University in Cluj.
     A selection of prizes and nominations includes: UNITER Prize for Best performance in 2014 (for For Sale – a co-production of Odeon Theatre and the State Theatre in Hamburg), nomination for UNITER Prize for Best performance in 2016 (for Artists Talk, a co-production of Arcub and Piese Refractare), special prize of the UNITER Senate (for Tipographic Capital Letters), prize for best performance and directing at the Atelier Festival in Sfîntu Gheorghe, prize for best directing at the Comedy Festival in Bucharest (208, 2014), AICT Prize (International Association of Theatre Critics in Romania) in 2004, 2008, and 2010, Prize for Best performance for Roșia Montană – on a Physical Line and on a Political Line (collective directing) at the Romania Dramaturgy Festival in Timișoara etc.
     In 2001, besides Andreea Vălean, Radu Apostol and Alexandru Berceanu, she initiates dramAcum, a project supporting Romanian contemporary dramaturgy through competitions, translations and performance productions. She is president of Piese Refractare Association.