About Synetic Theater

“There isn’t another theater I’ve found quite like Synetic. They can speak the speech of Shakespeare without saying a word.”
–Simon Godwin, STC Artistic Director, 2023

“No one does what they do, not in Washington or, really, anywhere that I know of.”
–Michael Kaiser, President of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 2011

“The Tsikurishvilis’ originality demands to be experienced.”
–Peter Marks, The Washington Post, 2002

Synetic Theater emerged from the creative vision of founders Georgian immigrants Paata and Irina Tsikurishvili, who emigrated from the former Soviet country of Georgia in 1995. Trained in dance, theatre, and film, the Tsikurishvilis combine traditions of the Caucasus with distinctly American styles to tell classic stories through movement, music, technology and visual arts. Synetic made its artistic debut in 2001, with its first wordless Shakespeare production, Hamlet…the rest is silence, thrilling audiences with its athletic and high-voltage physical theatre.

Since then they have created over 90 original productions, and trained hundreds of artists in their unique blend of dance, mime, combat, and acting, and work with a rotating company of performers, some new, some of whom have been with the company nearly 25 years. Unique in the US for its signature reinventions of classic literary works, folktales, and devised works, Synetic has established itself as the region’s premier physical theater company, and proudly brings its original work to local, regional, and international audiences, along with camps, classes, its flagship Teen and Pre-Teen Ensembles, outreach productions, and residencies in schools.