New Artistic Director for Lilla Teatern and new Dramaturg for Helsinki City Theatre

The Board of Directors of the Helsinki Theatre Foundation has selected two new artists for the Helsinki City Theatre. Ari-Pekka Lahti (Master of Arts in Theatre and Drama, Master of Arts) will start as a dramaturg on 1.9.2019 and Jakob Höglund (Master of Arts in Theatre and Drama) as the artistic director of Lilla Teatern on 1.11.2019. Both of them will participate in the repertoire planning of the Helsinki City Theatre.

“Jakob Höglund was called to Lilla Teatern’s artistic director. He is highly qualified as a director and knows the Finnish-Swedish theatre field extraordinarily,” says theatre director Kari Arffman.

“Lillan and I found each other and fell in love under my direction of The Summer Book the other year. To now be able to join such a legendary theatre as Lilla Teatern and dance her into the future, I take very seriously, but also with playful enthusiasm,” says Jakob Höglund.

“We received many good applications for the position of dramaturg, a total of 20, of which we interviewed four and chose Ari-Pekka Lahti. With his background as a dramaturg, playwright and director, he has a very diverse experience of theatre and as a former theatre manager, he also knows repertoire planning,” Arffman continues.

“It feels like coming home! During my studies, I worked in the cloakroom at the Helsinki City Theatre, and I’ve always said that it was the nicest job I’ve ever had. We received the audience’s jackets and gave them back after the performance. The rest of the time, we watched performances and talked to our colleagues. Sometimes I passed the room where the dramaturg was sitting and thought about how nice it would be to one day be able to step in there,” Ari-Pekka Lahti recalls.

Ari-Pekka Lahti (b. 1975) received the State Prize for Performing Arts in 2012 and is an award-winning dramaturg, playwright, director and theatre manager with many years of experience in international theatre cooperation and success as a theatre manager (Kokkola City Theatre 2009-2012). He has written plays for several professional theatres in the Helsinki metropolitan area and for regional theatres. Lahti’s play Sydänmaa had its world premiere in 2005 on the stage of the Helsinki City Theatre Studio Pasila. Lahti is also known as the artistic director of the Ruska Ensemble.

Jakob Höglund (b. 1981) graduated from the Theatre Academy in 2007 and has since worked as a director, choreographer, actor and dancer in Finland, Sweden and Norway. He is known for directing and choreography for e.g. the successful musicals Billy Elliot (2017) and Myrskyluodon Maija (2018) for the Vaasa City Theatre. Höglund has also directed the beloved Summer Book (2018), which is one of the biggest successes at Lillan in recent years.

Press photos can be found in the image bank Ari-Pekka Lahti and Jakob Höglund

For more information, please contact: Lilla Teatern, Communications Officer Ida Virkkunen 050-3574250