Yana Ross is an American-Lithuanian theatre director based in Vilnius who has worked extensively in Sweden, Iceland, Norway and Germany. Her work explores sometimes taboo subjects embedded in foreign cultures using improvisation techniques, often through the medium of classical texts. Her Swedish show, Uncle Vanya, addresses the issue of “forced” heritage and sexual equality, while her Islandic show, Salka Valka, delves into the subject of incest and child abuse. From 2018 to 2024, she was part of a collaborative artistic direction project at the Schauspielhaus Zürich and presented her work at the Théâtre national Wallonie-Bruxelles, the Venice Biennale, and the Salzburg Festival. Yana Ross has given a platform to strong female voices, including Maja Zade, Kata Weber, Leila Slimani and Virginie Despentes, including in Cher Connard, an international production staged in Zurich in 2023. She has won Best Director awards in Sweden, Poland, and Lithuania, and her work is currently being shown in Vienna, New York, and China. She was awarded a director’s residency at the Schauspielhaus Zurich and began collaborating with the Berliner Ensemble in 2023.