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PAD is a method which has in recent years affected the classical tools for the assessment of theatrical studies and which turns actors into people with a new perception and ethos - something that needs to be our aim and ultimate goal. Mrs. Tsaroucha’s contribution to the world of art is noteworthy. The success of PAD can to a large degree be ascribed to Maria as an arts coach and as someone who organizes training seminars in her own successful PAD theory. PAD is also a method of social empowerment, by promoting positive changes for the public and as a tool for the leap in collective consciousness so direly needed by humanity today. Such an innovative conception deserves to be established internationally as one of the acting methods worldwide.

One of the best collaborations I can recall is that with Maria Tsaroucha, who directed and led in my play “The Missing- an interesting life. This is a play which, on the occasion of the “difficult” subject of people missing in the aftermath of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, deals with contemporary issues such as intentional ignorance and fear. The play had already been produced several times but Tsaroucha’s presentation surpassed all expectations. She presented it from the point of view of an ancient Greek tragedy and the production was enriched by the ancient emotion of Methexis and Catharsis. Through PAD, she was able to interlink contemporary theater with the rituals and the sacred emotion of Ancient Tragedy, thus presenting the audience with a invaluable esthetic experience. A unique experience also for the actors who participated and had the opportunity to explore their limits and abilities past the boundaries of the conventional acting technique. Moreover, Maria Tsaroucha, who had one of the leading roles, gave a live and fully characteristic instance of PAD, attaining to a performance overwhelming in its simplicity and naturalness.

I feel very lucky to have encountered on my way director Maria Tsaroucha, as this was the first time I experienced such great pleasure and honesty in my work and in the building of a role. Mrs. Tsaroucha is one of the most important women directors and simultaneously an amazing acting coach who managed to completely free me on stage, simultaneously offering me extremely important tools. What affects me most is that this process to which I was introduced , is no mere technique but a way that employs the imagination as a tool and simultaneously connects and rouses self-knowledge and existential issues which actors are called to answer in the name of honesty both to themselves and in their projected performance. Mrs. Tsaroucha combines Method Acting, the vision of quantum physics and guided visualization into an outcome that is magical and moving for the mind and soul of both actors and audiences. Actors are called to exist, rather than playact, and the audience is called to feel, not think, raising in an organic manner their consciousness through an exchange of energy that springs from an authentic and organic performance. I am grateful for the collaboration with her and for this experience since, after that, there is no way of going back to previous methods of preparation as actors. I wish to thank her for her help in my personal journey of spiritual development, reminding me that a shift in consciousness is possible and authentic and, through it, a magical performance can be attained.

I had the amazing opportunity to be introduced to the PAD method in combination with the vision of quantum physics. I’ve studied Mathematics and Physics and Quantum Theory has always made a special impression on me. How great it is to be able to apply this theory on acting and understand the concept of multiple dimensions. The collaboration with Maria Tsaroucha made one thing clear – she has limitless respect for the actor. Her theory aims at the attainment of self-awareness by the actor, becoming conscious of the environment, continued research and observation, the continued study of human nature. For Maria Tsaroucha there exists a very important triptych: the body, the mind and the soul. This triptych along with a very good technique, allows the actor to attain to great performances and succeed in transforming a role. Maria Tsaroucha protects the actor and helps him feel safe and hence more creative and real within the present moment. And she goes further, because her vision extends beyond the one actual time period and incorporates the concepts of the universal and the eternal in the art of theater. She prompts the actor to “forget” his physical aspect and its limitations through meditation, brings him close to the soul, the energy formed within a body, and helps him focus on an immaterial state of being. This, finally, is also what Plato suggested, what we already know and can help us, through dialectics, reach perennial and universal truths.

Further developing Method acting, PAD connected the actor and the experience of “being” on stage to the more structural question of “Who I am” on stage. Basic principles of Einstein, Tesla and other great personalities of science constitute the platform of this new technique. It was one specific exercise, that of the “observer”, that changed my life. I certainly was familiar with the exercise, though not in this developed form. In this exercise you observe everything around you, the environment and yourself as a creature. How do you do this? It’s actually very simple, you “get out of your head” and simply observe without a critical attitude. Much happens while we are not observing. While working to work, for instance, you can simultaneously observe everything around you moving, acting and reacting in the foreground and the background. Cars are passing by and there is a cat walking across the street, a bird trills, a leaf falls in your path, people pass you by etc. You become simultaneously the observer and the observed. You are fully in that moment. And then an amazing thing happens. The veil of the matrix in front of you disappears since you have become a part of it and for some reason you feel connected to everything.
You begin to experience being part of a larger whole. A transcendental state of perception leads to an alternative state of feeling, a kind of bliss. You feel calm and simultaneously focused on what is really happening. You just “are”. Just breathing and realizing your existence in the now. At a quantum level we are all connected, all made of the same material. On stage we are trained to transform this into an experience. PAD aims at introducing this perception to our understanding and achieve an exceptional performance, aims at unlocking the refined, intelligent capacity to perceive, connecting your subconscious, your ego and your higher self, first as a human being and then as an actor. There are of course many other exercises that lend themselves to the training but one of the most important tools for cultivating our art form is mental visualization. The silencing of my ego through visualization helped me incredibly in opening a new field of understanding for myself. Deconstructing my physical level of the five senses and focusing on the sixth sense of perceivable reality. Visualization is a powerful tool to use for yourself but when there are more people involved, it is all the more powerful. Imagine what you can achieve with four actors presenting their character at once. The accumulation of energy is very intense and so is that impact on any one individual. As a group we learned that “I am one with you and you are one with me”, a statement that changed the dynamic of the group and transformed us. We met each other with love, compassion and empathy. I am another you. Exactly as quantum theory implies the theory of parallel universes, PAD brings this theory to the actor on stage and suggests that we are all one and coexisting in this particular time frame, in this particular universe. At the level of character analysis PAD suggests that I already am my character at a different frame, hence I don’t need to find my character or look for him, but simply emerge into this infinite reality and synchronize with him. So, you use your free will and choose to utilize this frame of thinking and just exist. At a personal level, PAD training was an ecstatic experience. I entered subconsciously and without effort into an innovative reconstruction of the way I think and exist. My vibration as a person grew stronger, the perception of who I am changed and I have become a much better actor. The transition was not easy but the reward was immense.

IEK AKMH has been awarded as one of the seven best educational institutions in Europe and the largest vocational institute in Greece with governmental recognition awarded by the ministry of education for several consecutive years up until the present. We are the first choice for high school graduates seeking a vocational education and that is why we only select highly qualified teachers as well as accomplished entrepreneurs to instil their knowledge and their experiences to our students.

Ms. Tsaroucha was the first person I thought of inviting when we wanted to include theatrical studies to our program at our school. She is the most suitable person to set up, organise and update school programs for artists as well as actors with the most modern means at her disposal. She has been the artistic consultant of IEK AKMI for the last nine years.

She is a dominant leading figure in the field of directing in Greece. A pioneering director with innovative ideas who almost always chooses modern and challenging projects. Projects that promote the whole of society with advanced progressive ideas. She is an artist, a creator of quality, of ethos and rare inventive ideas.

At IEK AKMH, we have introduced to our curriculum the theory and method of Perceptual Acting and Directing, the most modern approach to teaching students about their inner selves. The main goal of Perceptual Acting and Directing is to find harmony with the “Ego” (the self), the subconscious and the higher self of each student. This method cultivates an organic true understanding of the “now” in combination with the newest advances of quantum physics in relation to time and space and the eleven dimensions in which infinity exists. Students are taught to cultivate their perception of empathy, they develop and exercise their inner maturity, their emotional perception so that they can make leaps and bounds in their conscience. Ms Tsaroucha’s goal and method involves a new quality of person who perceives the connection and result of every relationship that is created through harmony, flow and success.

Ms Tsaroucha is a person that every educational institution needs and wants in their Faculty. For several years, she has directed projects for the examinations of our students at IEK AKMH and she has shared with them unique moments. The love she shows towards her students and vice versa is quite impressive as is the way she works with them. She never discriminates anyone or anything. Her studies and her past experiences are quite remarkable and that is why she is a person who can bring out the best of any student and she will teach him how to create miracles in his life.

She feels a lot for the space she works in and makes it her second home. She takes a personal interest in everyone’s progress, people’s as well as organisations', since she has a natural simplicity and perception of what is fair and what is for the good of the individual as well as the whole. Her deep conviction is that no one can advance alone since we are all part of a whole.

Ms Tsaroucha is also a unique actress who intrigues audiences with her performances giving the impression that she is not playing on a stage but instead she encapsulates and transfigures every role she plays. I know that if she is given the means, the opportunity, a place and trust ,she can truly astound with whatever she creates.

I wish her from the bottom of my heart a bright future and I thank her for her invaluable contribution to our organisation.

The Hellenic Physical Society is a non-profit scientific society, founded in 1930, that represents the Greek scientists of physics, the technologies of physics, and the physics of communication. Its basic fields of action are congresses, symposiums, meetings, competitions, publications, training courses and seminars in collaboration with Greek institutions. The Society has a strong bond with international collaborations as it is a full member of the European Physical Society, a charter member of the Balkan Physical Union and it has an agreement for reciprocal registration of members with the British Physical Society. We are also in collaboration with the Mediterranean Association for the Advancement of Science reinforcing the scientific culture of the Mediterranean, its capacity of development and expression developing the creative exchange of ideas, opinions and information unique to the history of the Mediterranean culture and spreading among the public and educational institutions information concerning the scientific knowledge of our culture.
The well-known Director Maria Tsaroucha is a dynamic personality in our community who is promoting the innovative idea regarding the relationship between the arts and science. She is unique in the field of the arts and an invaluable partner. Her contribution to our association is vital. She deals with time at an unexpected speed producing unprecedented and original ideas. She has a unique way of caring for her surroundings and embracing those around her as she stands out on account of her ethics, integrity and a calm strength that she possesses.
The most important of all, however, is her creation of the Theory and Method of Perceptual Acting and Directing which results from her numerous years of research and experience. The theory and moral codes surrounding her method create a new way of thinking for people, for artists as well as for scientists. She answers unanswered questions making her method a new approach to thought that promotes the truth as well as love showing the actor and every person how truth and love play a vital role in our daily lives and that is the reason why all of our meetings are extraordinary.
With her theory and method of Perceptual Acting and Directing, the actor answers the question: Who am I? Irrespective of his identity and the role that he has in his daily life. The actor is made aware that parallel fields create the energy that puts him in flow with his daily life and that the science of Quantum Mechanics is part and parcel of all aspects of his life. He learns how he can discover what is ideal in the life that he lives and gains insight into the investigation of the left and right hemisphere as well as how to communicate with the environment by becoming a part of it. He also comprehends how he is simultaneously an observer and a participant and how he constantly discovers the value of the present time and how to exploit it in the best possible way and how the roles that each of us have in life and on stage revolve around a quantum context that work in tandem.
Mrs. Tsaroucha is a genuine researcher of the soul and human potential. She has promoted her art as a science raising issues and questions in the field of science that advance humanity a step further arousing the imagination of scientists.
Mrs. Tsaroucha proposes in a remarkable unique way to the western world a new theory of “I exist and I become” which is the future of acting and for every one of us who uses the theater as a way of understanding themselves. Mrs. Tsaroucha has coordinated several educational seminars for the Hellenic Physical Society with a view to the personal development of science students and the training of high school students for a new way of thinking. She has also directed theatrical and musical performances that take place with the scientific aid of the Society.
Our cooperation takes place in the context of the promotion of theatrical plays in Greece as well as abroad and are inspired by physics, astronomy, mathematics and political economics with the aim of making people more spiritually aware and by spreading the message of love, peace and respect towards life and people from all walks of life.
Mrs. Tsaroucha has an exceptional approach to Greek thought and she will be truly missed. Well aware of her fondness for the United States, the country that trained her, we wish her all the best and that she makes invaluable contributions in her new home as she did in Greece.

We are honored to have Ms. Tsaroucha, a prominent figure in Greece working with our school as a permanent collaborator on numerous events as an artistic advisor, director and pupil coach. We have been collaborating for 10 years now and during this time Ms. Tsaroucha has trained and guided professional dancers. She uses her own method and her amazing way of communicating with these dancers in order to help cultivate professionals to be organically in the moment in relation to time and space and the eleven dimensions, suggesting a new understanding of what the body is.
Ms. Tsaroucha is a person of extraordinary potential and in favor of progress. Whatever project she takes on always helps advance the artist since her work is the result of careful study and research that redefines the philosophical approach of ancient Greeks regarding the “Thymele” that is the contact maintained with our soul.
With the Perceptual Acting and Directing Theory and Method our professional collaborators also cultivate empathy which in today’s demanding times is the basic requirement for every working relationship. Our collaborators slowly mature on a personal, mental and physical level having realized that dance conceals an entire philosophy beyond the body.
Ms. Tsaroucha’s method is the artist’s key ingredient to success. Her contribution to coaching our collaborators was essential even for performances which she didn’t direct herself. The potential of the Perceptual Acting and Directing Theory and Method is enormous and opens up the road to study human evolution. She herself is a well-liked person and an exceptional collaborator and friend. We truly hope that America, the land of new ideas and opportunities can embrace her innovative ideas and allow her to achieve all that she deserves.

Mrs. Tsaroucha is a person of quality, ethos and genuine kindness. She has a unique way of approaching difficult political issues while touching on a human aspect to these matters.

As a director, she gives priority to the actor as a human being above all. Therefore, with her special sensitive eye, she manages to make every member of the audience think a lot deeper regardless of age or convictions. Her directing makes the audience feel a sense of responsibility for their personal journey as humans for the common good of all. We highly recommend the prosperity of humanity as something that is invaluable and I know that is already a goal that Mrs. Tsaroucha has achieved. What is important for Mrs. Tsaroucha is the performers' self-development as well as that of the audience's.

Her visual approach in the performance gave a new meaning to the play as she set in motion various subconscious messages. The fact that she was also involved in the acting reinforced all the concepts that she herself had. And I consider her choice the most suitable as well as creative giving new dimensions to what it means to be an actor since she herself is an explorer of human nature. For Mrs. Tsaroucha, the theater is a means for us actors to connect with our divine presence.

Through her Perceptual Acting and Directing Method she manages to create and she reminds us through her contemporary fresh eye of everything that our ancient ancestors considered a basic quality of the theater and of the god Dionysus. And since Mrs. Tsaroucha knows the contemporary theater like hardly anyone else as she was trained in the U.S., her Greek roots make her stand out giving meaning and substance to forgotten principles and qualities of our theatrical awareness.

Personally, I have acknowledged her as one of the most significant creators of Greece today, a person who is truly genuine and has made significant contributions.

Maria Tsaroucha is an exceptional collaborator with innate qualities, she transforms everything she touches. During its first year, “9 parts of Desire” was the hit of the year with sold out shows and its success continued again this winter when it opened at “92 Art’s” new theatre. Maria Tsaroucha directed it remarkably and reviews were exceptional.
Over the past five years, Maria Tsaroucha has been the main director of all productions performed at our theatre. She loves her work and is constantly discovering new techniques that successfully combine acting and man and man and the universe, aiming towards wholeness. A unique marriage between Art and Science that Maria Tsaroucha can best interpret: “Where we are and where the characters are that we embody at the theatre”. Actors love Maria as she has an unusual way of taking care of and respecting them; she transforms their fears into strengths. She introduces a new kind of ethos and quality to the relationship between the director and actor making the latter feel safe and important. Maria Tsaroucha is a gifted person and a pioneer of the Arts with a strong personality and extremely significant presence in Greece. She is a life coach! We are very pleased that she is working with us!
Efi Meravoglou – Giorgos Kaltsas
Creators, heads of 92 Art a School of Art
Producers of the play “9 parts of Desire”