Oliver Issak

... is a dramaturg and freelance artist whose work in social design and performance art challenges traditional boundaries and activates public spaces through immersive, participatory experiences.

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Plays
  1. tonight (2025)
  2. Bogged down (2025)

Performances
  1. Until they are dead, they shall live forever (2026)
  2. The Dew Point (2025)
  3. How to Look at the Sea? (2024)
  4. Oasis (2022)
  5. Battlefield (2021)
  6. Safe Zone (2018)

Actions
  1. Monuments (2025)
  2. The Embassy of Utopia: Estonian Book 1000 (2025)
  3. The Embassy of Utopia: Radio (2023-2025)
  4. Translation Bureau (2024)
  5. The Embassy of Utopia: Happiness for Everyone, Free of Charfe, and Let No One Be Forgotten (2024)
  6. The Embassy of Utopia: Longing for a Different Way of Being (2023) 
  7. The Shadow Council (2022)
  8. 33 Speeches (2021)

Dramaturgical Formats
  1. Two-Room Conference
  2. Senior Citizens' Theatre Club "Avangard"
  3. Dinner at the Dramaturg's
 
Presentations / Speeches
  1. Spatial Dimensions in Heritage | Creative Research Capacities (2026)
  2. International Conference "Dramaturgy – Mapping the Landscapes" (2025)
  3. Baltic Drama Forum (2025)
  4. Estonian Cultural Endowment's 100th Anniversary Dinner (2025)
  5. Riga Performance Art Festival "Starptelpa" | Curators' Assembly (2024)

Texts / Books
  1. Teatrielu 2025 (editor) 
  2. Artishok Biennale (critic)
  3. Värske Rõhk: How to Write Kindness? 
  4. sss
  5. ss
  6. “Teatrielu 2020” (editor)

Oasis 

(2022)




“Stop the time. Jump overboard. Spin.”

Imagine! Two friends have talked all evening. Perhaps eaten something. Drunk a bottle or two of wine. And then decide, that's it, enough for today. They step into the hallway. One helps the other into their coat, they promise to see each other again soon. Greetings are already being sent along for whoever the one leaving might meet, embraces are exchanged… But then they stop at the door. For a moment. One more story. One more thought that needs sharing. And another. And a fifth. And so three hours pass — no, four, actually. Four hours that no record reflects. Four hours that are at once outside of time and yet — the very core of time.

Oasis is not an endpoint. Everyone who is on their way is welcome here. Those who know exactly where they're headed, those who aren't so sure of their direction at all, and those who simply step forward, taking joy in every step into an ever-changing unknown. Oasis is a stopping place.

For as long as we are here, time has no meaning. Time stands still. And when we one day set off — east or west, north or south, or in some direction no compass has ever pointed to before — it may happen that we never meet again, but that's alright. Because tonight… tonight, we are together.

Director: Jan Teevet
Dramaturgs: Oliver Issak, Kai Valtna
Scenography: Kairi Mändla, Taavi Teevet
Performers: Maria Paiste, Johannes Richard Sepping, Kirill Havanski, Laura Niils, Siim Tõniste, Johanna Vaiksoo, Liisbeth Kala, Germo Toonikus, Taavi Teevet, students of the Viljandi Culture Academy and Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre and the community of Paide.
Sound: Kenn-Eerik Kannike
Light: Siim Reispass
Video: Maria Elisaveta Roosalu
Musicians: Mihkel Kirss, Madis Kirss, Gert Pajuväli ja Madis Aesma (Ans. Andur)
Photos: Gabriela Urm

Paide Teater, 2022


Interviews

Paide teatris esietendub lavastus “Oaas”. Delta. (08.12.2022) 

Jan Teevet Paide Teatri viimasest lavastusest: see on neli tundi tähistamist. (08.12.2022)







Reviews

ARVUSTUS | Paide teatri “Oaas” on kui eepiline ood loomingulisele stiihiale – PDF

ARVUSTUS | Reisikiri Paidest. – PDF

ARVUSTUS | Paide teatri luigelaul: elus on hetki, mis matavad su enda alla. – PDF

ARVUSTUS | Pidu kahe hetke vahel. – PDF

PODCAST | Teatrivaht. Von Krahli teatri ja Ekspeditsiooni “Libahung” ning Paide Teatri “Oaas”. 







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