​Escape From School

Christian Roth is a media psychologist focusing on digital interactive experiences. He is a researcher and educator in the field of interactive narrative and meaningful game design at the University of the Arts Utrecht. A big believer in embracing different disciplines and expressions of creativity, in 2011 he co-founded the GameCamp Berlin, an annual event bringing together researchers and practitioners from all walks of life. Christian conducts workshops and consultations on transformative user experience design and the evaluation of interactive narratives, games, and virtual realities.
www.spieleforschung.de

Alessandro Giovannucci is a musicologist, lecturer and game designer. Active on the LARP games scene since 1992, he is a co-founder of Chaos League team. His practice focuses on creating transformative experiences with a deep emotional content. He wrote some of the most popular LARP games in the last years (Sahara Expedition, Bunker 101, Black Friday) and co-wrote the Southern Way – New Italian LARP manifesto. Alessandro wrote several essays on LARP and he’s regularly invited to hold talks, workshops and lectures.
www.chaosleague.org

Sem Janssen is a writer, game designer and actor who has worked on multiple real life games. Prison Escape, a three hour long prison based universe, is the biggest production he has co-created. Tinkering on a universe that is in permanent flux, his work takes place on the intersection of universe building, character development and game design. He has also acted in multiple real life games (Prison Escape, Tracing Thomas, Mobster Mayhem, De Stad) and loves to get down and dirty to build up locations.
www.prisonescape.nl

Andrea Brunello is an independent researcher, playwright, director and actor, working at the boundary between theatre and science. Brunello is the founder and director of the Portland Theatre of Trento and of the Arditodesìo Company. In 2012 he founded, with University of Trento physics professor Stefano Oss, the Jet Propulsion Theatre, a project that brings theatre and science together, carried out in coordination with the Laboratory for the Communication of the Physical Sciences of the University of Trento. From 2020, the Arditodesìo Company is lead partner of the Creative Europe project CURIOUS (Culture as a Unique Resource to Inspire, Outreach & Understand Science).
www.jetpropulsiontheatre.org
​www.projectcurious.eu

Dan Barnard & Rachel Briscoe are members of FastFamiliar – London. They create transformative experiences which combine powerful narratives with the dynamic potential of data. Their recent piece The Justice Syndicate, in which the audience are a trial considering a difficult case, received numerous five star reviews, was selected for the Aesthetica Art Prize Anthology and longlisted for the Lumen Prize .
Dan Barnard is a theatre director and Senior Lecturer at London South Bank University, where he leads the Digital Performance Research group.
Rachel Briscoe is a producer and writer, with work performed at the Royal Court and Soho theatres. She also works as a creative consultant, helping organisations like the National Trust and Tyne and Wear Museums create more playful environments.
www.fastfamiliar.com

Caspar Schjelbred works as a freelance teacher, director and performer – specialised in physical improvisation, clown and mime. Codirector of Impro Academy Paris, member of improvisational theatre company The Improfessionals (artistic director 2008-2014) and solo artist across the world since 2013 with his largely improvised show Plan C.
Founder of his own teaching brand Impro Supreme in 2010, which over the years has grown to become his main project. Caspar is also the main associate of director and master clown Ira Seidenstein (International School for Acting And Creativity) and has written the foreword to his two books Clown Secret (2018) and Quantum Theatre: Slapstick to Shakespeare (2020).
www.improsupreme.com

Maria Saridaki works with  playfulness and storytelling in their different applications. She has a PhD in inclusive playful interactions and applied gaming and a post-doc in Digital Storytelling as a tool of transformative experience. She is the artistic director of “Trust in Play: European School of Urban Game Design”, the co-founder of “Athens Plaython Urban Games Festival” and she has worked with amazing people around the globe, designing and curating projects, workshops, exhibitions, communities, games and playful experiences. She is currently researching the concept of Temporary Playful Zones as organic spaces of change, and she is still in love with cities.
www.morethangames.gr
www.trustinplay.eu

Sebastian Quack works at the intersection of play, participation and the politics of urban society, as artist, game designer and curator. He is a founding member of the Invisible Playground network, co-director of Trust in Play, the European School of Urban Game design, and co-organizer of Drift Club, a platform that facilitates random musical walks through cities around the world. Since 2021, Sebastian is director of Now Play This, a Festival of Experimental Game Design in London.
He regularly teaches art and design, gives talks and consults organizations on how to engage playfully with the world around them.
Sebastian has worked on a number of ground-breaking playful projects including Area/Code’s plundr, the world’s first location-based PC game. Further notable work has included projects with HAU Theater, Oerol Festival, Victoria & Albert Museum, Metropolis Festival, Aichi Triennale, Urbane Künste Ruhr, Nuit Blanche Paris and Ensemble Modern.
www.sebastianquack.com