Anthony was born in Nicosia, is half Greek Cypriot and half Irish / British and has two lovely children namely Natalie and Christian. He is a Chartered Certified Accountant and runs his own firm of auditors, accountants and consultants since 1990, with clients based worldwide. His firm has received awards of high recognition from three consecutive Presidents of Cyprus and other parties in Cyprus and the UK . He has over many years been involved in charity work especially as President of Rotaract Nicosia and the Rotary Club of Nicosia. He loves theater and has performed in many theatrical plays and always for charity. “Friends for Oscars “ is just one of the plays he has written but the first one on stage.
Reem works as a UN communication consultant whilst running the pan-Arab non-profit organisation Sharq.Org, has performed in many a Shakespeare play at school in London (1990s); co-wrote and performed in ‘Seagulls’ at Beirut’s renowned Madina Theatre (2018); produced the grant funded play ‘I Am Not a Vase’ in Beirut and Stockholm (2019); performed in the single character play ‘A Woman Alone’, filmed during lockdown and screened in Larnaca (2020), and was awarded a grant by the Buffer Fringe Festival in Nicosia to co-write and co-perform in the play ‘Taking Back the Booty’ in Nicosia (2020).
Andros is a London born Cypriot, an accountant by profession and a performer/speaker by passion. In 2019, Andros acted in the comedy play "Get Staffed" and “ Friends for Oscars” was his second appearance in one of the main roles of the play ! It is noted that during rehearsals it one day transpired that Anthony Ashiotis ( writer of the play and member of the cast ) had many years ago taught Andros Greek , when Andros was a teenager at St Mary’s Greek Orthodox church in Camberwell, London ! At the time, Anthony was working for a firm of Chartered Accountants ( PKF) and taught Greek as a part time job every Saturday morning . A coincidence ? Andros as Tom , is a teacher of Art !
Mary Ann Billis is a South African born Cypriot living in Cyprus, graduated high school with honors & distinction in Drama and Public Speaking as well gaining a diploma in method acting, went on to perform in many local theater productions & local TV series. While trying to juggle the demands of motherhood she continued her passion here in Cyprus with attending adult drama classes at Little muse theatre school & performed in an online production of “A woman alone” directed by Catherine Beger which was screened locally in Cyprus and Australia.
Aleen Andreou has had a 30 year love affair with the stage. Sometimes as a queen, sometimes as a cleaner and anything in between. She has acted with ACT, Rotary and Athena Xenidou's Showcases. She has worked in three films, most notably as Maggie in Al Davidian's "Don't Make a Sound" Aleen is a co-founder in 2 improv groups, "Nudniks" and "Bored of Directors". She is also a founding member of W.E.T (Women’s Empowerment Theatre) . Off stage she is a trainer and coach with PeopleAchieve.
Demetri graduated from King's College with a degree in law, then studied acting at Drama Centre London and then worked as a professional actor in the UK. He played parts in 'The Sea Wolf' (Tower of London Productions ), 'The Way we Live Now' (BBC Production) and 'Planespotting' (Granada production). In theatre, he played roles in 'The Woman in the Moon' (Arcola Theatre), 'Brother my Brother' (Croydon Warehouse Theatre), and others. In recent years , he has been actively involved in both films and theatre productions in Cyprus such as 'Block 12',' 'Joy and Sorrow of the Body', 'Sunrise in Kimmeria', 'Smuggling Hendrix', 'Clementine', 'Natas', 'ART', 'Betrayal', 'Sweeney Todd' and others.
Nada Panayiotou is an economist. She is originally from Serbia (Belgrade) and has been living and working in Cyprus since 1996. She is a business woman and mother of four, and has appeared in many theatre productions such as “Get Staffed’ by Frank Gibbons and “ Elixir of Life “ by Stavros Sideras. She has served as President of Rotary club Nicosia, enjoys running, reading and dancing and above all , making good friends.
Mohammed Awwad studied English Literature in Bethlehem University/ Palestine. His focus is the education of young children through comedy and clowning. Mohammed's main focus is introducing comedy to the disadvantaged communities and provide psychological healing for troubled children through clown education. Mohammed travels between Europe, Middle East, Africa and Far Asia in hope to give laughter and joy to as many hospitalized children as possible, people with special needs and elderly people. He is an amazingly talented performer and has appeared in many impro shows and stand up comedies . His appearance in “ Friends for Oscars “ was one of his finest !
Marie Dzaghigian is a teacher of English and also a belly dance instructor. She has been choreographing and acting in theatre plays at Wherehaus 612 since 2018. “ Ο Χρυσός και ο Τενεκές “ was the very first play she ever choreographed and her experience was so amazing that she quickly got involved in other things related to theatre as well. She tried out a role in a play called “ Singles “ and she then went on tour with the play “ Αν Αργήσω Κοιμήσου” where she portrayed a call girl. Following that she had the role of Lydia from “Beetlejuice twice and choreographed “ Η Αλίκη στη Χώρα των Τεράτων “ for which she received great reviews and others .
Ariadne began dancing at Dance Works at the age of 4. She also attended classes in theatre, singing and other dance genre performing eg Dorothy in ACT’s Wizard of Strovoloz. After attending different drama and tusical Theatre summer schools in the UK she was encouraged to audition for full time studies in this field. Ariadne was accepted into MGA Academy of Performing Arts where she had solo roles in Legally Blonde, the musical, and was a featured dancer and vocalist in the Christmas concerts at the Usher Hall. She also took part in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in The Great American Trailer Park Musical, which went on to win different awards that year
Feidias was born in Cyprus in 2003 and has a passion for literature and theatre. In 2019, he incarnated ” Mitch “ in the famous theatrical play “ The comedy about a bank robbery “ organised by his schools as well as the role of “ Kenickie Murdoch” in the musical “ Grease “. Feidias is also a keen debater: in November 2019, he addressed the European Youth Parliament as the rapporteur of the Cyprus Euroscola team. He is a member of the Ciclo team which was awarded the title of the best project presented at the 2019/2020 English school Youth Entrepreneurial Programme. In 2018, he was awarded the English School Founder’s Award for English and in 2019, for Physics, English Language and English Literature.
Anthony Started acting in the late seventies and debuted in The Rose and Crown by J.B Priestly. During that same period he took part in Shakespeare productions at Curium with small or walk on roles. His 33 year profession as cabin crew prevented him from being involved further with the theatre in an acting capacity. He has been a regular front of house member at various ACT productions and appearing in the panto Treasure island as a pirate' He has taken part in showcases directed by Athena Xenidou and has been involved in theatre improvisation. Stand up comedy has featured during the last couple of years taking part in various shows ( Anthony, sadly passed away in early 2022 - he will be forever missed).
Vasily has studied theater and directing in Athens, Greece . Has participated in various production's while in Greece . Returned to Cyprus and finished ministry's of tourism tour guide school in 2015 and now is working as an official tour guide of the republic of Cyprus. Fluent in Greek , English and Russian languages. First theatrical appearance in Cyprus was with the theatrical company of Doros Kyriakedes. Before appeared briefly in some TV series for channel sigma.
Mary is studying English literature and language at the University of Nicosia. Her main focus for the future, is to finish her studies and follow psychology Master's abroad in the UK. She has a passion for traveling and exploring the world. In her free time she's drawing, baking and playing games. She always wanted to follow play acting and ''Friends for Oscars'' was her first appearance on stage .
