Our Team

Yeşim Özsoy

President

Ersin Umut Güler

Board Member

Hakan Silahsızoğlu

Board Member

Hakan trained as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in England. He worked at Talimhane Theatre as an actor as well as producer and coordinator in national and international projects including EU projects. He was member of Yapi Kredi Afife Jale Theatre Awards Jury in Istanbul between 2012-2018 theatre seasons. He’s been a global fellow at International Society of Performing Arts (ISPA) between 2016 – 2018. Hakan is in the selection committee and board of International Performing Arts for Youth (IPAY) which is the most prestigious congress in the world regarding performing arts for children. He is at the board of International Association of Theatre for Children and Young People (Assitej) Turkey. Hakan is the founder and director of Atta Festival, Turkey’s only international arts festival for babies and children. Hakan is the head of children’s theatre department at Watermans Arts Centre, London’s leading cultural centre.

Mert Fırat

Board Member

He graduated from the Ankara University, Faculty of Language, History and Geography, Department of Theatre. Since 2005, he has taken part in many films, plays and TV projects. Fırat, who is the co-founder of moda sahnesi, Bursa SanatMahal and DasDas, voluntarily works with different associations and foundations on social responsibility projects. He is among the founders of the NeedsMap.Coop and he actively participates in project designing, planning and operating processes. Mert Fırat is also known for his voluntary work in sustainable development. In 2017, he has become the first UNDP (The United Nations Development Programme) Goodwill Ambassador in Turkey.

Muharrem Uğurlu

Board Member

Muharrem Uğurlu graduated from Dumlupınar University, Department of Public Administration. He took part in the establishment of Kütahya Şehir Tiyatrosu, and he worked there as an actor and director for 5 seasons. He served as the General Art Director of Kütahya Şehir Tiyatrosu between 2007-2009. He founded a private theatre in Istanbul in 2009, and also staged plays as a travelling theatre. In 2013, he earned a master’s degree in acting at Bahçeşehir University. In 2014, he founded Asmalı Sahne, which is located in Beyoğlu, with his classmate Petek Kırboğa. He directed Asmalı Sahne’s productions “Godot’yu Bekleyeni Beklerken”, “Aut”, “…’lı Kadınlar” and “Manastır” and also acted in them.

Vildan Güleç

Board Member

She graduated from Istanbul Bilgi University Department of Comparative Literature, and completed her master’s degree on Turkish Language and Literature at Boğaziçi University. She was a member of Istanbul Bilgi University Department of Comparative Literature Advisory Board between 2017-2022.

As one of the founding actors of Yeni Asır Newspaper Youth Theatre, her experience in theatre began on stage. In 2017, she combined her past experiences with her playwright identity and founded Wise Akademi. She wrote the first “Parent-Children Theatre” plays which are bilingual – in other words appealing to parents as well as children. With the aim of providing psycho-social education for parents and children by using the healing power of art, she developed parent-children theatre plays approved by an independent Academic Advisory Board and complementary after-play workshops conducted by psychologists.

Currently, she stages parent-children theatre plays at Wise Akademi, writes parent-children plays and storybooks, provides trainings, conducts workshops and activities focusing on children’s linguistic development.

Volkan Yosunlu

Board Member

Born in Mersin in 1980, Volkan Yosunlu graduated from Ankara University Faculty of Language, History and Geography, Department of Acting in 2004. Between 2004-2007, he worked as an actor at Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality Theatre. Following that, he continued his works at Izmir Konak Municipality where he developed theatre plays at workshops for children and directed those plays.

He acted in Moda Sahnesi’s plays “Bütün Çılgınlar Sever Beni”, “Parkta Güzel Bir Gün”, “En Kısa Gecenin Rüyası”, and DasDas’ plays “Çirkin” and “Deli Bayramı”. Additionally, he co-directed DasDas’ productions “Yakaranlar” and “Timsah” and directed the play “Çok Satanlar”. He co-wrote and co-directed the play “Muhteşem Danton ve Genç Arthur’un İnanılmaz Hikayesi” with Alper Baytekin.

Volkan Yosunlu works on a volunteer basis with different NGOs focusing on corporate social responsibility. Alongside his acting career in TV and theatre, he continues to work as a professional acting coach and to provide acting training at his center VYatölye, located at Kadıköy/Istanbul.  

Fisun Eşki

General Coordinator 

She graduated from Marmara University, Faculty of Communications, Department of Radio, TV and Film in 1997. She worked as an assistant director at different national TV channels between 1993-1997. Between 1997-2004, she took on diverse roles in the fields of advertising and public relations. Between 2005-2018, she directed the operation, quality, customer satisfaction, sales and sales support processes at different education companies. She has been working at the Theatre Cooperative since 2018.

Cemre Cemri

Executive Assistant

She graduated from Boğaziçi University, Philosophy Department in 2018. She started METU Gender and Women’s Studies Graduate Program in 2019. She worked as an editor in various publishing houses in fields such as children’s literature, gender, history, and politics between 2016-2022. She has been working at the Theater Cooperative since December 2022.

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