Samuel Núñez

Samuel Núñez starts playing theatre at the age of 15. At 17, he develops first ideas about emotions in acting and writes his first play. At the age of 18 he becomes a member of a professional theatre company. From 1995 - 1999 he studies theatre in Santiago de Chile. 

During his work as a teacher, actor, director, writer, dramatic adviser and choreographer of different laboratories and companies he explores transgressive theatre as suggested by Antonin Artaud and Jerzy Grotowski. He focusses especially on body language and emotion and their use in theatre while also studying intensively the methods of Konstantin Stanislavski, Peter Brook, Vsévolod Meyerhold, Eugenio Barba y Alejandro Jodorowsky. Samuel learns the technique "Alba Emoting", which had been developed by neurologist Dr. Susana Bloch as a therapy for emotional blockages and other psychological problems. Alba Emoting uses respiratory and muscular parameters to reach real emotions. Experiencing the potential of authentic emotions in the Performing Arts, he designes techniques that serve the authentic embodiment of emotions and psychological states on stage and in front of the camera. 

Samuel also immerses himself into disciplines of different cultures that deal with the human body and mind, such as anthropology, noh theatre, butoh, yoga, taoism, aikido-zen, mindfulness and western psychology. Samuel merges his insights with more known and own techniques from dance, theatre and visual arts. Transdisiplinarity becomes the framework of his methodology, its central aim being to help artists at becoming very familiar with their main instrument, the body and to free themselves from that which obstructs their natural ability of expression. In addition to the techniques of authentic interpretation, over the years he collects, develops and systematizes many tools for text analysis, role work and the precise preparation of the interpretation in front of the camera or on stage.

In 2002 Samuel starts directing performances and  theatre courses in Barcelona to share the results of his research and to keep developing further his method. In 2004 he moves to Germany where in 2007 he founds TATWERK Berlin as a performing arts research centre, directing it until 2012. His classes and other projects address beginners as well as professionals. Artists of different fields participate to deepen their skills, especially of emotional and physical expression, presence and authenticity. With individual coaching, he supports persons who want to apply to acting schools or other art schools, works with professional actors who want to deepen their performance, prepare for an audition or film role and also coaches actors on set. He teaches at educational institutions like the University of Girona (Spain) and goes on offering self-organized courses and workshops as well as working on new research projects. 

For several years, Samuel Núñez has been exploring the medium of film as an extension of his artistic work, investigating the relationship between documentary and fiction, as well as their intersections with theatre and performance. In 2020, he completed his Master’s degree in Documentary Film with the short film “El Segundo Baile” (“The Second Dance”), which was selected and financed by the school’s own production company and presented at several festivals.



His first feature-length documentary, “Chasing the Light”, was financed by the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW and received the Best Documentary Award at the Art Film Spirit Awards. Samuel is currently developing his first fiction feature film. In this project, he connects his extensive experience as a theatre director, playwright and acting coach with his work as a filmmaker.

Whenever possible, the casting of his film projects emerges from the continuous artistic work with actors from his training programmes and courses.