Kestrel Farin Leah is a British-American performer, director and writer based in Athens, Greece. As the duo Physical Plastic with composer and sound artist Yiannis Christofides, she creates critical theatrical encounters weaving music, text, movement and plastic arts.
She has presented work at venues and festivals including: Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater (REDCAT) (US); Human Resources (US); Blue Roof Studios (US); Rialto Theatre (CY); Theatro Polis/Nicosia Municipal Arts Centre (NiMAC) (CY); On Bodies International Festival (CY); Theatro Dentro (CY); Polyxoros Synergeio (CY); and The Vail International Film Festival (US), and has participated in residencies at institutions including: The Watermill Center (US); Passerelle Centre d’art contemporain (FR); Knockdown Center (US); Theatro Polis/NiMAC (CY); and Tanzhaus Luzern (CH). She is a recipient of the New Music USA award for Physical Plastic’s ALARM and a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grant for the solo Touch(ed).
As a performer, Kestrel has been seen on television, in film and onstage, and has worked with leading venues and festivals such as Lincoln Center (US); REDCAT (US); 3LD Art & Technology Center (US); Los Angeles Contemporary Museum of Art (US); DO DISTURB at Palais de Tokyo (FR); Le Grand Palais (FR); Centre Pompidou, Malaga (ES); Rialto Theatre (CY); Nicosia International Festival (CY); Theatro Polis/NiMAC (CY); Denver Art Museum (US); BlackTina Festival (US); Live Arts Exchange (LAX) Festival (US); and Fahrenheit/FLAX Foundation (US). Among the artists she has collaborated with are WaxFactory theater company and B. Dunn Movement; directors such as Paris Erotokritou, Zoe Aja Moore, and Kameron Steele; and visual artists Julie Bena, Patty Chang, Dara Friedman, Emily Mast, and Duchamp-prize-winner Julien Previeux (Kestrel was a primary collaborator on the awarded work What Shall We Do Next).Kestrel holds an MFA in Acting from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), and dedicated over a decade to studying the theatrical methods of Theodoros Terzopoulos and Tadashi Suzuki in the US, Greece and Japan. She has worked as a movement director and dance dramaturg, and teaches embodied and expanded vocal techniques for movers. She has lead workshops and intensives internationally for institutions and initiatives such as Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance (UK); Open Up EU Performance Lab (CY); CalArts (US); The Watermill Center (US); and Nea Kinisi (CY).
Her writing on performance has been published in Riting journal and The Theatre Times, and publications including BEING WORK by Insert Blanc Press.