Pálína Jónsdóttir is a theatre and opera director born in Iceland. She received her MFA in Theatre Directing from Columbia University in 2017 where she was granted scholarships and awarded a Student Fellowship in Directing for her outstanding achievement. Pálína is the founder and artistic director of Reykjavik Ensemble, International Theatre Company established in 2019 together with her partner Ewa Marcinek. She is the director of the company's productions; Opening Ceremony, Polishing Iceland and Ég kem alltaf aftur and shortfilms The Encounter and Liminality, selected for the Toronto International Women Film Festival 2022. The company was honored with the title Art Group of Reykjavík 2020 by the City of Reykjavík and nominated for The Grima Awards as the Year's Newcomer of 2020. Her directing credits include, Ég heiti Guðrún by Rikke Wölck at the National Theatre in Iceland, Trouble in Tahiti by Leonard Bernstein, The Little Match Girl Passion and Death Speaks for Opera Days and Í hennar skóm by Svanlaug Jóhannsdóttir at Tjarnarbíó. She directed Darkside by Tom Stoppard and Pink Floyd for the Burning Coal Theatre Company in Raleigh NC, Sleepwalking in the Nether World by Jacob Hirdwall and Courtyard by Tanya Lorentson at Theatre Row in New York, Playing the Queen for The Scandinavian American Theater Company New York, assistant directed The Flying Dutchman by Richard Wagner for Opera San Jose, CA. Her thesis production Babette’s Feast, ran at The Connelly Theater in New York. She served as directing candidate with Robert Lepage and Kaija Sariaho for L'Amour de Loin at The Metropolitan Opera and assistant directed Mata Hari by Paul Piers and Matt Marks for Prototype Festival in NYC. For Columbia Stages she directed A Dream Play by August Strindberg, The Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov and The Seven Deadly Sins by Bertolt Brecht. Other productions of Pálína include Völva her collaboration with the National Theatre in Iceland, earning the Icelandic Gríma, Performing Arts Award and her production The Secret Face performed at the Here Arts Center in NYC, Iceland, Austria and Macedonia. Pálína was commissioned by The Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art to create The SeaMare - Tableau Vivant for Origins and she collaborated and performed in Still Life with Commentator for Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in NYC. Pálína has performed numerous roles in her career both on stage and in films. Her stage roles include May in Footfalls by Samuel Beckett, Miss Julie in Miss Julie by A. Strindberg, Solveig in Peer Gynt by Ibsen and Snæfriður in The Icelandic Clock by Laxness. Her film credits include The Devil's Island, The Dance, In His Life – The John Lennon Story and Wildlife. www.palinajonsdottir.com, www.reykjavikensemble.com