Theater
Theater
Studio Total is a Helsinki based independent theatre group. Its artistic directors are actor-director Anna-Maria Lipponen and lighting designer Petri Tuhkanen. Studio Total is based in Helsinki, but the group works anywhere in Europe where its performances are seen and made. Studio Total has operated under the name Theater Jalostamo2 until September 2020, which was established in 2012. Since 2018 the group has focused on international collaborations.
Studio Total’s performances are total artworks, produced into special locations, discussing current contemporary issues. A strong common denominator between the pieces is ambitious artistic work in collaboration with international artists. At the moment Studio Total is producing two new premieres yearly.
Total passion. Total theatre. Total art.
Artistic statement
Studio Total is a theatre, but also much more. It is an artistic duo that calls artists to collaborate. It is a continuum. It is an institution that enables 100% artistic effort. Within Studio Total, all decisions are made to advance artistic endeavours – structure is secondary, and it should form according to the needs of each production. Art has intrinsic value for Studio Total.
Studio Total is the aspiration to move forward, it is the vanguard, the journey towards the unknown, a look into the future, a direction towards something comprehensive. It is the JOURNEY.
Although Studio Total is established in Helsinki, as a theatre it is everywhere, where its performances are made and seen. Studio Total collaborates with artists internationally, works on international collaborative works, and is visible internationally both in festivals and other areas.
Studio Total is anything we want it to be. It is a place to make dreams come true, a place of creativity, a place to stop and listen. It is a place to learn, experience and achieve. To have a dream is to have a goal, to work towards something, away from something. Studio Total is where those dreams are made possible. Studio Total is the DREAM.
Studio Total’s art philosophy is universal, but not forgetting our own cultural history and personal thinking. It is a way to increase understanding over national and cultural borders. Equality between all humans is at the base of our work culture and increasing empathy between humans is a core purpose in all our activity.
Studio Total is a THEATRE, but it is not only that. It is to put your heart fully into your work as if you were doing so for the very last time.
The artistic goal of Studio Total is to break boundaries, shatter glass ceilings, pop the bubble. Each artistic process determines what boundaries it wants to break. The boundaries can for example be artistic, practical, utopian, or embedded in the production process. The boundary is crossed with determination, not violence. The boundary is leaving our comfort zone – to aspire towards something new. It is our reason to create art.
Studio Total is a place where it is possible to birth a world that is both real and unreal simultaneously. It is an ARENA, where communication does not stop at borders and boundaries. It is communication holistically, using all senses. It is a place where it is possible to touch another human on a personal level.
The works of Studio Total are not bound by a definite genre, space, language, or culture. Each piece creates these anew. Each piece is created in an ecologically sustainable way.
Each one of Studio Total’s pieces is more than a standalone work of art. The works are part of a larger continuum that forms the theatre’s structure and concept. Each piece also aspires to change the world around us. It is an entity that is the SUM of its parts.
Anna-Maria Lipponen
Master of arts (theater and drama), actor (FIA), director
Anna-Maria Lipponen is a director, actor, and screenwriter who lives and works in both Finland and Zurich, Switzerland.
She graduated as an actor from the University of Tampere’s Department of Acting, and in 2021 she began her directing studies at the Zurich University of the Arts (Zürcher Hochschule der Künste). She graduated in 2025 as Master of Arts in Theatre Directing (MA Regie). Since 2018, Lipponen has built an international career in Central Europe and the Baltics. Among her most significant theatre productions are the site-specific piece Dreams for Sale (2021), created in collaboration with the National Museum of Finland; Requiem for a Dream (2024), based on the novel by Hubert Selby Jr., directed at the Rakvere Theatre in Estonia and marking the play’s world stage premiere; and Farm der Tiere (2025), staged in Zurich and based on George Orwell’s Animal Farm.
In autumn 2025, Lipponen will direct her first production at the Lucerne Theatre in Switzerland: Der Rückfähr der Fährfrauen, a new play by Swiss playwright Sarah Calörtscher, who received the Heiner Kleist Prize for her debut play in 2024.
Anna-Maria Lipponen is also the artistic director of the Helsinki-based theatre collective Studio Total, which she leads together with her partner, set and lighting designer Petri Tuhkanen. As a director, Lipponen is particularly drawn to themes such as freedom, power, and the various roles within society. Her productions often feature strong female characters through whom she explores and portrays the world. Animal figures also appear as a recurring element in her work. Lipponen’s pieces are layered, total works of art that combine compelling storytelling with physical performance, cinematic video narratives, and multidimensional scenography and sound design.
Petri Tuhkanen
Master of arts (theater and drama), lighting designer, set designer
Petri Tuhkanen (1980) is a passionate lighting and set designer sharing his time between Helsinki and Zürich, working globally.
Petri has a long and varied experience in creating design concepts for performing arts, the event industry and architectural lighting design. His strength is expertise in both design and implementation, enabling him to manage various responsibilities in all sizes of productions.
Petri’s main interest is in performing arts, from experimental theatre to large scale spectacles on big stages – remembering that spectacle is also possible with just one light bulb. He sees light as a tool for expression, when words fail. He is known for his striking visual style where light is often seen in a defining role. He has been nominated for the Best Theatre Lighting Design award in Finland multiple times and was granted the Theatre Art Director Award in Estonia 2021.
Together with his spouse, director Anna Lipponen, Petri shares the role of artistic director for Studio Total, an independent theatre group specializing in international collaborative productions often referred to as Gesamtkunstwerk.
Petri is an honest, loyal and versatile expert. He is very good at his work and loves doing it.