TEA ALAGIĆ is an internationally acclaimed, multilingual director, writer, producer, actor, and educator whose practice is rooted in both tradition and innovation. Born in Bosnia and Herzegovina to a mixed marriage family, mother Christina and father Muslim Tea fled the war in 1992 to escape persecution, violence, and genocide. Suddenly a refugee, she found her survival in theater, carrying with her a lifelong dedication to cross-cultural exchange and the power of honest human connection. She eventually made her way to the United States, where she has lived for the past thirty years, by way of Germany, the Czech Republic, England, and Canada. She continues to direct, write, act, devise, and teach internationally.
Based in New York City, she has directed off-Broadway, regional, and international productions, spanning both canonical plays, new plays, and devised works. She holds a BFA in acting from Charles University in Prague and an MFA in directing from the Yale School of Drama, where she received the Julian Milton Kaufman Prize in Directing. She has served as Professor of Directing, Acting, Playwriting, and Collaboration at The New School since 2012, and was Head of the MFA and BFA Directing Department from 2016 to 2020. She has also taught at Yale School of Drama, Pace University, Sarah Lawrence College, Columbia University, Barnaraad College, NYU, Brooklyn College.
Tea began her artistic journey as an actor, training with Peter Brook (Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord), Ariane Mnouchkine (Théâtre du Soleil), Simon McBurney (Théâtre de Complicité), Robert Lepage (Ex Machina), Richard Foreman (Ontological-Hysteric Theater), and building a practice that continues to center the people in the room. Her directing is grounded in collaboration, devising, and a deep commitment to creating work around the unique actors and creative team she gathers. She is known as a highly visual director, utilizing physical theater techniques and drawing inspiration from her background in circus and trapeze, as well as her studies at the Jacques Lecoq School.
At Yale, she mastered the traditions of playwriting and dramaturgy while evolving a directorial vision that transforms text into lived ritual. This was most vividly realized in her world premiere production of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s The Brothers Size at The Public Theater, where she reshaped a naturalistic play into an immersive theatrical ritual.
Recent directing credits include Hamlet at the Croatian National Theater Mostar (2025); Terror is the Order of the Day by Ben Heineman Jr. at The Flea Theater (2025); Dance Nation by Clare Barron at Barnard Theatre (2024); Queens by Martyna Majok at NYU Graduate Acting (2023); Everybody by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins at Columbia University (2022); Little Amal at Lincoln Center Plaza (2022); and Fear by Matt Williams at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (2019). Other notable credits include the world premiere of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s The Brothers Size at The Public Theater and subsequent productions at The Old Globe, The Abbey Theatre in Dublin, and The Studio Theater in Washington, DC; the North American premiere of Nobel laureate Elfriede Jelinek’s Jackie starring Tina Benko at NY City Center (multiple Lortel Award nominations); Charise Smith’s Washeteria at Soho Rep; Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet starring Elizabeth Olsen and Julian Cihi at Classic Stage Company; and the Broadway-bound revival of Passing Strange by Stew and Heidi Rodewald at The Wilma Theater (nominated for 9 Barrymore Awards including Best Directing, winner of Best Musical Direction) ); and productions of a wide repertory of plays and musicals at Wilma Theatre/Philadelphia, Goodman/Chicago, National Theatre/London, Baryshnikov Arts Center, The Kitchen, Lincoln Center, New Georges, The Carlotta Festival, Ensemble Studio Theatre, La Mama ETC, Asolo Rep, Hispanic Cultural Center/Albuquerque, ZKM/Croatia, 4+4 Festival/Prague, BAC/London.
She has also directed for The Old Globe, The Abbey Theatre in Dublin, Goodman Theatre, National Theatre in London, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Lincoln Center, La MaMa ETC.
Tea was the Artistic Director of the company Stateless, from 1997-2001, dedicated to devising theatre. With Stateless and Robert Lepage, Tea toured all over the world as an actress, director, and writer, dedicated to devising theatre. Tea performed all over the world: in festivals that toured from the Toronto World Stage Festival, Salzburg Festspiele, Salzburg; Tramway Theatre, Glasgow; Festival Iberoamericano de Bogota, Bogota; Theatre National de Catalunya, Barcelona; Festival de Otono, Madrid, Israel Festival, Jerusalem; Massion des arts Andre Malraux Creteil, Paris; Le Mnege Scene National de Mubeugue, Mubeugue Singapore Arts Festival, Singapore; National Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio; Mass MoCA, North Adams; Concert Hall, University of Minnesota, Iowa Center for the Arts, Iowa; The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Unidram Festival Potsdam, Philadephia Live Arst Festival, BAC in London. For the role of Ophelia, Tea won the Edinburgh Fringe First Award 2001, in the production of All Hamlet Summit by Sulayman Al Bassam, and a nomination for best actor in the same role at the Cairo International Festival of Experimental Theater.
To this day, her process emphasizes collaboration, physicality, and the creation of bold, original theatrical languages.
Alongside her ongoing artistic projects, she welcomes inquiries for consulting, teaching, and collaborative development.
