Natalia Menendez

Head of Theatre Español and the Español Workshops at Matadero (Madrid). 

Natalia Menéndez (Madrid, 1967) is an actress, director, playwright and theatre director. She has a degree in Acting and Stage Directing from the Royal School of Dramatic Arts in Madrid (RESAD). Her professional career as an actress began in 1987 and she has worked regularly as an actress ever since. In film, she has worked with such directors as Carlos Saura, Emilio Martínez Lázaro, and José Luis Bollaín; in television, with Diana Álvarez, Carlos Serrano, Adolfo Marsillach, Eva Lesmes, Pepe Ganga, Jaime Botella, Toni Sevilla and Paino, among others; and in theatre, with Jesús Cracio, Guillermo Heras, Miguel Narros, Gerardo Malla, Jorge Lavelli, and Jean-Pierre Miquel. 

Menéndez has directed some thirty productions in theatre, music, zarzuela and chamber opera, both in Spain and the Americas; these include: Comida by Matin Van Velduizen, El Invierno bajo la Mesa by Roland Topor, Don Juan Tenorio by Zorrilla in a version by Yolanda Pallín, El Curioso Impertinente by Guillén de Castro, La Duda by Patrick Shanley, Las Cuñadas by Michel Tremblay, Música Clásica by Ruperto Chapi, Tantas Voces by Pirandello, in a version by Juan Carlos Plaza Asperilla, 2 Delirios by José Sanchis Sinisterra, Realidad by Tom Stoppard, La Amante Inglesa by Marguerite Duras, La Villana by Amadeo Vives, Tejiendo la Paz, which premièred in Bogotá on the occasion of the Signing of a peace treaty, Tebas Land by Sergio Blanco, Mi Niña Niña Mía by Amaranta Osorio and Itziar Pascual or Tres Sombreros de Copa by Miguel Mihura. 

She is the author of Llevarnos lo Malo, Querido Mozart, Clic, and A Voces. She has created versions of numerous texts including Tartufo, un Impostor de Molière, and a dozen or so adaptations including La Cantante Calva by Ionesco, Se Van los Días by John Fosse, and Las Falsas Confidencias by Marivaux.

For the past ten years, she has collaborated as a dance dramatist with 10&10 Danza. As an artistic director, she has mounted several exhibitions, including A Tres Bandas, which was inaugurated in Bogotá, 1812: El Poder de la Palabra, which opened in Cadiz, and Arte y Naturaleza en la Prehistoria, which opened in Madrid. She conducts courses, workshops and conferences in Europe, America, Africa and Asia. She was director of the Almagro International Festival of the Classical Theatre Foundation from 2010 to 2017.

In 2020, Natalia Menéndez was named Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. Her career has been marked by awards such as the Chivas Prize for Best New Director for El Invierno bajo la Mesa (2006), and the Critical Eye and Agora awards at the Almagro Festival for La Discreta Enamorada, both in 1996. She was awarded the Celcit medal in 2013, and in 2017 she was admitted to the Civil Order of Alfonso X the Wise, in the category of Commendation.