Ingo Normet (8 June 1946 â 8 September 2022) was an Estonian theatre director and theatre pedagogue. He worked at the Endla Theatre in Pärnu from the late 1960s, serving as its chief director (peanäitejuht) in the 1980s and early 1990s. From the 1990s he became one of the central figures in Estonian theatre education, teaching at and later directing the drama department (lavakunstikool) of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (EAMT). He also staged productions in Finland and is recorded in Finnish bibliographic and theatre-history sources as an Estonian director active in Finnish professional theatres.
Ingo Normet was born in Tallinn. His parents were composer Leo Normet and writer and translator Dagmar Normet (née Rubinstein). His mother was Jewish. He graduated from Tallinn 10th Secondary School in 1964 and studied drama directing at GITIS in Moscow (graduating 1969), later undertaking advanced training in Leningrad (1981âÂÂ1984).
Normet joined the Endla Theatre in 1969 and worked there as a director until 1982; he served as chief director from 1982 to 1991. The ETBL biography also notes work in film and television, including a period at Tallinnfilm in the 1970s and later leadership work connected to Estonian TelevisionâÂÂs theatre productions (Teleteater) in the early 1990s.
From 1990 Normet taught at the Estonian Academy of Music and TheatreâÂÂs drama department (lavakunstikool) and from 1995 to 2011 led the school; he held a professorship from the mid-1990s and later became emeritus. In an obituary, the Estonian Theatre Union described him as one of the most influential figures shaping the drama school and, through it, the professional theatre field in Estonia over the last quarter-century.
Normet received the Priit Põldroos theatre-thought prize in 2002; the Theatre UnionâÂÂs award citation explicitly linked the prize to his leadership of the EAMT drama school, the introduction of systematic directing education, and his pedagogical work.
Normet directed productions in Finland and is mentioned in Finnish theatre-history scholarship in connection with Estonian participation and recognition in festival exchanges, including a directing prize for a production based on Maiju Lassila. A Finnish National Library bibliographic record indexes a 1995 review of ShakespeareâÂÂs Measure for Measure (Mitta mitasta) at Lappeenranta City Theatre credited to Normet as director. He is also credited as director (ohj.) of Saituri (The Miser) in a Finnish theatreâÂÂs published retrospective content.
NormetâÂÂs credited stage works span several decades and include productions in Estonian professional theatres and in teletheatre productions for Eesti Televisioon.
Normet published a collection of his theatre-related articles and interviews (Teatrist, 2002) and a theatre-school handbook (Ujuda selles jões. Teatrikooli aabits, 2011). The ETBL biography also credits him with childrenâÂÂs plays and with editing/compiling theatre books and translations used in theatre education.
Inog Normet was married to theatre director Kaarin Raid (1967âÂÂ1973) and later to actress Tiia Kriisa (from 1974).