Lauris Gundars is a Latvian playwright, scriptwriter, and director (born in 1958). Gundars has studied Law at the University of Latvia (1980. - 1985), Theatre Directing (Saint-Petersburg, 1983. - 1988) and Scriptwriting (Moscow 1987. - 1989). Gundars is the director of 24 theatre stagings, author of 32 plays and adaptations, 14 full-length feature scripts, 2 TV series, two novels. He is also the author of Dramatica or Rational Poetics, a book on mastering tools for drama, which showcases his deep knowledge of dramatic history and theory and his wide-ranging experience in the field. He is also head of the Lauris Gundars’ Writing Workshop, tutor at numerous European international writing workshops. Lauris Gundars teaches drama and communication at Latvian Academy of Arts, RISEBA University, and Riga Stradiņš University. He is the creator of MA playwriting program at the Liepāja University, and host at the  "THEATRE ATTIC" radio show. He is a member of Latvia's Theatre Labour Association (since 2001) and the Latvian Writers' Union (since 1995).