Stand Up Therapy ~ RISE UP!

STATUS. We’ll see where we are. With disarming humor and science in simple Greek, we’ll expose the mechanisms that keep each of us in our own box — laughing, because the laughter of recognition is the first form of encounter.

RESISTANCE. We will look at our defenses. Those that once protected us and today keep us alone. Here I will be the first to take the risk, from the stage — because I do not ask anyone for courage that I do not myself demonstrate.

RESURRECTION. We will stand tall. Each one his own. As we have been saying for three years now: not to play — because we can no longer stand to be silent.

REVOLUTION. And then, the night stops describing and starts commanding. We will stand together . Because when you speak you heal, when you listen you heal — and when you stand with people who feel, you fall in love with life all over again. And those in love with life can change EVERYTHING.

For those who were there

You know who you are.

You were there when we turned on the first light, in “Darkness and Light” — when we dared to look at what was hidden within us. You were there when we stood up, in “From Machine Man” — when we stepped out from behind the roles and claimed our souls.

We saw. We stood. And then we understood something that no one had told us: that the man who stands alone, no matter how high he stands, sees a beautiful view from a deserted peak.

“Rebel” for you has a second reading: re-stand. Stand here again . Come back. The light you hold from those nights was not given to you to keep. It was given to you to give. This year I need you not as an audience — as co-founders.

For those coming for the first time

Don’t worry. You didn’t miss anything that you can’t experience tonight. “Rebel” doesn’t check for previous service at the entrance. It starts whenever you arrive. And maybe, without knowing it, it was waiting for you to be told.

What it is not — and what it is

It’s not stand-up comedy, although you’ll laugh until you cry. It’s not a lecture, although you’ll leave understanding things no one has ever said to you out loud and in public. It’s not group therapy, although in two hours you’ll experience what science calls the healing factors of the group: that you’re not alone, that you’re not wrong, that there is hope with a name.

It’s not a performance. It’s a command from the heart: Rebel!

And most importantly: when the lights go out, nothing will end. Then it will begin. Because each city we visit will not just take one night. It will establish its own Neighborhood — people who met standing up and decided not to become strangers again. And I will come back. Every year. Not for a rerun — for an anniversary. Because “stand up again” applies to me too.

If you’re just looking for “something to watch,” there are great movies. But if you’re thirsty to feel, to know, to belong — if you have a voice inside you that has been whispering to you for years, “get up” — it’s time to answer it. We’re waiting for you. Not as a viewer.

As a fellow revolutionary.

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A few words about Manos Hatzimalonas

Psychologist – Psychotherapist | International speaker | Character Coach

Manos is a psychologist-psychotherapist in synthetic-existential counseling. He focuses on developing psychosomatic resilience through a person’s “Character” by combining elements from different therapeutic approaches to effectively intervene at all levels of human existence – intellectual, psychosomatic, emotional, behavioral, interpersonal and existential. As an internationally recognized psychotherapist, he has taught philosophy, ethics and psychology at universities in America and Greece. As a private psychologist, he hosts individual sessions in Athens and online, is a scientific guest at interdisciplinary organizations, and advises business executives on issues of communication, antifragility and cultural adaptation. He conducts trainings to activate collaboration and refine virtues in organizational contexts, and applies an innovative interdisciplinary method based on the meta-virtue of Greek Philotemia for personal and professional development. Since 2024, he has been touring as part of the “entertainment therapy” of Stand Up Therapy, which focuses on the popularization of psychological science and the therapeutic power of community.

The event will be videotaped for the needs of the Manos Hatzimalonas archive. During the videotaping, general footage of the audience may also be recorded.