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Festivals

Festivals, often organized within a specific geographic community or around a theme, are a great way for different works to be in conversation with each other. Content in this section primarily focuses around recapping theatre festivals and analyzing multiple works that were featured.

The Latest

Ontroerend Goed’s Participatory Metaphors
Podcast
Ontroerend Goed’s Participatory Metaphors
by Jeffrey Mosser, Alexander Devriendt
24 May 2023
Taking Care: Supporting Delegates with Invisible Disabilities at Festivals and Showcases
Essay
Taking Care: Supporting Delegates with Invisible Disabilities at Festivals and Showcases
by Rosie Heafford
15 May 2023
Black Southern Playwrights Take Center Stage
Essay
Black Southern Playwrights Take Center Stage
by Amelia Parenteau
27 April 2023
From the Ground Up Podcast Teaser image featuring guest profile image.
Ontroerend Goed’s Participatory Metaphors
Podcast

Ontroerend Goed’s Participatory Metaphors

24 May 2023

Artistic director of Belgian theatre company Ontroerend Goed, Alexander Devriendt talks through their process for imagining and developing participatory content. Alexander and Jeffrey Mosser also dig into financing art in Europe, the cost of touring internationally and how COVID has affected it, and sustaining family and art simultaneously.

A woman sitting outside on a scooter in front of a flowering tree.
Taking Care: Supporting Delegates with Invisible Disabilities at Festivals and Showcases
Essay

Taking Care: Supporting Delegates with Invisible Disabilities at Festivals and Showcases

15 May 2023

Second Hand Dance embarked upon research on support for artists with access needs after artistic director Rosie Heafford had to pull out of a festival that did not provide sufficient accommodations for her invisible disability. She shares takeaways from that research in the form of actionable steps that festivals, showcases, and industry events can implement.

Two performers embracing in the middle of the stage.
Black Southern Playwrights Take Center Stage
Essay

Black Southern Playwrights Take Center Stage

27 April 2023

Amelia Parenteau introduces the We Will Dream: New Works Festival, a festival showcasing new plays by Black playwrights originating from or working in the American South.

From the Ground Up Podcast image featuring Miranda Wright.
Ensemble as Contemporary Commentary
Podcast

Ensemble as Contemporary Commentary

19 April 2023

Miranda Wright, producer and executive director at Los Angeles Performance Practice, and Jeffrey Mosser discuss how Miranda has developed a presenting organization for sharing ambitious, collaboratively created work over the last ten years, as well as what she’s learned from some major arts funding research.

From the Ground Up Podcast Teaser image.
What Ensemble Touring Can Learn from Dance
Podcast

What Ensemble Touring Can Learn from Dance

29 March 2023

Jeffrey Mosser connects with Willa Jo Zollar, who is founder, chief visioning partner, and MacArthur Genius at Urban Bush Women. Together they talk about touring, the festival circuit, and strategy necessary to sustain a company for thirty years.

An actor dressed as President Zelensky points a prop gun at an unseen target.
Reflecting on the Timeliness of Polish Theatre at Kraków’s Divine Comedy Theatre Festival
Essay

Reflecting on the Timeliness of Polish Theatre at Kraków’s Divine Comedy Theatre Festival

2 March 2023

The Divine Comedy Theatre Festival in Kraków, Poland explored the theme of “Polish Taboo” across its thirty-two productions this year. Howard Shalwitz, who attended the festival as part of an American delegation of artists building connections between the United States and Poland, shares his experience attending the festival.

Two actors in yellow-green outfits standing over another actor in white lying on a table.
Female Stories from Kosovo: How Two Plays Look at the Loneliness of Balkan Women
Essay

Female Stories from Kosovo: How Two Plays Look at the Loneliness of Balkan Women

10 January 2023

Theatremaker verity healey discusses two plays from Kosovo’s 2022 Theatre Showcase that highlight Balkan women’s stories and struggles.

Critical Stages in Malawian Contemporary Theatre teaser image with the title at the top and a picture of the guest in the middle.
Producing Malawi’s First Multidisciplinary Arts Festival
Podcast

Producing Malawi’s First Multidisciplinary Arts Festival

9 January 2023

When filmmaker Thomas Chibambo founded the Blantyre Arts Festival in 2009, it was Malawi’s first multi-disciplinary arts festival. He joins host Fumbani Innot Phiri, Jr. to discuss the Blantyre Arts Festival’s current plans to better support theatrical performance and his own work to establish an Arts Council in Malawi.

An actor sits on a pure white stage with a white background and a human-sized laptop behind them.
Exodus and the Autobiography of War at Tbilisi International Festival
Essay

Exodus and the Autobiography of War at Tbilisi International Festival

5 January 2023

Yaşam Özlem Gülseven interviews Mikheil Charkviani about his work on Exodus, a production that traded grand historical narratives for granular perspectives on the impact of war in Georgia. Their interview, like the production, hinges on an important question: how do we learn to live with the past?

Critical Stages in Malawian Contemporary Theatre teaser image with the title at the top and a picture of the guest in the middle.
Development of Malawian Theatre
Podcast

Development of Malawian Theatre

A Conversation with Maxwell Chiphinga

9 November 2022

Maxwell Ciphinga, better known as Max DC, has weathered massive changes in the audience, form, and funding of Malawian theatre throughout his four-decade career. In this interview, he shares his perspective on the industry and discusses his policy and producorial work as the president of Malawi’s new National Theatre Association.

Kunafa and Shay Teaser Image.
Buffer Fringe Performing Arts Festival
Podcast

Buffer Fringe Performing Arts Festival

4 October 2022

In this special episode, Marina and Nabra sit down with Lebanese actor, theatremakers, and peacebuilder Raffi Feghali to talk about the Buffer Fringe Festival. Buffer Fringe is an annual festival with a mission for peacebuilding and social justice, organized by Home for Cooperation and situated in the buffer zone in Cyprus. Buffer Fringe runs 7-9 October 2022, presenting three days of international, interdisciplinary, experimental performances under the theme of Pockets (beyond). Join us as we explore improv in Lebanon, experimental theatre in a geographically contentious area, and artistic curation for peacebuilding.

Four actors sit and stare at the ceiling.
The Future Is in Culture
Essay

The Future Is in Culture

A Conversation with Iman Aoun

15 September 2022

Multidisciplinary artist Ash Marinaccio sits down with the co-founder and artistic director of ASHTAR Theatre Iman Aoun to discuss this year’s ASHTAR International Youth Festival in Palestine.

event poster for the roma heroes festival 2022.
Roma Heroes International Theater Festival, Fifth Edition
Video

Roma Heroes International Theater Festival, Fifth Edition

Presented by the Independent Theater Hungary

Monday 12 September - Friday 16 September 2022
Budapest, Hungary

Independent Theater Hungary presented the Roma Heroes International Theater Festival, Fifth Edition livestreaming on the commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv from Monday 12 September to Friday 16 September 2022 at 9 a.m. PDT (Los Angeles, UTC -7) / 11 a.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 12 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 17:00 BST (London, UTC +1) / 18:00 CEST (Budapest, UTC +2) / 19:00 EEST (Bucharest, UTC +3).

event poster for puppets in the green mountains festival 2022.
Puppets in the Green Mountains 2022
Video

Puppets in the Green Mountains 2022

Access Through The Arts Panel Discussions Exploring the Theme of Roots and Wings

Saturday 10 September - Sunday 18 September 2022
United States

Sandglass Theater presented events from the Puppets in the Green Mountains Festival 2022 livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Saturday 10 September, Saturday 17 September, and Sunday 18 September 2022.

Five women in dresses drinking tea on stage.
Gathering Momentum: Türkiye’s Independent Theatre in President Erdoğan’s Near-Autocracy
Essay

Gathering Momentum: Türkiye’s Independent Theatre in President Erdoğan’s Near-Autocracy

15 August 2022

verity healey describes the power and significance of independent theatre in Türkiye by sharing her experience at the theatre festival, TheatreIST.

A parade of men women and children carrying a flag.
Side-yard: On the Commons, the Neighborhood, Grief, and Not Making Theatre While Still Making Theatre
Essay

Side-yard: On the Commons, the Neighborhood, Grief, and Not Making Theatre While Still Making Theatre

15 March 2022

Play House is a collectively stewarded performance space near the border of Detroit and Hamtramck that has become a place of convening and creation for the neighborhood. Richard Newman, a co-manager of the space and co-director of The Hinterlands ensemble, traces connections between creative practice, community, grief, and an outdoor ramp at Play House.

An audience sits in a dark red theatre, watching actors in costume perform.
Freedom and Theatre: An International Meditation
Essay

Freedom and Theatre: An International Meditation

24 February 2022

Producing artistic director Kellie Mecleary shares her experience participating in Vaba Lava Narva Theatre Centre’s first International Freedom Theatre Festival in Estonia.

Kampala International Theatre Festival logo.
Kampala International Theatre Festival
Video

Kampala International Theatre Festival

Performances of The 40th Man or the 28th Woman (Iran), Killing Time (Uganda), and panel discussion on artist-centered networks

Wednesday 15 December to Friday 17 December 2021
Kampala, Uganda

The Kampala International Theatre Festival (KITF) is an annual 5-day festival. KITF was launched in November 2014 as a platform to develop professionalism among East African theatre practitioners, connect the East African theatremaking communities with one another and their counterparts from elsewhere. Select performances and a panel discussion livestreaming on the global, commons-based HowlRound TV network Wednesday 15 December to Friday 17 December 2021.

Seven Black actors performing on stage accompanied by the band.
The Shakespeare In Paradise Festival
Essay

The Shakespeare In Paradise Festival

A Celebration of Bahamian Theatre and Performance

23 November 2021

Robert Hubbard sits down with Dr. Nicolette Bethel and Philip A. Burrows to discuss their creation of the annual Shakespeare in Paradise Festival in the Bahamas.

event poster for re encuentro 2021.
Re:Encuentro 2021
Video

Re:Encuentro 2021

A National Latina/o/x Virtual Theatre Festival Celebrating Contemporary Latina/o/x Theatre In the US

Monday 15 November to Saturday 20 November 2021
United States

The Los Angeles Theatre Center presented Re:Encuentro 2021 livestreaming on the commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv from Monday 15 November to Saturday 20 November 2021.

trans plays of remembrance festival poster.
Trans [Plays] of Remembrance
Video

Trans [Plays] of Remembrance

Three Nights of Short Plays and Performances By Trans* Playwrights and Roundtable Discussions with Playwrights, Actors, and Community Members.

Wednesday 17 November to Friday 19 November 2021
United States

Presenting Trans [Plays] of Remembrance livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv from Wednesday 17 November to Friday 19 November 2021 at 4 p.m. PST (San Francisco, UTC -8) / 6 p.m. CST (Chicago, UTC -6) / 7 p.m. EST (New York, UTC -5).

event poster for the prelude festival 2021.
Prelude 2021: Start Making Sense!
Video

Prelude 2021: Start Making Sense!

An array of short performances, readings, and screenings, plus conversations with artists across the United States

Monday 25 October to Friday 29 October
United States

The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center at the Graduate Center, CUNY presented its 2021 PRELUDE festival, "Prelude 2021: Start Making Sense!," livestreaming on the commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network from Monday 25 October to Friday 29 October 2021.

Seven people at a bar table.
Reimagining a Segregated World: Roma Heroes, European Dramas
Essay

Reimagining a Segregated World: Roma Heroes, European Dramas

21 October 2021

Noémi Herczog discusses the need for greater Roma visibility on stage and introduces Roma Heroes: Five European Dramas, a new collection that anthologizes plays from the Independent Theater Hungary’s Roma Heroes International Theater Festival.

event poster for hey neighbor hey you.
Performance: Hey neighbor, hey you! (Romania)
Video

Performance: Hey neighbor, hey you! (Romania)

With REACTIV Festival: a laboratory of experiences and experiments in which we aim to rediscover ourselves as individuals and groups

Friday 3 September 2021
Targu Neamt, Romania

The Educational Centre of the Performative Arts CEVA in Targu Neamt, Romania presented a performance of Hey neighbor, hey you! with the REACTIV festival livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Friday 3 September 2021.

A large, titled puppet depiction of the American designer Robert Moses with two tiny brown-skinned puppets in front.
Puppets Are Immigrants Too
Essay

Puppets Are Immigrants Too

How New York City Turned Ancient Traditions into Cutting-Edge Art

24 August 2021

Jonathan Mandell shares his experience at New York City’s first-ever official Puppet Week.