Festivals

Carra Martinez, with thoughts from Justin Favela, Ty Defoe, Ron Berry, and Leyya Tawi, writes about how the future is a structurally minded labor of the everyday.

Jacob Juntunen shares how the MFA playwriting program at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale adapted their new play festival for the online world and how open-access software and streaming platforms helped students at the rural school transcend geography.

Marta Keil and Grzegorz Reske share letters from the past and the future, from June 2020 to June 2029, detailing the changes to the theatrical landscape in their hometown of Warsaw, Poland.

verity healey, who spent time in Kosovo for its Theatre Showcase last October, discusses the precarious nature of Kosovo’s independent theatre sector and shares her thoughts about the plays she saw while visiting.

Amelia Parenteau explores the most recent Seuls en Scène Festival, which took place in September 2020 on Zoom and had a programmatic mix of video recordings of live performance, “staged” readings, one making-of documentary, and a series of docutheatre work. / Amelia Parenteau explore la dernière édition du festival Seuls en Scène, qui a eu lieu en septembre 2020 sur Zoom et qui a présenté une programmation variée, avec des captations vidéo de performances, des lectures de pièces, un documentaire sur un processus de création et une série de docu-théâtres.

Michelle Yemayá notes that while Colombian theatre artists have found ways to face the unexpected changes this year, artists are still struggling to stay afloat. She talks about how she has adapted her practice under the circumstances and shares the stories of three other artists living and working as artists in Colombia right now. / Michelle Yemayá ha notado que, si bien los artistas del teatro colombiano han encontrado formas de enfrentar los cambios inesperados de este año, la lucha por mantenerse a flote es constante. Habla sobre cómo ha adaptado su práctica a las circunstancias y comparte las historias de otras tres personas que en este momento viven y trabajan como artistas en Colombia.

verity healey recaps the multidisciplinary arts festival Kunstfest, which took place in Weimar, Germany in late August and early September this year and tackled issues such as immigration, identity, COVID-19, and the environment.

Parvathi Ramanathan talks about the community-based, cross-cultural theatre project, d.r.i.f.t., in India’s Dharamshala region.

In this virtual keynote, Todd London reflects on the nature of new work and the social cooperation inherent to making theatre.

Playwright Aleshea Harris reflects on the tensions of being a Black theatremaker and "negotiating bodily presence" in a speech at the 2020 Under the Radar Festival Professional Symposium.

Amelia Parenteau discusses the Actions Caribéennes Théâtrales festival, which brought together francophones, francophiles, and theatre folks from around the world to witness staged readings of six French Caribbean plays in English translation. / Amelia Parenteau parle du festival Actions Caribéennes Théâtrales (ACT), qui a rassemblé des francophones, francophiles et gens de théâtre de partout dans le monde pour assister aux lectures publiques de six pièces franco-caribéennes traduites en anglais.

Kristin Leahey, PhD explores the impact of the Colorado New Play Festival and its accompanying conference.

Kirsten Bowen reflects on Slovakia’s 2019 International Theatre Festival Divadelná Nitra, which was programmed based on the theme “faces of freedom.”

ArtsEmerson Artistic Director David Dower speaks with Chilean playwright Guillermo Calderón about the ongoing protests in Chile.

Sam Williams dives into several of the productions at Finland’s Tampere Theatre Festival, which ran between August 5 and 11 and which was curated based on the theme of bravery.

Dave White dives into the programming at this year’s Nová Dráma Festival in Slovakia, where women were front and center.