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Hungary

The Latest

Essay
Did Hungarian Theatre Kids Just Change the World?
by Todd London
11 May 2026
Video
in:vzbl Festival—A Festival Dedicated to Rural Communities
Performance Videos and Artist Talks from the 2025 Festival in Timișoara, Romania
Thursday 5 March to Tuesday 10 March 2026
Timișoara, Romania
Podcast
Making Co-leadership Into Allyship
by Martin Boross, Tara Khozein
10 February 2026
event poster for the seventh international roma heroes festival 2025.
Video

Multi-camera Performance Video of Five Shows Presented for a Limited Time by the Independent Theater Hungary

Wednesday 1 October to Sunday 5 October 2025
Budapest, Hungary

The seventh edition of the Roma Heroes International Theater Festival took place in May 2025 in Budapest, Hungary. For a limited time, multi-camera, full-length performance videos of the five shows in this year's festival will livestream on HowlRound TV. English subtitles are available.

A person in a gladiator costume holding an owl and a shield.
Essay
16 September 2025

From a four-mile-long human chain to a torchlight ceremony in the rain—the playful, passionate demonstrations and symbols that arose from Hungary's Freeszfe movement inspired artists globally. Todd London and László Upor discuss the movement’s many examples of how artists can use their talents to stand up to tyranny.

event poster for the roma heroes play festival.
Video

Discussions with Contemporary Roma Theatre Artists

Wednesday 7 May to Sunday 11 May 2025
Budapest, Hungary

These five days celebrate theatre, paying tribute to independent theatre artists, their dramatic heroes, and Roma communities. 

A few people on stage pointing finger guns at each other.
Essay
1 May 2025

The Center for International Theatre Development’s LINKAGES programs foster long-term personal connections among artists. LINKAGES: Ukraine program director, John Freedman, details the program’s work connecting artists form different traditions, countries, and methodologies through conversations and theatrical exchange. 

Resistance Now Tour event graphic with portraits of the four panelists.
Video

A talk with Srećko Horvat, Dóra Büki, Matej Drlička, Milo Rau

Tuesday 5 November 2024
Vienna, Austria

Nationalist parties are on the rise across Europe. They instrumentalize fears and divide society. Their first victim is the freedom of art. Representatives of institutions, artists, and activists will share their visions of a global, solidarity-based response to the dangers posed by the new nationalism.

Poster image for the Roma Heroes Theatre Festival.
Video

Presented by the Independent Theater Hungary

Thursday 28 March 2024

Following a week-long screening of the Roma Heroes International Theater Festival, Sixth Edition, join us for a livestreamed conversation on the featured pieces with the Independent Theater Hungary. Find out more about the individual projects featured in the Roma Heroes International Theater Festival.

A group of people sit in a circle listening to a speaker.
Essay
27 March 2024

Tímea Éva Bogya, dramaturg and project manager for Independent Theater Hungary and critic for Színház Magazine, and Márton Illés explore questions for theatremakers to ask themselves before portraying Roma communities on stage to ensure authentic representation. 

A group of performers hang in small hammocks onstage.
Essay
25 March 2024

Noémi Herczog, theatre critic and scholar based in Hungary and Romania, explores the question of how critics should be writing about Roma theatre. Should they take the social position of the Roma into account, or write purely about the art itself?   

Independent Theatre Hungary AAPAC Workshop Event Poster
Video

Independent Theatre Hungary, Eötvös Loránd University, and Színház Magazine invite you to join a roundtable discussion with the Asian American Performers Action Coalition (AAPAC). 

Thursday 30 November 2023
Budapest, Hungary

Independent Theatre Hungary, Eötvös Loránd University, and Színház Magazine held a roundtable discussion with the Asian American Performers Action Coalition (AAPAC) who shared their experiences related to ethnic minority representation in the American theatre scene and presented the findings of their Visibility Reports: Racial Representation on New York City Stages. 

An actor wearing a gas mask covering their entire face.
Video
Wednesday 12 April 2023
Budapest, Hungary

Theatre company Chance of the Hunter (Hungary) presents the climate crisis–themed performance 999 followed by a conversation about climate anxiety and crises. Subtitles are available in English.

PUHA Podcast Teaser.
Podcast
21 October 2022

In this episode, co-hosts Bíborka and Zsófi are joined by visual and performance artist and environmental activist, Éva Bubla; dancer, choreographer, researcher, and founder of the performance research group SVUNG, Kinga Szemessy; and culture manager, event organizer, curator, founder of the PLACCC Festival, and the Hungarian liaison for the IN SITU Network, Fanni Nánay. Drawing from their individual experiences, they discuss the current climate crisis and how different artists engage with this complex issue.

PUHA Podcast Teaser.
Podcast
12 October 2022

In this episode, hosts Zsófi and Bíborka take apart autobiographical theatre with stage director Panni Néder, actress Judit Tarr, actor and director László Göndör, and director and dramaturg Kristóf Kelemen. Together they delve into their approach to autobiographical material, playing themselves versus acting, their lives after creating a highly personal show, and the nuances of someone else playing them onstage.

PUHA Podcast Teaser.
Podcast
5 October 2022

In this week’s episode, hosts Bíborka and Zsófi focus on different abilities and handicapped people in the performing arts. Translating their guests’ responses into English, the co-hosts sit down with independent theatremaker, poet, and dramaturg Ádám Fekete; and the core members of the ArtMan Association, Dorka Farkas, Kata Kopeczny, and Ferenc Kálmán, who work with integrated dance and movement practices to produce amazing contemporary dance shows.

Round headshots of speakers on a yellow background with podcast title
Podcast
28 September 2022

In this episode, co-hosts Zsófi and Bíborka talk about the practice and art of improvisation with three outstanding figures from the Hungarian contemporary dance and jazz scene: Zoltán Grecsó, a dancer, choreographer, and founder of Budapest’s improvised dance evening series Willany Leó; Viola Lévai, a dancer and teacher of contact improvisation; and Ernő Zoltán Rubik, a musician, composer, dancer, and an active member of the Hungarian free jazz and contact improvisation scene.

PUHA Podcast Teaser.
Podcast
21 September 2022

In the third episode of PUHA podcast, co-hosts Zsófi and Bíborka talk to the interdisciplinary collective Hollow, the experimental scenographer Eszter Kálmán, and dancer-choreographer Beatrix Simkó. Together, they discuss how their work features across different media and mixes visual and digital art with performativity. Get ready for a journey across household noise choreographies, moving bodies in Vienna’s Leopold Museum, underground queer communities in Tbilisi, and stories of friendship and pregnancy in performance art!

PUHA Season 1 Episode 2 w/ Gergö David Farkas, Kemelo Sehlapelo, and Veronika Szabó.
Podcast
14 September 2022

In this week’s episode of PUHA podcast, co-hosts Bíborka and Zsófi navigate their way through a discussion of what queerness means with performer, actress, and director Veronika Szabó; contemporary dancer Kemelo Sehlapelo; and dancer, choreographer, and clubber Gergő Dávid Farkas. Together, they contemplate identities, responsibility, and the way queer people exist in society.

event poster for the roma heroes festival 2022.
Video

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).

PUHA Podcast Teaser.
Podcast
7 September 2022

In the first episode of PUHA (Performative Unity in the Hungarian Arts) podcast, co-hosts Zsófi and Bíborka, along with their guests, search for the meaning of the notion of “public space.” Through the experiences and experiments of interdisciplinary sound artist Dávid Somló; choreographer Flóra Eszter Sarlós; dancer and choreographer Gyula Cserepes; and theatremaker and performer Sarah Günther, this episode will take you on a tour of spaces, from Budapest to Denmark to London and more!

Cast members standing side by side in a field.
Essay
11 April 2022

Rodrigó Balogh and Márton Illés discuss the process of creating outdoor theatre performances and share their experience producing them with Independent Theatre Hungary.

poster for the show European Family.
Video

Roma Theatre Retrospective 2021

Thursday 11 November 2021 and Wednesday 8 December 2021
United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Hungary

Independent Theater Hungary in partnership with HowlRound Theatre Commons presented the Roma Theatre Retrospective 2021 which included forty livestreams of twenty shows and twenty interviews from Romani artists in ten countries who were featured during four editions of the Roma Heroes International Theater Festival, Budapest.

three performers in hospital beds.
Video

Roma Theatre Retrospective 2021

Wednesday 10 November 2021 and Tuesday 7 December 2021

Independent Theater Hungary in partnership with HowlRound Theatre Commons presented the Roma Theatre Retrospective 2021 which included forty livestreams of twenty shows and twenty interviews from Romani artists in ten countries who were featured during four editions of the Roma Heroes International Theater Festival, Budapest.

Four actors stand under a spotlight facing a seated audience.
Essay

A Multi-Perspective from Eastern-Central Europe

6 December 2021

Freelance theatre, text, and sound maker Panna Adorjáni shares her perspective on what it means to have a good university theatre program in Eastern-Central Europe through conversations with other graduates from that region.

six performers standing in a park.
Video

Roma Theatre Retrospective 2021

Thursday 28 October 2021 and Thursday 2 December 2021
Hungary

Independent Theater Hungary in partnership with HowlRound Theatre Commons presented the Roma Theatre Retrospective 2021 which included forty livestreams of twenty shows and twenty interviews from Romani artists in ten countries who were featured during four editions of the Roma Heroes International Theater Festival, Budapest.

performer in front a projection screen.
Video

Roma Theatre Retrospective 2021

Wednesday 27 October 2021 and Wednesday 1 December 2021
Hungary

Independent Theater Hungary in partnership with HowlRound Theatre Commons presented the Roma Theatre Retrospective 2021 which included forty livestreams of twenty shows and twenty interviews from Romani artists in ten countries who were featured during four editions of the Roma Heroes International Theater Festival, Budapest.

Roma Theatre Retrospective Logo
Video

Celebrating Four Years of Contemporary, International Romani Theatre

Tuesday 19 October to Friday 10 December 2021
Worldwide

Independent Theater Hungary in partnership with HowlRound Theatre Commons presented the Roma Theatre Retrospective 2021 which included forty livestreams of twenty shows and twenty interviews from Romani artists in ten countries who were featured during four editions of the Roma Heroes International Theater Festival, Budapest. Livestreaming on the commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network Tuesday 19 October to Friday 10 December 2021.

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