New Stages South East Festival

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE GOETHE-INSTITUT, THEATER OBERHAUSEN PRESENTS EXCITING PERSPECTIVES OF A NEW THEATRE GENERATION FROM SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE

• DEUTSCH
• ENGLISH

In Partnerschaft mit dem Goethe-Institut präsentiert das Theater Oberhausen spannende Positionen einer neuen Theatergeneration Südosteuropas. Junge Autor:innen aus Bosnien und Herzegowina, Bulgarien, Griechenland, Kroatien, Rumänien, der Republik Moldau, Serbien und Zypern haben in den letzten zwei Jahren im Rahmen von NEW STAGES SOUTH EAST Texte für ein Theater der Zukunft geschrieben. Wir präsentieren elf dieser Texte in Lesungen und Werk- stattinszenierungen und laden Sie außerdem ein zu Gastspielen aus Belgrad, Bukarest und München, zu einem Konzert von Bulgarian Cartrader, einem Stadtfrühstück und zu Disco & Diskurs.

IN PARTNERSCHAFT MIT DEM GOETHE-INSTITUT UND IN KOOPERATION MIT DEM STUDIENGANG SCHAUSPIEL DER FOLKWANG UNIVERSITÄT DER KÜNSTE UND INDIE RADAR RUHR. GEFÖRDERT IM PROGRAMM 360° – FONDS FÜR KULTUREN DER NEUEN STADTGESELLSCHAFT.

In partnership with the Goethe-Institut, Theater Oberhausen presents inspiring dramatic texts from a new theatre generation of South-Eastern Europe. Over the past two years, young authors from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Croatia, Romania, the Republic of Moldova, Serbia and Cyprus have written texts for a theater of the future as part of NEW STAGES SOUTH EAST, of which eleven will be presented in various ways. We are also looking forward to an extensive programme of guest performances from Belgrade, Bucharest and Munich, music from Bulgarian Cartrader, and disco & discourse. There will be events in English as well. For specific information on the language of a certain event please see programme below.

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE GOETHE-INSTITUT AND IN COOPERATION WITH STUDIENGANG SCHAUSPIEL AT FOLKWANG UNIVERSITÄT DER KÜNSTE AND INDIE RADAR RUHR. SUPPORTED BY PROGRAMM 360° – FONDS FÜR KULTUREN DER NEUEN STADTGESELLSCHAFT.

ProgrammE

THE LEPA BRENA PROJECT – Guest performance from Belgrade | Photo: Tihomir Vorkapic

TURBOVOLK3000 – Guest performance from Munich | Photo: Demjan Duran

THE BEST CHILD IN THE WORLD – Guest performance from Bucharest | Photo: Florin Ghioca

BULGARIAN CARTRADER – Concert on 21.04.2023

TICKETS & SERVICE

For the NEW STAGES SOUTH EAST readings and workshop productions, as well as for the panel discussions, please purchase a festival pass for 5 EUR, which is valid for the respective day. Different prices apply for guest performances and the concert. Other parts of the programme, such as the festival opening or the NEW STAGES SOUTH EAST PARTY, are free of charge.

Tickets are available at the theatre box office and or online here:

FESTIVAL PASS
5€

GUEST PERFORMANCES

CONCERT

BOX OFICE

BACKGROUND

Young authors from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Croatia, Romania, the Republic of Moldova, Serbia and Cyprus have participtated in the Goethe-Institut project New Stages South East. Exploring the power of theatre, remarkable texts of a new generation have emerged. Ana Konstantinović, Cristian Popescu, Christos Georgiou, Dea Loher, Dragan Komadina, Gerhild Steinbuch, Ivana Sajko, Ivor Martinić, Jens Hillje, Maria Milisavljević, Prodromos Tsinikoris, Rebekka Kricheldorf, Tanja Sljivar and Ulrike Syha were involved as mentors.

Between war and crisis, optimism and solidarity, Europe today forms a complex mosaic. How are the societal transformations of the last decades reflected in the today’s theatre literature? What is the power of theatre in the context of nationalist developments and complex pasts? What theatre forms emerge from the diversity of the regions of South-Eastern Europe?

A jury consisting of Dr. Kathrin Mädler (Artistic Director, Theater Oberhausen), Berit Wohlfarth (Department of Theatre and Dance, Goethe-Institute), Dominika Široká (Dramaturg, Nationaltheater Mannheim), Hunor von Horváth (Head of the German Department at the Nationaltheater Sibiu / Hermannstadt) and Maximilian Löwenstein (Dramaturg, Schauspiel Essen from 2023/2024) has awarded prizes to the most remarkable texts and summarised them in a shortlist.  

A CELEBRATION OF LONELINESS BY KATERINA GEORGIEVA

With great vividness and observational skills, Katerina Georgieva describes the lives of five women, bound together in their loneliness. Playing with the isolation and cohesion of the five protagonists in a linguistically formal way, a feminist text emerges bursting with humour and attention to detail; at the same time, it reveals itself to be vulnerable. Therefore, the text fully lives up to the exciting ambivalence of the title.

ACID BY ASJA KRSMANOVIĆ

Preserving and remembering; conserving and holding on; forgeting and dying: In ACID, a family seeks orientation in past traditions in an increasingly fast-paced time. „What can we hold on to?“ asks Asja Krsmanović’s text, meandering between nostalgia and the future, creating an emotional landscape of our torn present.

DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN BY DARIO BEVANDA

Dario Bevanda skillfully exposes the (non-) processing of the Yugoslav Wars in a clever dramaturgical approach and interweaves the levels of bygone everyday life during the war with the perspective of the current generation. There is a lot of potential for a gripping performance in the two antagonists‘ personal efforts to come to terms with their past. At the same time, the story moves the audience due to its immediate and painful actuality.

GENERATION LOST BY GREG LIAKOPOULOS

Greg Liakopoulos (& Collective) portrays his generation – the Greek „Millennials“ – with great observational skills and a figurative, humorous and musical language. Liakopoulos strikes an almost affectionate, but never indifferent or sarcastic tone in order to tangibly disclose their weary search for meaning and their lurching between political stance and private withdrawal against the backdrop of the national debt crisis.

I CAN ONLY FALL ASLEEP IF I IMAGINE IT IS SNOWING BY TEONA GALGOTIU

Author Teona Galgotiu draws her audience into a world that is awaiting an apocalypse, but has already arrived in a poetic-surreal present frighteningly similar to our world. With great linguistic and imaginative force, the end of the world becomes playfully conceivable by means of a concrete family – humorous, unsentimental and very touching.

In workshop productions and theatrical readings, with disco and discourse, the contemporary theatre of South East Europe will be presented as a three-day showcase at Theater Oberhausen in partnership with the Goethe-Institut and in cooperation with the drama programme of the Folkwang University of the Arts. In addition to the five prize-winning texts, other texts created as part of New Stages South East will be presented.

To anchor the New Stages South East authors sustainably in the (German-speaking) theatre landscape, premieres and German-language premieres will take place at Theater Oberhausen, Schauspiel Essen, and the National Theatre Sibiu / Hermannstadt during the 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 seasons. There will also be a staged presentation at the National Theatre Mannheim.

Leading Goethe-Institut New Stages South East:
Goethe-Institut Romania, Dr Joachim Umlauf (director), Marina Neaçsu (coordinator for cultural programmes) 

Artistic Lead  New Stages South East Festival at Theater Oberhausen:
Laura Mangels