The “Theatre” section program within the framework of the Cultural Forum is aimed at the scientific and professional circle of topics. Russian and foreign theatre experts, university professors, actors, film directors, theatre directors will discuss international cooperation from the point of view of not only the modern, but also the historical theatre process.
The program of the “Theatre” section this year will become part of the scientific and educational program of the Theatre Olympics 2019. “Cultural bridges in the theatre world” — this motto was given to the section by the organizers. The section’s first event will be a plenary session at the Hermitage General Staff Building “Cultural Bridges in the Theatre World: The Theatre Process in the Intercultural Aspect”. Russian and foreign theorists and practitioners of the theatre — such as theatre experts, film directors, critics — will discuss the current agenda of the theatre process. The plenary meeting will continue in the format of the conference, but already at the venue of the New Stage of the Alexandrinsky Theatre, preserving the name of the event. Among the participants of the plenary session and conference there are: Valery Fokin, artistic director of the Alexandrinsky Theatre and the head of the Theatre section (Russia); Alexander Chepurov, professor, the head of the department of theatrical art of Russian State Institute of Performing Arts (Russia); Theodoros Terzopoulos, film director, chairman of the International Committee for Theatre Olympics (Greece); Pavel Stepanov, Deputy Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation (Russia); Annelis Kuhlmann, professor, department of culture of the Aarhus University (Denmark); Willmar Sauter, professor, department of culture and aesthetics of the Stockholm University (Sweden); Josette Feral, professor of the International Laboratory for Art Studies of the New Sorbonne University Paris III (Canada); Yasushi Nagata, professor of the Osaka State University (Japan).
“This year, the Theatre section is held under auspices of the global event of the Year of the Theatre — the Theatre Olympics. It is a great honor and responsibility for me, as a member of the International Committee of the Theatre Olympics, to represent its program in our country. After 18 years, this major international theatre event returned to Russia. The best performances of the world theatre could be seen by Saint Petersburg and Vladivostok, Khabarovsk and Sevastopol, Magadan and Kerch, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and Kaliningrad,” said Valery Fokin, People's Artist of Russia, the head of the Theatre section. “It is precisely during the days of the Forum that we summarize, study the experience of this Olympics, hold round tables that serve the development of the theory and practice of theatre art, its scientific understanding.
And already today we understand that the interest that the program of the Theatre Olympics has aroused suggests that the theatre is the force that unites all of us today, despite the distance of dozens of thousands of kilometers and the difference in the time zones.”
Two symposiums will be held at the New Stage of the Alexandrinsky Theatre Media Center, which will be aimed at the professional theatre community. The first symposium “Cultural Bridges in the Theatre World: International Relations in the Mirror of the Theatre History” is devoted to the problems and trends in the study of the history of intercultural theatre interactions. Theatre critics and art historians from different countries will share their thoughts on what is the methodology for studying the theatre history in the world, its development and prospects. The event’s speakers will be Pirkko Koski, professor of department of philosophy, history and art history at the University of Helsinki (Finland); Garay Golomb, professor, department of theatre, of the University of Tel Aviv (Israel); Cristina Amon-Sergol, professor, International Laboratory of art studies, New Sorbonne University Paris III (France); Hannah Kersberg, professor of department of philosophy, history and art history at the University of Helsinki (Finland) and others.
The second symposium “Cultural Bridges in the Theatre World: A Contemporary Stage in the International Cultural Space” will bring together such speakers as Andrea Porcheddu, theatre critic (Italy); Tomasz Kubikovsky, head of the literary department of the National Theatre (Teatr Narodowy) (Poland); Savvas Patsalidis, professor, department of history and theatre theory of the Greek Open University (Greece); Georges Bagnoud, professor at the Institute of Theatre Studies of the New Sorbonne University Paris III (France) and others. The symposium will be devoted to the problems of the global trends interrelation in the development of the world theatre and the national characteristics of the various theatre cultures, as well as the theatre projects strategies.
On the second day of the Forum, the conference “Cultural Bridges in the Theatre World: Theatre Knowledge and the Information Field of the World Theatre” will be held. This discussion is aimed at the subject matter specialists in the field of theatre studies, as it touches on the topics related to research, study of the history and theory of the theatre, creation of the single database and sources. The speakers of the event will be the theatre experts from different countries, including: Donatella Gavrilovich, professor of the department of theatre history of the University of Rome Tor Vergata (Italy); Beat Esterman, Deputy Head of the Institute for Public Sector Transformation, Bern University of Applied Sciences (Germany), Jaroslaw Fret, Director of the Grotowski Institute and the ZAR Theatre (Poland) and others.
On the same day, a panel discussion entitled “THEATRUM 2020: Expanding the Boundaries of the Theatre and Museum Cooperation” will be held at the General Staff Building. Among the discussion participants will be Andrey Moguchy director, artistic director of the Tovstonogov Bolshoi Drama Theater (Russia); Kate Bailey, curator of the exhibition “Opera: Passion, Power, and Politics” at the Victoria and Albert Museum (Great Britain); Oksana Oracheva, general director of the Vladimir Potanin Charity Fund (Russia); Mark Ball, creative director of the Manchester International Festival (Great Britain) and others. The main topic of the discussion will be collaboration of the museums and theatres, in terms of cultural interaction, artistic practice and co-production.
A round table “Cultural Bridges in the Theatre World: Poetics of Intercultural Performances” will be also held it will bring together directors and theoreticians from around the world and Russia. The following people will share their experience on the intercultural projects: Theodoros Terzopoulos, chairman of the International Theatre Olympics Committee (Greece); Andrei Serban, director (USA); Maria Shevtsova, head of the department of theatre and performing arts, Goldsmith College, University of London (Great Britain); Viktor Ryzhakov, director (Russia); Attila Vidnyansky, director, and others. The moderators of the round table will be Valery Fokin, the artistic director of the Alexandrinsky Theatre, and Alexander Chepurov, professor, head of the department of theatrical art of the Russian State Institute of Performing Arts.
The final event of the section will be the round table “Contemporary Theatre: Problems and Achievements”, which will bring together the theatre figures and the experts in the field of theatre art from Russia and Europe. The round table will be devoted to the development of theatre in the modern society, cultures of the Slavic countries – adherence to the traditions and, at the same time, new trends that are making their changes in the theatrical art. Participants in the round table will be: Marina Dmitrevskaya, editor-in-chief of the Peterburgskiy teatralnyy zhurnal (Petersburg Theatre Magazine), professor at the Russian State Institute of Performing Arts (Russia); Dino Mustafich, director of the MESS International Theatre Festival (Bosnia and Herzegovina); Dorota Segda, rector of the S. Wyspianski National Academy of Theatre Arts in Krakow (Poland); Tomasz Kubikovsky, head of the literary department of the National Theatre (Teatr Narodowy) (Poland); Grigory Zaslavsky, rector of the Russian Institute of Theatre Arts (GITIS) (Russia); Jaroslaw Fret, Director of the Grotowski Institute in the city of Wroclaw (Poland).
