30th Anniversary of “Setkani” International Festival of Theatre Schools Arrives In Brno This Spring

The Jubilee 30th Anniversary of the prestigious theatre festival is coming to Brno from March 31st to April 4th. The Setkani [“Encounter”] festival is organised by students from Brno’s Janacek Academy of Music and Performing Arts (JAMU). Photo credit: Petr Chodura.

Brno, Feb 20 (BD) – This year, Setkani, the International Festival of Theatre Schools, is celebrating its 30th anniversary, and to mark the occasion and look back at the various performances and memories of the festival’s history, this year’s theme is “Taste the Time”. In the words of festival director Marek David and dramaturge Jana Uhýrková, the theme visualises “time as a phenomenon containing the past, present and future. A call to stop, capture and enjoy the presence intensively, to evaluate and properly explore the moments that have passed, and to the responsible, hopeful attitude to the upcoming.”

Encounter 2010. Photo credit: Pavel Nestavba.

The plays will take place in the Centre for Experimental Theater (including the Goose on a String Theatre, HaDivadlo, and the Cellar Stage) and school theatres including the Orlí Street Theatre and Studio Marta.

The prestigious role of festival ambassador has previously held by Jiří Bartoška, the director of Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, and Bolek Polívka, the highly-decorated Brno actor, but this year will for the first time be occupied by a woman, Slovak actress Emília Vášáryová, doctor honoris causa of JAMU.

Encounter 2016 in Taiwan. Photo credit: Petr Chodura.

One successful innovation from last year which will return as part of this year’s festival is the Open Air Stage on Moravske namesti, part of the opening ceremony, connecting the festival to the people of Brno. Another returning feature is the workshop, which lasts for four days during the festival and is open to participants from Visegrád Group countries. This year the workshop will be led by performer, director and teacher Radim Vizváry.

For more information, check out the festival’s Facebook page.

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