the 32^nd  Edition

3 – 12 September 2021

40 performances and cultural-artistic manifestations were presented to the public at the 32-nd edition of the Piatra Neamț Theatre Festival.

There were 10 days full of performances, book releases, workshops, exhibitions, discussions with the public, all of them held in 10 locations in Piatra Neamț, Târgu-Neamț and Roman. The theme of Piatra Neamț Theatre Festival was POST PRESENT, an inspired key-concept that attracted thousands of viewers to fill the locations chosen by the organizers for this year’s performances.

The emphasis was on POST PRESENT. That marked the joy of meeting with the public, who came in large number, eager to be still a viewer, to be overwelmed by the performances, to reenter a world that they had been longing for so long, because this is what used to happen long time ago.

 The festival included several sections, all of which have a common ground: “The experience of the last year and a half brought with it important changes in the way the performing arts reach the public: the impossibility of making long-term plans, taking risks in terms of timing, flexibility of responses to overnight restrictions and regulations, depending on the evolution of the pandemic context…” as it was stated in the description of the event, on the website of the Theatre of Youth in Piatra Neamț.

Thus, after a year of silence, of absence, the Theatre of Youth manages to successfully organize the festival, as a long-awaited meeting between the public and theatre professionals when now, in times of crisis, perhaps more than ever, moments of excitement and impatience have been shown, a long-awaited dialogue on both sides of the stage.

This year’s festival undoubtedly has the significance that “the performative arts have not yet surrendered in the fight for survival, in a society increasingly enchanted by consumption and individualism, so they get to reaffirm their commitment to local communities and they can provide a platform where theatre and viewers can meet to discuss, think and perhaps reduce the social distance that has deepened because of the pandemic.”

This year’s edition took into consideration a selection of performances that would trigger dialogue on relevant and current topics. Thus, “the themes explored in most performances are significantly related to timing, so the title of the current edition, proposed by the Theatre of Youth’s art consultant Daniel Chiriă, also functions as a red thread linking esthetic visions, artistic practices and very different generations. We are here – in POST PRESENT, trapped in this unusual frame of time, sometimes wanting to be “as before” again, sometimes hoping that we could discover new, more just and better possibilities that would not even have passed through our heads “before””.

Photo gallery :

The Awards of this festival’s edition:

The teenagers jury award went to the performance “alcohol, light and just a little death. a case study”, produced by the cultural Platform “Frilenăr” Bucharest.

The three judges were: Olivia Călin, Faculty of European Studies, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca – President of the jury, Andreea-Cristina Mureșan, student of “Calistrat Hogaș” national College in Piatra Neamţ,  and Iustin Alexandrescu, student of “Gheorghe Asachi” National College in Piatra Neamţ.

“We award this Prize for the dynamics of the show, live music suitable for the scenic context, excellent adaptability to the space provided (Children’s Palace courtyard), the scenes relevant to the themes of the show”, were the grounds of their choice.

The “Cătălina Buzoianu” Prize, awarded by the Theatre of Youth, was won by the creators of “MOTHER” show, produced by the Dialectic Center in Bucharest.

From this edition on, the “Cătălina Buzoianu” Prize will celebrate the memory of the most important director in the history of the Romanian theatre –whose activity in the ’70 and ‘80 is linked to the evolution of the Theatre of Youth– and will praise the courage of young artists who articulate innovative and critical visions of theatre and the world in their creations. It will also support dialogue and solidarity between Romanian artists from different generations.

This year, the winners of the “Cătălina Buzoianu” Prize were selected from among the independent artists participating in the national section of the Festival.

In a spirit of solidarity with the independent theatre sector, the artist Dan Perjovschi donated his fee for the work of the “entrance drawing” to a young artist or group of this section, present at the Festival.

Theatre of Youth in Piatra Neamț thanks all viewers and artists present during the ten days of the festival and also the Neamt County Council, that understood the importance of this event for the community and financially supported its organization at such a difficult time for the cultural institutions all around the world.

Check out the upcoming shows here!

For buying tickets, please click on the following link: http://www.bilete.ro/…/teatrul-tineretului-piatra-neamt/

For more information and bookings, please call: +40 756 698 978

Poster: Benedek Levente