31.01.2024
The World on Stage seminar
The Maailma näyttämölle/World on Stage project welcomes you to an afternoon of discussions and talks on world drama.
Time: Monday March 18, 2024, at 13-17
Place: The foyer of the Helsinki City Theatre (Eläintarhantie 5, Helsinki)
We are happy to welcome three internationally renowned playwrights to Helsinki for the seminar: playwright and director Tue Biering from Denmark (whose play Rocky! was produced by the Viirus theatre in Helsinki in 2021), playwright Gianina Cărbunariu from Romania, and playwright Tyrfingur Tyrfingsson from Iceland. In addition, we will receive a greeting from playwright Sèdjro Giovanni Houansou in Benin.
The advisory board members will reflect on their observations of reading world drama for three years, and reveal which 25 plays they recommend to be translated and produced this year.
The event will be in English, open and free to everyone – but please sign up by March 13, 2024 via this link: https://link.webropolsurveys.com/S/14D06DDFBFC53A90
For interview requests with our guests, please contact Linnea Stara, linnea.stara@tinfo.fi
Read more about the project Maailma näyttämölle (tinfo.fi) (In Finnish)
Programme
13:00
Welcome: Ari-Pekka Lahti (Helsinki City Theatre) and Linnea Stara (TINFO)
Keynote: Playwright and director Tue Biering on world drama and current discourses on representation
Reflections on reading world plays: Davide Giovanzana, Elli Salo, Linnea Stara, and Saara Turunen, in conversation with Martina Marti
15:00
Sèdjro Giovanni Houansou: A pre-recorded interview with Marie Kajava (French, English subtitles)
Playwright Tyrfingur Tyrfingsson in conversation with artistic director Jussi Sorjanen (Viirus)
16:00
How to stage the world: dramaturge Ari-Pekka Lahti, playwright Gianina Cărbunariu and translator Sampsa Peltonen.
Final words by Antti Niskanen (Finnish Cultural Foundation)
Speakers
Tue Biering is a Danish playwright and director. He is known for legendary productions that push the boundaries of theatre, that mix different art forms, and provoke their audiences by blurring the bounadies of fiction and reality. His latest play De skamlösa (2023) asks whether or not it is at all possible to portray someone else without being prejudiced. One of his plays is included in the 2024 World on Stage selection.
Gianina Cărbunariu is a Romanian playwright and director. She has received international acclaim and directed among other in Rumania, Poland, Germany, Ireland, Bulgaria and France. She co-launched the project Dramacum, that brought young playwrights together with directors. One of her plays is included in the 2024 World on Stage selection.
Davide Giovanzana is a director and pedagogue, and one of the World on Stage experts. He has read plays primarily in Italian and French.
Sèdjro Giovanni Houansou is a Beninese dramaturge and director. His play 7 milliards de voisins, that was published in print has become one of the most popular plays in Benin. Sèdjro has been in residence at Avignon, where he wrote his play La Rue bleue (2016), and in Senegal and Gambia, where he found inspiration for his award-winning play Inamovibles (2018). He is the founder of SUDCREA, a platform that provides opportunities for first-time playwrights in Benin, as well as other initiatives that support writers and cultural workers. One of his plays is included in the 2024 World on Stage selection.
Marie Kajava is a playwright and pedagogue based in Finland and Western Africa. She has read plays in French and English.
Ari-Pekka Lahti is the head dramaturge of the Helsinki City Theatre, a playwright and director.
Martina Marti is a theatre maker, diversity expert and translator. She has studied drama and theatre in Cantebury and Paris, and worked as a festival programmer in Germany, before moving to Finland in 2006.
Antti Niskanen is Regional Fund Officer at the Finnish Cultural Foundation, and in charge of the World on Stage applications at the foundation.
Sampsa Peltonen is a translator of Arabic and French into Finnish. Peltonen has translated Taha Adnan’s play Bye Bye Gillo for the project.
Elli Salo is a playwright, dramaturge and translator, and one of the World on Stage experts. She has read plays primarily in the Slavic languages.
Jussi Sorjanen is a theatre director, and artistic director of Viirus theatre in Helsinki, and forthcoming artistic director of the Espoo Theatre & from August 2024 onwards.
Linnea Stara is director of Theatre Info Finland TINFO, and one of the World on Stage experts. She has read plays primarily in the Nordic languages.
Saara Turunen is a playwright and director, and one of the World on Stage experts. She has read plays written in Spanish and Catalan.
Tyrfingur Tyrfingsson is an Icelandic playwright, author and director, whose plays have been featured at international festivals and theatres of acclaim around the world, and have received numerous awards and nominations for Grima – the performing arts award in Iceland. He has studied in Iceland, the Czech Republic, and Great Britain. His latest play The Beauty Show (2024) premiered recently at the Reykjavik City Theatre. One of his plays is included in the 2024 World on Stage selection.
In addition to the above mentioned, the expert group of the World on Stage project has also included producer, translator Eeva Bergroth (2022), novelist Hassan Blasim (2022), and playwright E. L. Karhu (2023-2024).
Photo collage credits:
Tyrfingur Tyrfingsson, a selfie; Gianina Cărbunariu (c) Radu Afrim; Sèdjro Giovanni Houansou (c) Segnon Hodin; Tue Biering (c) Natascha Rydvald