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ETC International Theatre Conference 'Touchpoints: Artistic Freedom, AI & Collaborative Futures in Theatre', hosted by Ivan Vazov National Theatre in Sofia/Bulgaria, from 5-8 November 2026.
Programme Performances Speakers
Please note that the website will be continuously updated with confirmed speakers and the full conference programme over the course of the coming weeks.
About the Conference Registration Practical Information
CONFERENCE PROGRAMME
Thursday 5 November 2026
15:30-19:00 Welcome Desk
15:30-16:30 Board Meeting
17:00-17:30 Buddy Meeting
For new Member Theatres and designated 'Buddies’.
17:30-18:45 Opening Reception
Join us for the kick-off of the event and opening speeches, as we set the stage for an engaging and inspiring series of sessions, discussions and performances.
19:00-21:30 Performance: Little England
Main Stage, Ivan Vazov National Theatre
Friday 6 November 2026
09:00-19:00 Welcome Desk
09:30-09:40 Welcome
09:40-10:00 Keynote
- Galin Stoev, Theatre Actor and Director, Former Artistic director of the Théâtre de la Cité – CDN Toulouse Occitanie
- Nela Riehl, Member of the European Parliament, Chair of Committee for Culture and Education [video input]
10:00-11:30 Panel 1: Public Theatre in a Changing Europe: Between Identity, Responsibility and European Collaboration
- Regional Networks and Collaborative Futures
- Public Theatres and Cultural Responsibility
Across Europe, public theatres are navigating political uncertainty, shifting expectations and growing questions about their role in society. This panel explores how theatres can respond through stronger regional and European collaboration, while strengthening their role as public institutions and spaces for dialogue. What responsibility do public theatres have in a changing Europe — and what can they achieve together?
Moderated by: Marina Maleni, General Director of Cyprus Theatre Organisation (THOC); ETC Board Member
- Rui Catarino, President of the Executive Board of Teatro Nacional D. Maria II and Lecturer in Arts Management at Lisbon Theatre and Film School
- Zuzana Hekel, Director at Divadlo Jána Palárika
- Irene Moundraki, Head Dramaturg, Head of Archive, Library and International Collaborations Department, National Theatre of Greece, ETC Board Member
- Vasil Vasilev, General Director of National Theatre Ivan Vazov
11:30-11:35 Group Photo
11:35-12:00 Coffee Break
12:00-13:00 Deep Dive Roundtables
- Table 1 – Artistic Freedom in an Age of Political Distrust
How can theatres protect artistic freedom while building trust with public institutions, funders and audiences, and possibly serve as spaces for creating bridges between different perspectives? - Table 2 – The Role of Theatre as Public Spaces
How can public theatres strengthen their role as democratic spaces by making their spaces more accessible to audiences, encouraging participation and creating opportunities for dialogue in the community, in times when they are asked to diversify their income strands? - Table 3 - From Networks to Solidarity: What Can European Theatres Do Together?
How can regional and European theatre networks move beyond exchange and create meaningful solidarity in times of political and economic uncertainty? - Table 4 – The Theatre of the Future: Public Institution or Flexible Cultural Platform?
What should theatre become in order to remain resilient, relevant and publicly supported in the next decade?
13:00-14:00 Networking Lunch Break
14:00-14:20 ETC Theatres Present: Successful Collaborations
14:20-14:40 The Road Ahead: Break the Mould - Collaboration with ETC in the Next Six Months
What is coming up at ETC over the next six months? Discover exclusive possibilities for funding, artistic innovation and new European collaborations as part of ETC's EU-funded programme, BREAK THE MOULD. Featuring the launch of new grants and training across our programmes on digital, diverse, sustainable and next generation theatre.
14:40-15:30 General Assembly
15:30-16:00 Coffee Break
16:00-17:00 Split Sessions
- DoSel - Drama of Smaller European Languages Workshop with Rok Bozovičar, General Manager of Prešeren Theatre Kranj
- Accessible Artistic Programmes: Beyond Ramps and Accessible Toilets with Ben Evans, Project Director of Europe Beyond Access
Europe Beyond Access (EBA) is the largest transnational arts & disability project in the world: a Creative Europe-supported project now in its 2nd edition and its 8th year. Eleven partners (including ETC member Théâtre National de Bretagne) work collaboratively to support artistic exchange, to commission and tour new theatre and dance works, and to offer a provocation to the cultural sector: that our structures and processes inherently create barriers for artists who are Deaf, disabled, neurodivergent or Chronically Ill.
The project brings great rewards, but also challenges, surprises, and provocations for the partner organisations.
In this workshop, Project Director of EBA, Ben Evans, will explore some of the big questions that such work introduces, and some of what the partners have learned. The session will also include discussion with participants about their practices, and answer questions arising from projects and collaborations with Deaf and disabled artists. The session will move the discussion beyond the topics of accessible toilets and ramps, and into considerations of truly accessible cultural practices. Topics will include:
- “Crip Time” – what is it, and how can institutions adapt to embrace it?
- “Access Coordination” the value of a dedicated role vs team knowledge and joint responsibility.
- Providing best practice access to artistic programmes for Deaf artists – including considerations when working on cross-border collaborations between Deaf artists from different countries.
- “Care” as a curatorial practice, and developing “Access Intimacy”.
- European Actors
- Collaboration Speed Meeting
17:30-19:45 Performance: Tam
Studio Stage, Ivan Vazov National Theatre
19:00-22:00 Performance: The Physics of Sorrow
Main Stage, Ivan Vazov National Theatre
22:00 Late Night Meeting Point: Have a Drink with Local Artists
Saturday 7 November 2026
10:00-10:05 Welcome
10:05-10:20 Keynote
- Sarah Nicole, Lecturer at Sciences Po
10:20-11:30 Panel 2: How AI Is Changing the Way We Make Theatre
Artificial Intelligence is already changing how theatres work — from management and audience engagement to the artistic process itself. This panel explores how AI is being used across the sector, the opportunities and challenges it creates, and what it means for creativity, authorship and artistic integrity. How can theatres embrace new technologies while keeping people and artistic practice at the centre?
- Marcus Lobbes, Director of Academy for Theatre and Digitality
- Pierre Lungheretti, Deputy Director and General Administrator of Chaillot – Théâtre national de la Danse
- Birk Schmithüsen, Media Artist, Producer, and Co-Founder of ArtesMobiles
11:30-12:00 Coffee Break
12:00-13:00 Deep Dive Roundtables
- AI Behind the Curtain: Rethinking Theatre Management:
Can AI make theatres more efficient without making them less human? - Audiences in the Age of Algorithms:
How can theatres use AI to reach and understand audiences without reducing people to data and predictions? - The AI Stage: Creativity, Authorship and Artistic Integrity:
Where should theatres draw the line between using AI as a creative tool and allowing AI to shape the artistic work itself? - Who Owns the Future? AI, Labour and the Theatre Ecosystem:
How will AI change the roles, skills and value of the people who make theatre — and how should theatres respond?
13:00-14:30 Networking Lunch
14:30-17:00 Laboratories
- Digital Theatre with Nina Maria Stemberger, Theatre Director, Performer, Curator and Theatre Pedagogue Co-Funder of Artesmobiles, and Birk Schmithüsen, Media Artist and Creative Technologist, Co-Funder of Artesmobiles
- Leading with Artistic Courage
- Future Economics
- Leading with Care Workshop with Katherine Dennis, Psychologist, Neuropsychologist and Co-founder of Expanding Circles
17:15-17:30 Closing
19:00-20:30 Performance: Pieces of a Woman
Chamber Stage, Ivan Vazov National Theatre
Accessibility Alert: As the building of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre is a cultural heritage monument, no architectural solution has so far been found that would allow access to the theatre’s Chamber Hall for people with reduced mobility. The theatre’s team apologises for the inconvenience caused.
19:00-20:30 Performance: Convenience Store Woman
Studio Stage, Ivan Vazov National Theatre
20:45-22:30 Joint Dinner at Spaghetti Kitchen
Sunday 8 November
11:00-13:00 Cultural Activity: Sofia Free Guided Tour
Meeting point: Sofia City Court (Palace of Justice), 2 Vitosha Boulevard, 1000 Sofia
The free English language sightseeing walking tour of Bulgaria’s capital (organised by the 365 Association) expects its guests every single day, all year round. Free Sofia Tour covers Sofia’s most famous landmarks and is led by enthusiastic local guides. The best attraction in Sofia according to TripAdvisor users. Approved by Tourist Service Municipal Company at Sofia City Municipality. Every tour is both fun and educational, the perfect introduction to the city and its thousands of years of history.
Learn more
Price: The only way the company keeps going every single day is through the donations of its guests. At the end of the free tour, everyone can decide whether and how much they would like to contribute for the service.
You can join with or without reservation. Guaranteed departure. Booking is not mandatory.
19:00-20:00 Performance: Medea
Main Stage, Ivan Vazov National Theatre
Keynote
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Galin Stoev
Theatre Actor and Director, Former Artistic director of the Théâtre de la Cité – CDN Toulouse Occitanie
Born in Bulgaria, Galin Stoev graduated from the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts in Sofia. He began working as a theatre director and actor in 1991. His early productions focused on classical playwrights, including Corneille, Strindberg, Shakespeare, Aeschylus, Büchner, Brecht and Musset, before gradually expanding to contemporary writers such as Yukio Mishima, Harold Pinter, Tom Stoppard and Philip Ridley.
His early career took him to theatres across Europe and beyond, including London, Leeds, Bochum, Stuttgart and Buenos Aires, where he directed a number of productions. A pivotal encounter in his artistic journey came in 2002, when he met Ivan Viripaev. He directed Viripaev’s first play, Dreams, followed by the Bulgarian version of Oxygen. Invited to Brussels in 2002, he staged the French-language version of the same play, before directing Genesis No. 2 in 2005, notably presented at the 61st Festival d’Avignon.
Alongside his directing career, Stoev has taught at St Martin’s College of Art and Design in London, the Arden School of Theatre in Manchester, and the national conservatories of Ljubljana and Sofia. His teaching practice also includes masterclasses at institutions and organisations such as ARTA and ESAD in Paris, La Réplique in Marseille, NATFA in Sofia and Territoria in Moscow.
In film, he directed the feature The Infinite Garden in 2017. In 2024, he appeared in Nina Roza, a feature film directed by Geneviève Dulude-De Celles, in which he plays the lead role. The film received the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay at the 2026 Berlin International Film Festival and was selected as Canada’s submission for the Academy Awards.
In 2019, Galin Stoev was appointed Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Republic.
Photo credit: Adriana Yankoulova
Panel 1: Public Theatre in a Changing Europe: Between Identity, Responsibility and European Collaboration
Rui Catarino
President of the Executive Board of Teatro Nacional D. Maria II and Lecturer in Arts Management at Lisbon Theatre and Film School
Rui Catarino is President of the Executive Board of Portugal’s D. Maria II National Theatre, a position he has held since 2022, following six years as a board member. He also lectures in Arts Management at the Lisbon Theatre and Film School, where he has taught since 2008.
His career spans more than 25 years in arts management, supporting artistic creation, expanding participation and strengthening cultural democracy. He has held leadership and management roles at Guimarães 2012 European Capital of Culture, the Serralves Foundation, Portugal’s National Opera and Ballet, São Luiz Municipal Theatre and EGEAC, Lisbon’s municipal cultural company. He has also advised the Portuguese Secretary of State for Culture and Lisbon’s Councillor for Culture.
His professional and academic interests include the public role of cultural institutions, access and participation, and working conditions in the cultural sector. He represents D. Maria II National Theatre on the board of Performart, Portugal’s performing arts association.
Rui Catarino holds a degree in Economics from ISEG and a postgraduate qualification in Arts Management from ISCTE, where he is pursuing a Ph.D. in Public Policy focused on cultural workers’ social protection. He is an alumnus of the DeVos Institute of Arts and Nonprofit Management fellowship programme in Washington, D.C..
Photo credit: Filipe Ferreira
Panel 1: Public Theatre in a Changing Europe: Between Identity, Responsibility and European Collaboration
Zuzana Hekel
Director at Divadlo Jána Palárika
Hekel graduated from the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava (VŠMU) in 2010. She worked as a dramaturg at Bratislava’s Aréna Theatre for five seasons. Since 2015, she headed the Department of Tourism and Culture at the Bratislava Self-Governing Region. Under her leadership, the Bratislava Regional Grant Scheme (BRDS) was established, becoming the first regional grant programme in Slovakia supporting culture through a transparent evaluation process. Zuzana Hekel is also actively involved in artistic work in the fields of theatre and film and works as a translator of theatre plays from English and French. Since September 2018, she has been the Director of the Ján Palárik Theatre in Trnava.
Panel 1: Public Theatre in a Changing Europe: Between Identity, Responsibility and European Collaboration
Irene Moundraki
Head Dramaturg, Head of Archive, Library and International Collaborations Department, National Theatre of Greece, ETC Board Member
Irene Moundraki has obtained a BA, an MA and a PhD in Theatre Studies from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Faculty of Theatre Studies). She also studied Arts at the University of Milan, Italy.
She has worked at the National Theatre of Greece since 1999 as a special artistic collaborator and she is head of Drama, Library, Archive and International Relations Departments.
Irene Moundraki is also a visiting professor at the Departments of Theatre Studies of the Universities of Athens and Peloponnese. She teaches History of Theatre and Dramaturgy at Drama Schools. She taught Theatre in the Army (SAN) for five years and has directed several plays with her students.
She is the founder and head of the Greek Play Project, a dynamic platform in Greek and English for the promotion and study of contemporary Greek theatre.
Panel 1: Public Theatre in a Changing Europe: Between Identity, Responsibility and European Collaboration
Vasil Vasilev
General Director of National Theatre Ivan Vazov
Vasil Vasilev is a Bulgarian theatre director, theatre manager, and public figure with extensive experience in cultural policy and management. He holds Master's degrees in Theatre Directing from the Kr. Sarafov National Academy of Theatre and Film Arts and Business Management from the D. A. Tsenov Academy of Economics.
As a director, Vasilev has staged over 20 performances across various theatres in Bulgaria, as well as at the National Theatre of Nis in Serbia and Anton Panov National Theatre in Strumica, North Macedonia and National Institution Albanian Theater in Skopje, North Macedonia.
Since 2006, he has managed the Drama Theatres in Lovech and Pleven (Bulgaria) for two consecutive terms. As a result, he successfully turned them into modern and active theatre institutes for the period bringing their work into an international context. In the period 2013-2014 Vasilev served as Deputy Minister of Culture. In April 2022 he became the Director of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre, Sofia (Bulgaria).
Split Sessions: Accessible Artistic Programmes: Beyond Ramps and Accessible Toilets
Ben Evans
Project Director of Europe Beyond Access
Ben Evans (he/him) is the Project Director of Europe Beyond Access (EBA). A disabled arts manager, Ben is the President of the European Arts & Disability Cluster, and is also an independent Accessible Culture policy consultant and advocate.Ben started his career working as a theatre director, later becoming Director of Theatre at London's Ovalhouse – a theatre with a rich tradition of supporting emerging artists who sit outside of mainstream culture: including artists of colour, Deaf and disabled artists, and LGBTQ+ artists. Ben subsequently became creative director of BeCreative, an independent production company with projects including producing the inaugural Lagos Theatre Festival in Nigeria. Ben worked for the British Council for 11 years, with roles including within the specialist Theatre & Dance team, as Head of Arts in Portugal, and for 8 years as Head of Arts & Disability, Europe.
Photo credit: James Keates
Keynote
Sarah Nicole
Lecturer at Sciences Po
Sarah Nicole teaches critical thinking in the age of AI at Sciences Po Paris. Previously, she has contributed to the strategic work of Microsoft, Huawei, and the Project Liberty Institute. A specialist in emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, open-source and decentralized systems, she is a regular contributor to international public debate. Her expertise in critical digital technologies and data governance is frequently sought by organizations including the European Commission, the G20, and the OECD.
Panel 2: How AI Is Changing the Way We Make Theatre
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Marcus Lobbes
Director of Academy for Theatre and Digitality
Marcus Lobbes is in high demand locally, nationally, and internationally for lectures and panel discussions; he is particularly committed to building and fostering a wide variety of networks for the performing arts, as well as to communicating artistic research, in dialogue with the latest technologies, to theatre and educational institutions, policymakers, and audiences. He is also active on numerous committees, boards of trustees, and juries; for example, he has served as vice president of the German Academy of Performing Arts and as a member of the board of trustees for the Performing Arts Fund. Since 1995, he has worked as a director, set and costume designer in drama and opera. Also he has also been invited as a guest lecturer and speaker at a wide variety of universities and colleges, including annually at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz since 2016.
Photo credit: Susanne Diesner
Panel 2: How AI Is Changing the Way We Make Theatre
Birk Schmithüsen
Media Artist, Producer, and Co-Founder of ArtesMobiles
Birk Schmithüsen is a media artist and co-founder of the theatre and performance company ArtesMobiles. His audiovisual installations and immersive social experiments examine the social impact of technical developments – AI, surveillance, automated governance. He is an alumnus of the Academy for Theatre and Digitality, co-curates the art exhibition of the Chaos Communication Congress and has shown his work at FILE Festival in São Paulo, Ars Electronica Festival and ZKM, among others.
At ArtesMobiles he is responsible for concept and audiovisual direction: he builds digital stage worlds that react live to performers and audiences. In SystemFailed (2022) the audience becomes part of digital governance – it makes decisions and experiences their consequences, rebels against the machine or follows it. Versuch über die nachhaltige Ordnung merkwürdiger Dinge (An Essay on the Sustainable Order of Curious Things, 2026) leads the audience in small groups through the backstage rooms of Stadttheater Gießen, from scene to scene, and ends on the main stage. Ten chatbots, shaped from interviews with the people who make the theatre run, make the voices of the props audible. Productions by ArtesMobiles have been presented at the festival Politik im Freien Theater (2022), at HELLERAU Dresden (2021) and at the Kultur Digital Kongress of the German Federal Cultural Foundation at Zollverein (2023), among others.
Birk Schmithüsen has worked with machine learning since 2018. In workshops for artists, most recently at Teatro Stabile del Veneto, the national theatre in Padua, participants try out custom-built tools and develop a critical stance on AI and authorship. His critique comes from the inside, from systems he works with every day. He builds agentic AI systems that relieve organisations of administrative work, running on local, European infrastructure – and calls on theatres and independent groups to pool their computing capacity in a decentralised network.
Laboratories: Digital Theatre
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Nina Maria Stemberger
Theatre Director, Performer, Curator and Theatre Pedagogue Co-Funder of Artesmobiles
Nina Maria Stemberger is a director, performance artist, curator and theatre educator. Her productions explore the relationship between humans and technology, the search for identity and the future of society. Her artistic practice is shaped by an interdisciplinary approach that connects dance, theatre and technology. She enjoys experimenting with new techniques and materials to create unique aesthetic experiences. Nina is open to creative challenges and is not afraid to cross conventional boundaries in order to explore new forms of expression. In 2022 she received a five-month fellowship at the Academy for Theatre and Digitality in Dortmund. In 2023, as an expert for AI in the performing arts, she supported the AICA project at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich. Her production “SystemFailed” was invited to the festival Politik im freien Theater.
Photo credit: ArtesMobiles
Laboratories: Leading with Care Workshop
Katherine Dennis
Psychologist, Neuropsychologist and Co-founder of Expanding Circles
Katherine Dennis González is a psychologist, neuropsychologist and co-founder of Expanding Circles, a Berlin-based psychological education and movement company. With over 12 years of clinical practice, she works at the intersection of nervous system science and human behaviour, leading individual and corporate programmes and working with film festivals and institutions across Europe.
Little England
Stage adaptation based on the novel of the same name by Ioanna Karystiani.
Description:
Greece.
Two men. One island.
Between two wars.
One house. Two floors.
Two sisters. One secret.
A shattering epic.
A story about the furious courage with which you feed death, yet refuse to let it separate you from the one you have loved.
*
The performance “Little England” is the world theatrical premiere of the novel by Ioanna Karystiani.
The book won the Greek National Literary Award in 1998.
Information:
Genre: Drama
English subtitles
Duration: 02h30
Premiere: 15 - 16 April 2026
Production Team:
Author: Ioanna Karystiani
Director and author of the stage adaptation: Diana Dobreva
Dramatization: Alexander Sekulov
Translation: Emanuel Mutafov
Set and Costume Design: Marina Raychinova
Composer: Petya Dimanova
Choreographer: Olga Pango
Video Design: Petko Tanchev
Cast: Alexandra Svilenova, Ana Papadopoulou, Aneta Ivanova, Boryana Manoilova, Vasil Draganov, Veselin Mezekliev, Dimitar Nikolov, Zhana Rasheva, Ivan Nikolov, Irina Miteva, Konstantin Elenkov, Kremena Slavcheva, Lyubomir Petkashev, Stefan Kushev
TAM
Description:
Island made of pillows
TAM is a performance-installation that explores how a sense of shelter can be created - not as a physical location, but as a shared state of being. A place that exists only as long as we are together. Bodies, voices, and presences weave into a common field of attention. TAM is not only a physical or imaginary space, but also an emotional and psychological refuge.
There is no safe place, no separation between stage and audience - only shared air, collective silence, and movement passing from one body to another. Light dissolves and drifts. Sound follows gesture. The voice merges with the material of the space. Every moment is different - the place changes, and we change with it.
TAM is an invitation to be. Simply to be present.
The concept of the locus amoenus - “the pleasant place” - carries universal meaning, reflecting the deeply rooted human need for a space of safety and rest for both body and mind. It is a refuge from the outer world, where we can withdraw in order to recover and reconnect - with ourselves and with others on a deeper level. It is a fragile, intimate space, easily disturbed, yet filled with the quiet intensity of shared moments we create within it.
The artistic concept of the project explores locus amoenus in the context of today’s world of dissonance. Its aim is to create an artistic space that not only allows but also invites the audience to examine their own notions of refuge, safety, and comfort - and how such a psycho-emotional state can be achieved and sustained.
Where lies the balance between reality and ideal - between the desire for utopian peace and the surrounding world?
What is your locus amoenus?
How can we build these places TAM, together?
Information:
Genre: Performance-installation
English libretto provided at the beginning of the performance
Duration: 01h15m
Premiere: November 20 and 21, 2025
Production Team:
Concept and Choreography: Deyan Georgiev
Assistant Choreographer: Bianca Braunesberger
Set and Costume Design: Gabriela Kurdjilova
Music: Petya Dimanova and Bozhidar Vasilev – Trombobby
Lighting Design: Viktor Georgiev
Visual Environment: Petko Tanchev
Cast: Snezhina Petrova, Yavor Valkanov, Kaloyan Trifonov, Vasilena Kaneva
The Physics of Sorrow
Based on the novel of the same name by Georgi Gospodinov.
Description:
For the second time, one of the most compelling figures in European theatre, Slovenian director Jernej Lorenci, will work with the company of the National Theatre. Following his production of Orpheus, Lorenci returns to Sofia to adapt Georgi Gospodinov’s novel The Physics of Sorrow (2012) for the stage. The novel has been translated into more than 20 languages. It won the prestigious international Jan Michalski Prize in 2016 and was shortlisted for the PEN American Award for translated literature, the Premio Strega Europeo, the Haus der Kulturen der Welt Award, the Gregor von Rezzori Prize and others. According to The New Yorker, Georgi’s true quest in The Physics of Sorrow is to find a way to live with sorrow, allowing it to become a source of empathy and beneficial hesitation. The short animated film The Physics of Sorrow, based on the novel and directed by Theodore Ushev, received numerous international awards and was shortlisted for the Academy Awards in 2020.
In the novel, time does not follow a chronological order; it is fragmented, cyclical and experienced from within. The Physics of Sorrow explores the ways in which human beings experience time, history and loss through memory, empathy and storytelling. In Saint Augustine’s understanding, time exists above all within human consciousness rather than as an objective flow. Past, present and future coexist; memory alters and bends time, while the present remains fragile and fleeting.
The book is structured as an archive, a suitcase or a labyrinth of memories. Personal recollections intertwine with family history and collective memory. Remembering becomes an ethical act—an attempt to preserve what would otherwise disappear. Memory is not a precise record of facts, but something unstable, fragmented and deeply emotional. Sorrow is not a weakness, but a form of knowledge—a quiet resistance to a present day obsessed with the pursuit of happiness at any cost. The novel is an elegy for everything that is gradually disappearing. Writing becomes an attempt to save what is on the verge of being lost forever.
Jernej Lorenci’s production creates a theatrical adaptation that transforms this literary labyrinth into a living stage world of memories, stories, images, voices and bodies. At its centre is the human being, trapped within their own labyrinth of past and future, fears and hopes, loneliness and longing for closeness. The myth of the Minotaur intertwines with personal and collective memory, while individual human destinies form a shared narrative about generations, lost time and our ability to feel another person’s pain as our own.
Through his deeply emotional and ritualistic theatrical language, Jernej Lorenci creates a production in which the ensemble becomes a single organism and the stage becomes a space for shared experience. Through music, personal stories, memories and collective presence, the actors search for what connects us beyond our differences: our shared humanity and our common present. A production about empathy as a form of resistance. About the human need to preserve the traces of the past and to dream the future together.
Because, as Georgi Gospodinov reminds us, after the end of the world, perhaps the most important thing is to open our arms and embrace one another.
Information:
English subtitles
Duration: 3 h with an intermission
Premiere: 6 and 7 October 2026
Production Team:
Author: Georgi Gospodinov
Director: Jernej Lorenci
Dramatisation: Dino Pešut and Jernej Lorenci
Set Designer: Branko Hojnik
Costume Designer: Belinda Radulović
Composer and Assistant Director: Žiga Hren
Cast: Albena Stavreva, Alexander Tonev, Aneta Ivanova, Valentin Ganev, Vasilena Vincenzo, Darina Radeva, Dimitar Nikolov, Veselin Mezekliev, Konstantin Elenkov, Paraskeva Djukelova, Radena Valkanova, Stelian Radev, Teodora Duhovnikova, Hristo Petkov
Pieces of a Woman
by Kata Weber
Description:
Born from playwright Kata Weber’s personal experience of trauma, Pieces of a Woman transforms intimate suffering into a powerful exploration of grief, love and survival. Chris Sharkov’s production examines how loss reshapes relationships and confronts some of the defining tensions of contemporary life: fear of the Other, the difficulty of living with pain, and the fragile, contradictory forms of love. Performed by a compelling ensemble from the Ivan Vazov National Theatre, the production places emotional truth and human vulnerability at its centre.
Information:
Genre: Drama
English subtitles
Duration: 01 h 30 m
Age restriction: Not suitable for persons under 18
Premiere: 7th and 8th of October 2022
Production Team:
Author: Kata Weber
Translation: Pravda Spasova
Director: Kris Sharkov
Set Design and Costumes: Nikola Toromanov
Music: Emilian Gatsov-Elbi
Cast: Radina Kardzhilova, Maria Kavardzhikova, Stefan Valdobrev, Martin Dimitrov, Ana Papadopulu, Tsvetan Aleksiev, Zhaklin Daskalova, Albena Stavreva
Convenience Store Woman
Stage adaptation based on the novel of the same name by Sayaka Murata.
Description:
Keiko has been strange since childhood. Every action of hers is governed by her own logic, which, however, does not fit into the overall model of society, whose rules she cannot comprehend. This is why she decides to withdraw into herself and imitate the behavior of those around her in order to be "normal" rather than a "foreign body." At age 18, she starts working in a konbini (convenience store) and discovers her earthly paradise. Konbinis are stores in Japan where you can find everything 24/7. They look the same everywhere; employees wear uniforms, and the service is standardized, using rehearsed and masterfully practiced phrases for customers. In this perfectly functioning mechanism, Keiko speaks and acts exactly as expected of her. To be a cog in the konbini machine is not just a means of survival for her, but an ideal of existence.
"Many themes are visible in Sayaka Murata's novel. The entire mechanism of human existence is mirrored in a 'foreign body.' And the konbini—the beating heart of buying and selling—paradoxically turns into a kind of Zen garden. All of this is presented with lightness, absurdity, and humor," says Mariy Rosen.
Information:
Genre: Dramatic comedy
English subtitles
Duration: 01 h 30 m
Age restriction: Not suitable for persons under 12
Premiere: January 31 and February 1, 2026
Production Team:
Author: Sayaka Murata
Translation: Margarita Ukegawa
Dramatization and direction: Mariy Rosen
Scenography and costumes: Petya Boyukova
Music and soundscape: Alexander Evtimov-Shamancheto
Movement and choreography: Yanitsa Atanasova
Cast: Boryana Yovcheva, Alexander Tonev
Medea
by Euripides
Description:
The name Medea can conjure up the image of a screaming murderous monster from antiquity. But Euripides brings Medea’s experience uncomfortably close to home. His Medea is a very real woman facing what to her seems an intolerable predicament. She fears she is facing total humiliation, which to her amounts to annihilation. Her solution is extreme but not unheard of in today's world. We think what she does is overly emotional and irrational, but in fact the appalling deed is the result of the application of strict logic. Maybe this is a timely warning to our world increasingly obsessed, as it is, with algorithms of efficiency and artificial intelligence, just to hang onto our common sense and ordinary decency at all costs. Logic is a good servant but a bad master.
Information:
Genre: Tragedy
English subtitles
Duration: 01 h 00 m
Premiere: 9, 10, 11 and 12 September 2024
The audience remains standing throughout the entire performance, positioned on the stage itself, while the actors perform among them.
Production Team:
Author: Euripides
Translation: Dorothea Tabakova
Director: Declan Donnellan
Designer: Nick Ormerod
Movement Director: Rosen Mihailov
Composer: Julian Stoichkov
Light designer: Ilya Pashnin
Cast: Radina Kardzhilova, Velislav Pavlov, Valentin Ganev, Asen Dankov, Yavor Valkanov, Stelian Radev, Vyara Tabakova, Radena Valkanova, Joreta Nikolova, Stafania Koleva, Elena Ivanova, Nadya Keranova, Ana Papadopolu and children Nikola Sarzhev and Petar Sardzhev (doubles Boris Petrishki and Boyan Chelebiev)