Seminar in Germany: Applications Due 3/12!

The IATC just announced a Young Critics Seminar (YCS) from June 13-19, 2008 in Wiesbaden, Germany.

In addition to the standard included provisions of hotel accommodations, meals and theater tickets, this seminar ALSO offers travel subsidy in the amount of 300 Euros (approx $450).

Preference will be given to early-career critics under age 35, but mid-career critics over age 35 will be considered as well.

The host festival is "New Plays From Europe 2008", aiming to bring in original work from around Europe performed by the original companies. Wiesbaden is only 18 miles from the major German airport in Frankfurt. The language of the seminar will be English, supervised by the IATC's coordinator of YCS's Margareta Soerenson of Sweden and by Juergen Berger, critic of the Munich-based Sueddeutsche Zeitung and the magazine Theatreheute.

To be considered for this YCS, send a resume and a recent review (in English, French or German) to Larry DeVine for processing and selection at ldevine@windstream.net by March 12. Full details are on the IATC web page at www.aict-iatc.org. There is information about the festival itself at www.newplays.de.

The UK Supports Arts Excellence

IATC chair Ian Herbert sent this message to us today:

Today saw the publication of a report by Brian McMaster, former director of the Edinburgh Festival, on how to promote excellence in the arts in England. I think it would be worth circulating it ( or the link to reach it) to all the IATC mailing list - it's full of good ideas and very internationally oriented.

Could you please draw members' attention to the report.

The day before, our actors union, Equity, passed a motion of no confidence in Arts Council England, because they have proposed to cut 200 client arts companies from their list of 900. The companies got three weeks to appeal, then in April they lose some or all of their funding. Any arts group that has not by now planned or even undertaken spending beyond April is obviously badly managed, so the price of good management will be financial suicide.

Baltic House Festival in Russia

We are all invited to attend the XVII Baltic House International Theatre Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia from Wed., Oct 24 to Mon., Oct 29. (More info here. The Russian is current, but the English pages are from 2006. It will still give a general idea.)

Larry is going to the IATC ExCom meeting on Oct 27-28, but we are all welcome to attend the festival. Should you choose to go, theater tickets will be provided free-of-charge by the Festival organizers. You may also receive a hotel discount (exact price TBD).

One of the many highlights will be three productions from the celebrated Lithuanian director Eimuntas Nekrosius: "Macbeth," Oct. 24; "Othello, Oct. 26; and, "Faustus," Oct. 28.

If you are interested in attending the Festival, contact Larry

Photo: AP

Argentina Update

New details about the seminar for young critics in Argentina are now posted on the web site www.aict-iatc.org. Please look at the "News" section on the right of the page.

Briefly, the seminar for the 35-and-under set will be Oct. 1-7 in Cordoba, Argentina, a dulcet metropolis of 1.3 million set in the foothills of the Sierras Chicas mountains on the Suquia River, about 400 miles northwest of Buenos Aires, itself a city made famous by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

The host country will accept 10 international critics to work alongside an unspecified number of Argentinian writers. The languages will be Spanish and English. The mentors will be Sweden's Margareta Soerenson and an experienced local critic. The deadline for application, to me and not to Ms. Soerenson, is Aug. 21, repeat, Aug. 21.

PLEASE, if you know a younger ATCA member who might be interested in this, get on the phone or the e-mail and let him or her know.

Seminars in Argentina & Spain

This fall's Young Critics Seminars are sponsored by the International Association of Theatre Critics with the participation of our group, ATCA. The term "young critics" means 35 years of age or younger, and requires about three years' experience in professional criticism. ATCA members who already have attended one of these young critics seminars may apply again, but preference is given to first-timers who apply. More information also is available on the IATC website.

For the younger critics among us, here is notice of two seminars of great interest, one in Cordoba, Argentina, (photo, above) and one in the city made famous both by St. James and by Luis Buñuel, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

Oct. 1-7, Cordoba, Argentina: Planning for this seminar is "still in progress," according to Margareta Sorenson, the Swedish critic who is director of the young critics seminars.

Oct. 23-27, Santiago de Compostela, Spain: arriving Oct. 22, departing Oct. 28. This seminar will be hosted by the Feira de Teatro de Galicia, in the historic city of pilgrims in northwestern Spain. (Compostela, from the Latin campus stellae, or "field of stars" -- hence, Buñuel's extraordnary 1969 film, "The Milky Way.") This means your seminar is part of the festival and you will be able to attend its productions and special events, time permitting. This is the 15th year of the festival, which is dedicated to presenting a wide variety of works developed by Galician and other Spanish companies. Interestingly, the hosts say the works will be performed in "a wide diversity of spaces, from conventional theater buildings to bars and local tabernas."

Sixteen spots available, with hotel, meals and theater tickets provided. You may have to share a room. They provide airport pick-up and departure. Working languages will be English, Portuguese and Galician (!). Working hours: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The seminar will be directed by Paulo Eduardo Carvalho, of the Portuguese Association of Theatre Critics, who currently is an assistant director of this project of the International Association of Theatre Critics.

For further information, contact Lawrence DeVine, chair of ATCA's international committee, at ldevine@windstream.net

Message from Yun-Cheol Kim

Mr. Yun-Cheol Kim, vice president of IATC, and the South Korean delegate sent this to us today, in the wake of the tragedy at Virginia Tech:

Dear friends,

I am totally heartbroken by the VT massacre. I can't even turn away from the CNN coverage of the horrible violence beyond description. I can imagine how sorry, angry, and shocked you are by this massacre, and I share the pain with you.

I give many many condolences to you and the American people from the bottom of my heart.

I hope you are, and will be, doing very well, despite this incomprehensible disaster.


All the best,

Yun-Cheol Kim
Vice-President/IATC

Use the IATC card!

Fellow committee member Marie Kilker wants to remind us that she has received free or discounted admission to various sites in France, Russia and the UK by presenting her IATC card. (I personally got into the Chiado Museum in Lisbon, Portugal for free.) Marie shares her detailed travel successes below.

Do you have a success story? Please share it with the committee!

Marie Kilker writes:

One of our duties as a committee member is to inform all ICTA/ATCA members of advantages of "carrying the card." I have always stressed to the International Committee and general members how valuable it is for gaining entry to art exhibits, historic sites, and museum shows, especially at any venue connected with UNESCO. I have forgotten to add many libraries and exhibitions or collections in libraries.

I visit Paris at least yearly, and often the admissions the card covers free add up to more than the price of a year's ITCA/ATCA membership. In January '07, for instance, I visited at no charge several Louvre special shows, an exhibit of publicity art (including for theatres) at the Musee de la Publicite, a Japanese art show at the Marmotan, a huge exhibit of the art and other treasures rescued from the sea at Alexandria, Egypt, and shown at the Grand Palais, and the newly reopened Orangerie with its many Impressionistic paintings and a special showing of late Realistic,
pre-Impressionistic paintings that duplicated much of a famous showing of 1934.

But the show I expected least from but found absolutely thrilling was at the Bibliotheque Nationale's site Mitterrand: an exhibition on Antonin Artaud. In addition to materials related to his Theatre of Cruelty promulgations, there were many photographs of him and samples of his poetry, diaries, journals, drawings and paintings. (I never knew there were so many!) A whole section was devoted to his appearances in film, with continual showing of clips of scenes in which he played. Of course, I inspected minutely the section devoted to Artaud and theatre, including interviews about him and it by people like Anais Nin and the director Roger Blin. I remember getting that thrill of recognition when I saw photos of his famous production of his version of THE CENCI and realized the scenery was by Balthus. I had just seen paintings by Balthus the previous day at the Orangerie. So I really had the sense of visiting the era.

I am reminded that the first time I visited the Bibliotheque Nationale Mitterand was for an exhibit on Gerard Philippe, and that was predominantly on his theatre, so it also prominently featured Louis Jouvet. I also fondly recall an exhibit on Sarah Bernhardt at the Bibliotheque Nationale's old central site, which has not been by any means abandoned. The one on Bernhardt had a number of recordings of parts of her performances, which could be listened to on little phones while seeing related pictures. A more static exhibit was of pictures of Moliere productions through the ages. The annuals of the Comedie Francaise and much of the Renaud-Barrault Company's documents are among the treasured documents of France's national library.

You will also find documents at the Public Records Office in London of interest. It has a few things the British Library lacks, especially about authors (yes, Shakespeare too). Oh, and the Theatre Museum behind the Gorky Theatre in St. Petersburg has terrific collections, though you have to persuade the guardian that you are a scholar (well, at least a student of theatre who publishes about it) to see much of anything.

So add free admission to government-owned libraries abroad and their special showings to the advantages of IATC membership! That card--don't leave home without it!

Apply NOW for a Serbian Seminar!

The first YCS of 2007 will take place in Novi Sad, Serbia from May 28 to June 2. (Arrive May 27. Depart June 3). All ATCA members ages 35 and younger are encouraged to apply.

The Sterijino Pozorje Festival in Novi Sad has developed as a meeting point for contemporary theatre. The Festival organizers have invited IATC to host a seminar with 15 participants: 10 international critics and five Serbs.

The seminar is titled “IN/OUT” and focuses on questions regarding the work of theatre critics in international festivals and in new places. Important theatre names travel around the theatre world and critics as well as audiences visit more and more often international productions. How is the local context to be evaluated? How does one embrace and experience a production coming from different societies? How can you share these aspects with the readers of the reviews?

The seminar will be directed by Jean-Pierre Han, a French critic, who will monitor the French-speaking participants, together with Andrea Tompa, a Hungarian critic, monitoring the English-speaking ones. The seminar’s host, the Pozorje Festival, offers hotel, meals and theatre tickets to the participants. Travels to Belgrade are to be covered by the participants themselves, but the festival provides a shuttle service from the airport to Novi Sad.

Download an information sheet HERE. (You must have Adobe Reader installed on your computer). Applications are available for DOWNLOAD HERE and are due March 26 to Larry. If you are unable to access these PDF files, e-mail Kerri at allen.kerri@gmail.com or call 718-501-1567.

Get Published in Iran (Send by Apr. 13)

The Iranian section of IATC is preparing an anthology of critics' writing from around the world. Katayoun Salmasy, who some of us met in Seoul, is the editor.

The Iranian Theatre Critics Association is publishing a book of essays on theatre criticism, with the aim of informing Iranian critics about both past and present methods of criticism across the globe. ATCA members are invited to send one or more of essays about one of that topic or another topic that you deem more useful for Iranian critics, such as "the reality of the theatre criticism; history of theatre criticism; theatre criticism in America now vs. then; different kinds of criticism; different kind of ideas about criticism; etc."

Submissions may have been previously published or can be written specifically for this. Maximum length is 10 pages. Send by Friday, April 13, 2007. If you are interested in this project or have further questions, contact Katayoun at fishkat15@yahoo.com.

Speak in Bulgarian, uh, Bulgaria

IATC's XXIII World Congress will take place in Sofia, Bulgaria from April 13-17, 2008. The organizers are calling for papers on the congress’ topic "Theatre and Humanism in Today’s World of Violence." In the organizers' words:

"At a time when human life is becoming more and more devalued and human beings more and more disposable, the XXIII Congress of the International Association of Theatre Critics proposes to look at violence in the theatre, and the critic’s response to it.”

They are inviting papers dealing with these and similar questions, with examples from American theatre or what you have seen elsewhere in the world. ATCA members who would like to present a paper on the congress theme in Sofia are required to submit an abstract of 400 words or less by August 15, 2007 to Larry and the final paper (approx. 2,500 words) by November 15.

Papers will be selected by the organizers based on their relevance to the theme and geopolitical considerations. If the Bulgarian section of the IATC accepts your paper, you will be given 20 minutes for your presentation at the World Congress. All hotel accommodations, local transportation, meals, theatre tickets and airport transfers will be paid by the organizers. Speakers and other ATCA delegates are responsible for their own travel costs to and from Bulgaria. For more information on the XXIII World Congress and the theme, visit www.aict-iatc.org.

IATC Thalia Prize 2008

Start thinking about possible recipients for the 2nd Annual Thalia Prize, which will be presented at the IATC World Congress in Bulgaria next year. The first prize was presented to Eric Bentley last fall in Seoul.

The Thalia Prize is intended to honor a personality who has made a major contribution to theatre in the world, one such as to change the nature of critics' thinking about theatre. Mr Bentley's name was chosen after consultation among IATC's several thousand national and individual members in some fifty countries worldwide. He received the Thalia Prize 2006 as an award for the distinction of his writings in and about the theatre and their continuing relevance today.

Photo: Bentley accepts the 1st Thalia Prize in Seoul. ©Glenn Loney

IATC Young Critics Message

This is a message from a Young Critic from Romania. ATCA members Gwen Orel and Randy Gener worked on this project as a result of their time in Seoul at the Young Critics Seminar.


Dear Senior Critics,

As you might know, in Seoul the young critics decided to take part in a practical work which is contributing to a monthly newsletter containing a 300-500 words article dedicated to a new performance happening in each other’s country. From the 17 young critics present in Seoul, 10 put the challenge to the test. The result of their work can be seen at:

www.extraordinary-young-critics.org

Please send it to other people if you find it interesting. And please get into contact with each of the authors if there is an issue you agree or disagree.

Wishing you all a blessed new year and a lot of inspiration,
Respectfully,
Ioana Moldovan (Bucharest / Romania)

IATC News: May 2006

IATC News – May 2006

www.aict-iatc.org

The International Association of Theatre Critics (IATC) is busier than ever this year. This newsletter is intended to bring news of our activities - past, present and future - to our own members and to sister organisations all over the world. If you know of someone who might be interested in the events described in this newsletter, please pass it on. If you wish to comment on or respond to any of the items, please contact our secretariat.

Turin Congress

In March the association held its XXII biennial congress, in Turin, Italy, in conjunction with the presentation of the Xth Europe Theatre Prize. Our hosts were the Prize organisers and the Teatro Stabile of Turin. The Association is represented on the Executive Council of the Europe Theatre Prize, together with the Union of European Theatres, the Convention of European Theatres, the International Theatre Institute, the Mediterranean Theatre Institute and the Avignon Festival. Several of its members serve on the board which elects the winners of the Europe Theatre Prize and the Europe Prize for New Theatrical Realities. This year the Europe Prize was presented to Harold Pinter, the New Realities Prize being shared between Oskaras Korsunovas and Josef Nadj.

Colloquium: The End of Criticism?

The usual colloquium which accompanies an IATC Congress had to be shorter on this occasion, because of the Europe Prize’s very full programme, but fortunately this led to a concentrated and very valuable series of papers. After an introduction from the Association’s President, Ian Herbert, these were given by Nikolai Pesochinsky (Russia), Maria Helena Serodio (Portugal), Ian Shuttleworth (UK) and Porter Anderson (USA). Mr Pesochinsky questioned the need for theatre criticism in the new climate of information technology. The value of our work was vigorously defended by the three following speakers, representing respectively the academic journal, the overnight reviewer and the internet. A lively discussion followed from the full house of critics present.

All these papers are available on the Association’s website. They are also due to appear in print in theatre journals in many countries including Canada (Quebec), Moldova and Spain; in due course they will form part of the Proceedings of the Europe Theatre Prize.

General Assembly:

Delegates from 27 countries were entitled to vote at the Association’s General Assembly, with individual members and observers from many more countries also present. The full minutes of the Assembly are available on the Association’s website.

Extension of Membership:

A motion was passed to change the Association’s statutes to permit members of sister organisations to join IATC as Associate Members (see below for more details).

Thalia Prize:

The criteria for the Association’s first Thalia Prize were established, and the final design for the award was selected from three maquettes by the distinguished Romanian sculptor Dragos Buhagiar (see below for more details).

Publications: The proceedings of the Association’s two previous congresses were distributed for the first time at the Turin congress, those for the Montreal Congress of 2001 and the Bucharest Congress of 2003. Both are available in English and French, and the Bucharest proceedings are also published in Romanian. Copies may be ordered from the secretariat.

Future Events:

The Association’s programme 2006-2008 is taking shape as a result of invitations confirmed at the congress, and many of the coming events are described below.

Elections:

At the General Assembly, Ian Herbert was re-elected as the Association’s President for a final term. Michel Vais was confirmed as General Secretary. The countries elected to membership of the Executive Committee were Canada, France, Korea, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden and the USA.

At the subsequent meeting of the Executive Committee, Irène Sadowska-Guillon was confirmed as Treasurer, and two Vice-Presidents were elected, Yun-Cheol Kim (Korea) and Margareta Sorenson (Sweden). Ms Sorenson continues as Director of Training Seminars; Kalina Stefanova (Bulgaria) becomes Director of Colloquia and a co-opted member of the Executive Committee.

Tokyo International Arts Festival

The Japanese Section of IATC organised a symposium on criticism as part of this year’s Tokyo International Arts Festival in March. Among Executive Committee members invited to take part were Ian Herbert , Michel Vais, Irène Sadowska-Guillon, Yun-Cheol Kim, Margareta Sorenson, Tomas Milkowski and Kalina Stefanova.

Craiova Shakespeare Festival

The Romanian Section of IATC was prominent in the organisation of the Craiova Shakespeare Festival, held this year from 24 April – 1 May. A conference on Shakespeare, attended by prominent international scholars and practitioners, was chaired by Ludmila Patlanjoglu, President of the Romanian Section, together with Ian Herbert and IATC Honorary President John Elsom.

Future Events

Novi Sad 26-28 May 2006: Colloquium on National Theatres and Nationalist Theatre

In association with the Sterijino Pozorje Festival of Serbian Theatre, IATC will again be co-organisers of the triennial critics’ symposium held in Novi Sad, Serbia. Full details of the XII colloquium topic are on the IATC website, and details of the festival programme (which includes overseas productions such as Blackland from Hungary, directed by Arpad Schilling, and Tiso from Slovakia) are on the Sterijino Pozorje website. The colloquium, for some forty critics and scholars from almost as many countries, will be chaired by Ian Herbert, IATC President, and Ivan Medenica, of Serbian IATC, who is also artistic director of the festival.

St Petersburg 5-11 October 2006: Colloquium on Do You Follow Me?

In association with this year’s Baltic House festival, IATC will be holding a colloquium for 10 established critics on the subject of the ‘generation gap’ in criticism. Details of this event will appear shortly on the IATC website.

Seoul 21-26 October 2006:

50^th Anniversary of IATC – Extraordinary Congress

The Korean section of IATC will be the hosts for the Extraordinary Congress which has been convened to celebrate the Association’s fifty years since it was founded in Paris in 1956. A very full programme centres around the colloquium on New Theatricality and Criticism. The organisers write as follows:

We invite you to join us to work together in Seoul from the 21st to the 26th of October, 2006, when we have our Extraordinary Congress to celebrate the 50th anniversary of IATC. We want to examine how theatre practitioners expand the nature of theatre to meet their new perceptions of human beings and the world, and whether critics are doing their job in characterizing these new practices. Come and share your experience of the new theatricality in your country, and the critical methodology you use to define it.

We believe that the new theatricality requires new criticism. Today’s theatre practices are laying down a challenge: your response to this challenge will engage both the academic and the journalist in world theatre and world criticism — on-line and off-line, now and later. In our fiftieth year, we believe that with your support this IATC congress could make a valuable contribution to the world theatre community for the next fifty years.

The keynote speeches at the congress’s opening ceremony will be given by Dr Patrice Pavis of France and Dr Bangock Kim of Korea. As well as the colloquium, working groups will look at projects intended to enhance the future activity of IATC, such as a proposed journal exchange, an anthology of writings on theatre criticism, and a code of ethical practice for critics. Delegates will be able to see productions in the Seoul International Festival, which takes place at the same time, and to attend a shamanic ritual performance. The closing ceremony will see the presentation of the IATC’s first Thalia Prize (see below).

In parallel with the main congress, graduates from the IATC’s young critics’ seminars of recent years will be meeting, under the direction of Margareta Sorenson and Kalina Stefanova, to put forward their own ideas for the future development of IATC.

Member countries of IATC are each entitled to send two delegates to this congress, who will receive full hospitality and tickets for the theatre events. As is usual with IATC events, delegates are expected to fund their own transportation, although the Association has offered to give a number of small travel grants to countries who might find it difficult to get to Seoul without some help. Full information and application forms are on the IATC website.

Representatives of the major theatre organisations, especially those which were founded at the same time in 1956, will also be invited to attend.

Hong Kong 27-30 October 2006: Conference on Art Criticism

A number of international speakers will take part in a colloquium organised by the Hong Kong section of IATC in conjunction with a festival of performance art to be held at the same time.

Wroclaw November 2006: Colloquium on monodrama

The Polish section of IATC will be inviting six established critics to a colloquium to be held during the International Festival of Monodrama Performance in Wroclaw in November. Details will be published shortly on the IATC website.

Further colloquia are in preparation. Likely venues include Moscow, Russia (Spring 2007), Almada, Portugal (Summer 2007), Tbilisi, Georgia (November 2007), Santiago, Chile (2007/8), Sibiu, Romania (May 2007)

2008 Congress

At the Turin Congress the Association accepted an invitation from the Minister of Culture of Bulgaria to hold their next Congress in Sofia in the spring of 2008. A showcase of Bulgarian theatre will be held at the same time.

Seminars for Young Critics

Apart from the reunion being held in Seoul (see above) there are two seminars for young critics being organised for 2006, in Charleville-Mezières (France: 15-22 September) and Vilnius (Lithuania: 21-25 September). Details of both these seminars and that in Seoul may be found on the IATC website, and there are still places available for all three although the formal application date has passed. They are open to young critics under the age of 35 who have at least one year’s experience as a published theatre critic. Applications should normally be approved by the candidate’s IATC section, but critics from non-member countries may also submit applications. They will be charged a nominal fee of €50; all selected delegates receive full hospitality and theatre tickets for the seminar events.

Future seminars being planned in 2007 include Vigo (Spain), Novi Sad (Serbia), Szeged (Hungary), and Wroclaw (Poland). More details will appear on the website as soon as arrangements are confirmed.

Thalia Prize

At this year’s Extraordinary Congress in Seoul the Association will present the first Thalia Prize. It will take the form of a silver-topped cane designed by the eminent Romanian sculptor Dragos Buhagiar. The prize has been generously sponsored for its next ten editions by the Craiova International Shakespeare Festival through its director, Emil Boroghina.

The prize is not intended as a lifetime achievement award. It will go to the person who in the view of the Association has most significantly changed critical attitudes to theatre by their writings. The first nominations were sought from member sections by the Turin Congress, and are now being voted upon by the newly elected Executive Committee. The first winner will be announced in Seoul, where the prize is to be presented..

Membership

Membership of IATC is usually through its international network of national sections, each of which has its own rules of membership. Individual membership is also possible for critics who do not have a national section in their country.

At the Turin Congress a new category of Associate Membership was approved, which would enable members of other representative bodies who have a serious interest in criticism to join IATC through their own organisation. Such members will receive full information on IATC events and congresses and be able to take part in them, on a non-voting basis. They will receive an Associate member card, which regrettably will not confer the full privileges of the Association’s membership card – this is recognised internationally as a Press Card. Negotiations are beginning with the International Federation of Theatre Research (FIRT) and the International Theatre Institute (ITI) to set up associate membership mechanisms. Enquiries from other organisations will be welcomed by the IATC secretariat.

Full details of the current IATC membership, plus subscription rates and information on the privileges of the IATC card, appear on the Association’s website www.aict-iatc.org

The Association, which is a non-profit body under the auspices of UNESCO, welcomes enquiries from organisations interested in sponsoring or promoting its activities in any form.

May 2006