Playwright

Let us, then, ask ourselves this evening:

Is there any sense whatsoever in believing in the future of the Theatre today and in this place? In the midst of such crazed, anti-creative and intellectually impoverished times? In a world existing on the mire of ruined value criteria? In the presence of a world-wide threat of anonymity and the dictatorship of kitsch?

There is! Theatre has from time immemorial been a human need. Man’s confession and his mirror. His tenet. His consolation. His memory over and through the centuries. His wisdom and his strength.

The theatre existed even before writing, and it will exist even after electronics.

There is no human thought which is not a dialogue with oneself and, as such, a supremely dramatic situation. In which the human being himself sets the scene, arranges the props, acts, directs and- in the end- lowers the curtain. On the stage he is also in the theatre, at one and the same time. He is non-existent without them. Herein, for me, lies the answer to how the theatre has survived all the plagues of ostracism, pestilences and ideological darkness.

It will survive this misfortune too.

I will put forward, this evening, only one single argument, our argument!

This land has never in the course of its entire literary and theatrical history experienced such a powerful surge of young writers and exceptional talents as now. Look around and you will see that they are present, that new ones are on the horizon and that passionately and giftedly they repudiate the reality that surrounds them which would otherwise suffocate them with its anti-intellectualism and creative impotence.

I vouch for them as insurgents, which gives me a right, in the face of all the pleas of the everyday, to say:

I believe!

Today, as I see the world moving towards unification, I am convinced that peace had become an even greater necessity for humanity. For us, the world to be created must be one of understanding and harmony so that it may reach its fulfillment without division or discord. It must be a world in which uniformity has given way to creative diversity which is the very essence of our being. This can only come about through mutual acceptance of one another. Only the spirit of open-mindedness and understanding in each of our encounters will enable us to protect each one’s personality and uniqueness.

During the twentieth century, humanity has made striking progress in material and technical fields, bringing about radical changes in our society. But we know that poverty and hunger still exist and we still see wars and conflicts continuing everywhere.

Our sense of powerlessness in the face of this sad reality sometimes leads us to despair.

What can we do? What can the theatre do?

The tragic situation in which we find ourselves is the fruit of narrow dogmatism and intolerance. We think that the theatre can be one means of healing for this illness.

This is why we believe more in the importance of listening closely to the words of actors in the theatre than to speeches made by politicians and scholarly theoreticians. We hope in this way to see the tragic situation of the twentieth century transformed in such a way as to enable us the twenty-first century to fulfil its true potential- to see a world that has become inhuman evolve into one that is more altruistic and generous.

I used to think I lived at the outer limits of the world. Up until the nineteenth century, Korea was among the most isolated countries in the world, situated as it was in a remote and rather inaccessible region of the Orient.

Today, in 1997, it is in this far-off part of the Far East that performing artists from all over the world will come together for the 27^th World Congress of the International Theatre Institute. Through this encounter, Seoul our capital, which was for so long cut off from the rest of the world, will become the new centre of world dramatic art. This encounter of universal dimensions could in its turn encourage the birth of other new centres. In a unified world, each city and each nation could become such a centre, and the notion of Orient and Occident, along with that of North and South would thus become no longer relevant. This world in which the division of South and North, East and West no longer exists, this world in which the Centre may be found in each city and in each nation, this world would no longer be subject to reign of narrow dogmatism and intolerance but would be a world living in the creative diversity and originality of each person.

Do not let us forget that our preparations for the new millennium must lead to the creation of a new world.

Dear colleagues, members,

a few words about the particular activities of the Macedonian ITI:

INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEES - linking, collaboration on a regular basis and information on different sectors of ITI; co-ordination of domestic and related activities in the world.

INTERNATIONAL DATABASES - modem connections with international theatre databases; processing information of interest to us.

MACEDONIAN DATABASE - creating our own database with appropriate data on all aspects of theatre life in Macedonia; this database will be available for international users.

THEATRICAL VIDEOTEQUE - creating our own theatre videoteque with recordings of significant world and domestic performances; public presentation of the recordings at regular times.

ITI MEETINGS - Meetings with theatre professionals from home and abroad at regular times; Talks on relevant topics prepared in advance.

SYMPOSIUMS/WORKSHOPS - on relevant topics, prepared in advance.

INFO BULLETIN IN MACEDONIAN - newsletter with vital information on festivals, seminars, news about ITI activities, etc.

 INFO BULLETIN IN ENGLISH - portfolio of theatre offers from our country; guide to existing performances, individuals, groups and theatres designed for the international market.

PUBLICATION ON THE MACEDONIAN THEATRE - Basic guide to the theatre in Macedonia and for the activities of our institute.

MACEDONIAN DRAMA ANTHOLOGY - Macedonian plays translated into English with chronology and bibliography.

Our basic duty is to work on the linking of the Macedonian theatre with its wider world context and to provide for channels for come-back information.

This would be impossible without your support. Looking forward to your co-operation,

Yours sincerely,

Goran Stefanovski

President of EXCOM

The author of the International Message this year is Maurice Bejart. Maurice Bejart, born in Marseilles 1 January 1927, is famous throughout the world for his choreography, his company and his school.

In 1982 the Dance Committee of the International Theatre Institute (UNESCO), created an International Dance Day, which is to be celebrated yearly on 29 April.

Every year a message from a well-known dance personality circulates throughout the world. The intention of the International Dance Day and of the Message is to bring on this occasion all the Dance together, to celebrate this art form and discover its universality, to cross all political, cultural and ethnic barriers and bring people together in peace and friendship with a common language- the Dance.

Since 1995, as an expression of the unity of the Dance, the International Message has been jointly circulated by three international dance organizations: The International Theatre Institute- The Dance Committee, The International Dance Council and The World Dance Alliance.

• After the fall of ex-Yugoslavia, the Yugoslav ITI Centre of which several theatre workesrs from Macedonia were members ceased to funnction.

• Representatives of the MOT Festival were present at the 24th ITI Congress (Istanbul, 1991), as guests of the Turkish Centre.
• The Founding Assembly of the Macedonian Centre of ITI was held at the 17th MOT International Theatre Festival (1992).
• After contacts with Mr. André-Louis Perinetti, ITI Secretary General, the Macedonian Centre received the information (fax no. B237, 5th of May, 1993) that it would be accepted as a regular member of ITI (UNESCO).
• At the 25th ITI Congress (Munchen, 1993), the Macedonian Centre was recognised as a regular member of ITI. Ljubisha Nikodinovski-Bish and Prof. Dr. Kiril Temkov participated in the Congress.
• In April 1994 the First Executive Committee of the Macedonian ITI Centre was constituted (President Risto Stefanovski).
• Representatives of 11 countries took part in the Symposium in Ohrid (1994), among them Mrs. Martha Coigney, President and Mr. André-Louis Perinetti, Secretary General of ITI-UNESCO (in the photo, in the middle).
• For the participants in the Symposium, a bulletin in English was prepared with information on the theatre in Macedonia, as well as an appropriate programme with performances of the theatres in Macedonia.
• Within the regular activities of EXCOM, a communication was established with a number of ITI centres in the world, as well as an exchange of information, publications and theatre magazines.
• Texts of "Oresteia" (with the supplement "Oresteia in Action"), Sashko Nasev’s drama "Who Do You Belong To" (in English), staged in the Dramski Theatre, as well as "Light in the Night" with texts and essays by Berry Stavis were published in collaboration with the Metaforum Cultural agency (editor-in-chief Prof. Dr. K. Temkov).
• Lj. Nikodinovski-Bish was present at the 26th ITI Congress (Carakas, 1995). At the Plenary Session he spoke about the activities of the Macedonian Centre and the Ohrid Symposium, and was elected to the Communication Committee of ITI.
• In the 4th edition of the distinguished international publication "The World of Theatre 1992 - 1994", which is published in English and French by the ITI (UNESCO), there appeared the text "The Theatre at the Cross-roads",by Lj. Nikodinovski-Bish, about the theatre in Macedonia.
• The Macedonian ITI Centre of ITI traditionally celebrates World Theatre Day - 27th March, and since 1996 also World Dance Day - 29th April.
• In December 1996 there was constituted the new Executive Committee (President Goran Stefanovski), which at its session of 18th December ratified the Chapter (standing orders), the Programme for 1997 and the new principles and directions for activities of the Macedonian ITI Centre.

The Meeting of the theatre communities of the Republic of Macedonia, the regions of the Balkans, Europe and the other continents revealed a strong current of mutual understanding and tolerance in spite of the present situation in the Balkans and of personal feelings.

The theme of the meeting which was held in OHRID (Republic of Macedonia) from 6th to 11th October 1994, "The Minority Cultures confronted by the Majority Cultures, their integration in Europe and in the World" gave rise to numerous contributions which widened the scope of the encounter. It was concluded that there was no real confrontation but that serious relations exist between minority cultures and those of the rest of the world.

In accordance with the Charter of ITI, the participants wished to emphasize to the world theatre community the importance of recognizing each culture and to underline the possibilities that exist for mutual and reciprocal discovery. Our own freedom is grounded on the freedom of expression enjoyed by others.

The participants of the theatre communities which were represented made a contribution to the understanding of cultures whose value is not measured by the number of inhabitants in a given region.

The participants launched an appeal to organise a Festival, which could be here in Macedonia, cross-roads between East and West, North and South, multicultural space, where of all those who are interested in others and have a deep desire to share experiences would have the opportunity to do so. MOT, the Theatre Festival which already exists in Skopje could provide an appropriate framework for this Festival.

The participants expressed the wish to set up an information network and work on joint projects.

They wanted trough their efforts to break through the new wall set up by the blockade, by sanctions and by interrupted communications and exchange so that harmonious relations could be established between the theatre communities already represented in OHRID (Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, Macedonia, Hungary, Poland, Sweden, USA and France). The full realisation of this break-through, partially experienced already at the Ohrid meeting, would make "all the world a stage" once and for all.

Dear colleagues,

for further information on the theatre events, their addresses and a way to get in touch with their organizers, please contact the office of the Macedonian ITI Centre in the Youth Cultural Centre.

Tel: 115- 225.

The World Congress on the Application of the Recommendation concerning the Status of the Artist will take place from 16- 20 June 1997 in Paris at UNESCO headquarters.

The Congress will consist of round-table discussions and commissions. The former will deal with the following subjects:

• Art and new technologies
• Artistic education and promotion of the arts
• Financing of arts and the artists
• Two workshops will be organized: on use of new technologies (Internet) in the promotion of artists’ work and on the financing of cultural projects.
• The Commissions will examine:
• the status of the artist, author and performer, in society
• the artist (author and performer) and the economic context at the end of the twentieth century
• the education and the professional life of the artist
• the protection of intellectual property rights
• The Congress is under the presidency of the Director General of UNESCO, Mr. Federico Mayor.

The Swiss ITI Centre will be the organizer of the "Theatre of Nations- Zurich 1998" with the Festival Zurich. They will take place in July 1998. The organizers wish to invite approximately 20 of the best theatre companies from different regions of the world to take part in this festival.

The ultimate criterion of selection will be the aesthetic quality of production. However, special attention will be given to high-quality productions related to one of the themes : Human rights, democracy and multiculturalism.

MEETING OF TRANSLATORS

The 2^nd International Meeting of Translators organized by the German ITI Centre will take place in the second half of May 1997. The meeting (debates, discussions, workshops on the texts etc.)

will take place in the framework of the Stucke Festival organized by the Mulheimer Theaterage. This unique festival presents premieres of contemporary German productions to the translators with the aim of encouraging translations and future productions in other countires.

BALLET ASSOCIATION IN ITALY

Associazione Balletto Classico (ABC) has been based in Reggio Emilia, capital of the Emilia Romagna (Italy) since 1978. ABC views classical dance as a form of cultural and artistic expression which transcends social and national boundaries. The company performs all year round in Italy and abroad. ABC also has a professional dance school.

Disipline: classical dance.

PRINCESS GRACE DANCE ACADEMY

The Princess Grace foundation (created in 1964) supports humanitarian and cultural projects round the world. It also supports artistic programmes such as the Princess Grace Academy of Classical Dance, which offers advanced professional training in the classic ballet repertoire. Students participate in performances given by the Academy in the Garnier Hall of Monte-Carlo. Disciplines: classical dance (advanced level), character, modern and jazz dance.

DANCEWEB 97

DANCEWEB is a scholarship programme designed as an all-year communication network of dancers, dance companies, institutions and magazines hosted by Internationale Tanzwochen Wien. The European biggest workshop festival provides accommodation for the bursary recipients.

GERMAN THEATRE FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES

The 4^th Festival of the German theatre for young audiences and the European festival for children and youth theatre with over 50 performances will take place in Berlin form 26-30 April 1997.

The European Puppet Festival (Synergura’97) will take place at the historical centre of Erfurt, 5-11 July 1997.

FESTIVAL OF YOUNG ACTORS

The 2^nd International Festival for Young Actors will take place in Pula, Croatia, 1 July to 20 August 1997.

NEW EUROPEAN PROJECTS

 After the first part, which took place in February 1997 in Anger (France), the second part of the presentation of new European projects will take place in June 1997 in Kunstencentrum Vooruit, Gent, Belgium while the third will be in October 1997 in Centro Cultural de Belem & Dancas na Cidade, Lisbon, Portugal.

This new project series by the Kunstlerhaus MOUSONTURM aims at presenting the work of cultural European Production Centres for contemporary art. The project tends to demonstrate the importance of the work of art centres on a national and international scale and emphasize their role in the support of contemporary art.

FAIR IN CANADA

A fair for performing arts will take place from 4 to 7 December 1997 in Montreal. Guest performances of seventy productions from eight countries. Possibilities for exchange of experience, tour contacts, seminars and workshops for producers and agencies.

AVANTGARDE FESTIVAL IN NORWAY

International Festival of independent groups on the subject: Experiment in avantgarde and popular theatre will take place from 7 to 11 May 1997 in Kongsvinger, Norway.

SUMMER UNIVERSITY IN SOFIA

In September 1997, the Amsterdam Summer University will be held at its Eastern European subsidiary in Sofia. A workshop series will cover techniques, methods and theories of the performing arts.

SYMPOSIUM ON ANTIQUE DRAMA IN THESSALONIKA

International Conference on subject "Antique Drama Today" will be held in Thessalonika from 18 to 22 September 1997.

The Conference is organized by Aristoteles University in cooperation with FIRT. Anthropologists, linguists, critics, as well as artistic directors and other theatre professionals will participate.

DANCE CONGRESS

From 6 to 13 August 1997 in Perth (Australia) the International Dance Festival will take place in the framework of the World Conference on Dance.

MEETING IN BUDAPEST

At the Festival of Contemporary Hungarian Theatre, from 24 -29 April, the best productions of the last two seasons and International Symposium will be presented.

Exhibition of posters and programmes.

A book fair and International workshop on directing for students.

MEETING IN MANILA

From 28 to 30 April 1997 in Manila (Phillipines) the World Colloque on broadcasting, new communication technologies will take place organized by the World Intellectual Property Oragnization.

SHAKESPEARE SCHOOL

From 2 to 12 July 1997 in Stamford (Great Britain) the 3^rd International Shakespeare Summer School will take place, under the direction of Noel Witts, member of the British ITI Centre, comprising courses on acting, directing and theatre criricism.

 FIRT CONGRESS

The annual FIRT Congress will take place at the University in the town Cholula (Puebla, Mexico) from 23- 28 June 1997 on subject: "Theatre and Cultures in the World- Theories and Practices in the theatre today". The Congress will deal with the practice and theory in the theatre in the perspective of multiculturalism, interculturalism, and intraculturalism.

SESSION OF UNIMA

From 29 August to 6 September in Zagreb the 30^th edition of PIF- The International Puppet Festival will take place. UNIMA will hold a session of its Executive Committee in the framework of this event.

CONGRESS OF IATA

The 2^nd World Congress of the International Associations of Theatres at Universities will take place from 21- 25 June 1997 at College de Valleyfield, Quebec, Canada. The theme will be "Studying the Theatre: Research, Training and Creation" and it will enable scholars, actors and teachers in the university milieu throughout the world to examine the close links between universities and theatre.

"ON- LINE!" ITI-WORLDWIDE.ORG

 The ITI General Secretariat in Paris now has a domain on the Internet, thanks to the help of a webmaster colleague.

• You will find the ITI’s home-page at: http://iti-worldwide.org
• For the moment, the information is only presented in English.
• The list of Centres (among which is the Macedonian one) and their addresses etc. is already on our site and will be updated regularly.
• The ITI National Centres which have an electronic mail address or a website are already linked to iti-worlwide.org by the activation of their addresses on the list of Centres

Network of ITI (UNESCO) Committees and responsibilities of members of the Executive Committee of the Macedonian Centre:

- National Commission on UNESCO of the Republic of Macedonia, member Prof. Dr. Kiril Temkov,

- Communication Committee, member Lyubisha Nikodinovski-Bish,

- Committee for Cultural Identity and Development, coordinator Goran Stefanovski,

- Dance Committee, coordinator Iskra Shukarova,

- Playwrights Committee, coordinator Zhanina Mirchevska,

- New Theatre Project Group, coordinatori Gyorgi Yolevski and Zhanina Mirchevska,

- Committee for Theatre Education, coordinator Prof. Dr K. Temkov,

- Dramatic Theatre Committee, cordinator Bayrush Mjaku.

International theatre organizations in relation with ITI (UNESCO):

- Association internationale du theatre pour l'enfance et la jeunesse - ASSITEJ - coordinators Aleksandar Popovski and Lyubomir Chadikovski (Director of the Theatre for Children and Young People),

- Association internationale des critiques de theatre - AICT, there is a need to establish such an association in Macedonia,

- International amateur theatre association-IATA, coordinator FAAT Festival,

- Federation internationale des acteurs - FIA, coordinator Elyesa Kaso,

-Federation internationale pour la recherche theatrale - FIRT and Societe internationale des bibliotheques-musees des arts du spectacle - SIBMAS, coordinator Dr Yelena Luzhina,

- Union internationale de la marionnette - UNIMA, cordinator Lybomir Chadikovski,

- Organisation internationale des scenographes, techniciens et architectes de theatre - OISTAT, coordinator Prof. Vladimir Georgievski.

This is a short extract from Zhanina Mirchevska’s text written for the conference entitled A Balanced Culture, Texts which Cross Frontiers,

organised by the Nethelands Theatre Institute and the European Month of Culture in Ljubljana, held from 25 to 28 June 1997. The text looks at certain problems encountered by Macedonian playwrights on the road to their plays’ being staged in theatres abroad. The complete text is due to be published following its presentation at the symposium in Slovenia.

…Jelena Luzina, theatre researcher, Professor of the Drama and Macedonian Theatre at the Skopje Faculty of Dramatic Art is the authorof many books and papers on dramatic theory and theatre.

Over the last two years (1994- 96) and in fact over the last decade, contemporary Macedonian theatre was marked to a significant degree by deep paradoxes… Therefore, the paradoxes at present determining to such a great extent Macedonian contemporary theatre are due to the context. We shall define some of the most important ones:

The relatively large number of professional theatre institutions (nine) within which 12 permanent troupes operate (ten for theatre, one for ballet and one for opera).

 The relatively large number of actors, singers, dancers and musicians hired on a permanent basis (almost 500!) having generally been trained at the higher education level (complete training in an academy).

A relatively modest annual production - in terms of quantity - of new plays (thirty premieres at most).

A relatively small number- again in terms of quantity- of revivals during the course of a year (no more than 1000 preformnces).

The relatively large concetration of theatre life in the capital, Skopje. Outside the capital there are five theatre institutions in opeartion but only one of these, the Bitola National Theatre, reaches a high professional and artisitc standard.

The relatively restricted "mobility", if not the absence of mobility, of the companies from the capital, that rarely perform anywhere but on the stage of their own theatre. (If we consider that in Macedonia ballet, opera and children’s theatre only have one troupe each, which is also the case of Albanian and Turkish speaking theatre, it seems obvious that the existing model of theatrical organization suffers from being far too "static").

The relatively low attendance rate of the theatre public, especially in small towns, and its "preference" for the "lighter" genres. (Considering the well- known fact that the theatre public is not a preexisting category but a category that is built up over the long term, we believe we can state that the "old- fashioned"/ backward organization of theatre existing to this day inevitably "produces" old fashioned theatre aesthetics- precisely what Peter Brook refers to as "aesthetics of the corpse" which unfortunately still dominates the stages of Macedonian theatres).

The more creative and ambitious potential of contemporary Macedonian theatre (potential of actors, directors, playwrights, organizers) does indeed try to remedy the state of national theatre. Over the last two years and during the last two seasons, a whole series of individual efforts have resulted in several particularly interesting theatre events.

The events in question, less due to chance and increasingly interconnected, are progressively defining and more and more clearly, the general dissatisfaction with the present Macedonian institutional theatre. The latter still functions according to the old (‘socialist’) organisational scheme, with the model of ‘National Theatres’ where actors are civil servants and repertories must include ‘a bit of everything’ and ‘a bit for everyone’ and are totally State funded. This model has proved unworkable in Macedonia as well (as it did previously in Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Russia, Czechoslovakia...).

The most active elements of the theatre world did not, of course wait for the State to organize another/or better quality theatre life for them, but took things into their own hands. In changing the theatre organization model they also changed the theatre aesthetics (of the corse, as Brook put it), against which they had fought for years...

1995 and 1996 also saw contemporary Macedonian dramaturgy become established abroad.

A Keg of Powder, a play by Dejan Dukovski, was staged by the Yugoslav Dramatic Theatre in Belgrade (November 1994) after its premeire in Skopje, directed by Slobodan Unkovski. This play has become very popular, it was performed several times in Europe (Berlin, Rome…) and was subsequently translated and published in the well- known magazine Theatre Heute (November 1995). In 1997, A Keg of Powder will tour several European countries.

Sarajevo and The Tattooed Souls, by Goran Stefanovski, were again presented in University theatre in America (directed by Naum Panovski, 1995) as well as the Theatre a. d. Ruhr, Mulheim (directed by rahim Burhan, January 1996). Jordan Plevenes’s latest play, Happiness is a New Idea in Europe was staged for the first time in a University theatre (Yale, April 1995, directed by Patrick Verscheren). Porcelain Vase, a play by Jugoslav Petrovski, was first presented in an off festival in England (summer 1995) and then in Skopje. Zanina Mircevska’s latest play, There, Where I was not was created on the stage of the Youung Theatre (Mladinsko gledalisce) in Ljubljana (May 1996), it has not yet been staged in Macedonia...

The 27^th ITI World Congress will take place in Seoul (Korea) from 14 through 20 September 1997 and it will be organized by the Korean ITI Centre.

On 17 September a Symposium will be held, as one of the major events at the Congress: " Paradigm Shift of Civilization and Performing Arts in the 21^st Century".

On 7- 18 September the International Festival of Higher Education Theatre Institutes will be held, a first meeting of its kind in the Asia- Pacific Region: Tradition and Experiment: What does theatre seek to do in the 21^st Century? The event includes performances, discussions as well as workshops, demonstrations, a symposium and an exhibition. Each of the schools selected will prepare a performance of a play of their choice (lasting 60 to 90 minutes) which displays the idea of encounter of tradition and experiment.

The Korean ITI Centre will organize a session at the University Albert Botball Theatre of Nations from 15- 29 June 1997. The theme of this international course will be: Working Methods with the Asian Actor. In the frames of the session four workshops will be held with 60 young professionals from the performing arts participating. The meeting will end with a presentation of the work of the groups and with an audition for the intercultural production of "King Lear", managed by Jeong Ok Kim, the President of ITI. The Macedonian ITI Centre will candidate Sinolichka Trpkova and Georgi Jolevski.

At the theatre exhibition in the frames of the Congress the characteristic 20^th Century Korean scenography, stage architecture, lights and costumes will be presented.

The Theatre of Nations this year will also take place in Seoul, from 30 August to 30 September. The Festival is jointly organized by the Korean ITI Centre and the Korean National Theatre Association . The performances will be shown in Seoul and Kyonggi. The Theatre of Nations includes 5 separate but interrelated events:

• The International Theatre Festival (30 August- 30 September): Approximately 15 noteworthy international productions from among the best on all continents.
• The Festival BeSeTo (Beijing- Seoul- Tokio): the 4^th edition of this annual event taking place in turn in the capitals of the neighbouring countries China, Japan and Korea will be held in Seoul in 1997 in the framework of the Theatre of Nations. This is an opportunity to see plays from various Asian countries.
• The Open Air Theatre Festival: This annual theatre festival will celebrate its 20^th Anniversary in the framework of the Theatre of Nations presenting 10 of the best Korean productions.