Contemporary puppet theater and form theater use means that require different knowledge and skills to describe and analyze performances than in the case of dramatic theater. This type of theater is becoming more and more interesting and meaningful. Unfortunately, still few critics can describe it. That is why we decided to organize in Poland (a country with a significant role and history of puppet theater), in Bialystok known as the „Polish capital of puppetry”, during one of the most important puppet tear festivals in Europe, workshops on puppet theater criticism.
The Polish Section of IATC and Association of Polish Stage Artists (ZASP) is offering a workshop for young theatre critics, which will take place from 20 to 25 June 2022 in Bialystok (Poland), thanks to the support of the International Festival of Puppetry Schools. There will be three working groups, one in English, one in French. And one in Polish. If you are interested, you must apply as soon as possible, to be one of the 5 candidates accepted in each group. For this, you must be a critic aged between 18 and 35. All candidates are invited to send their application form with a brief CV (just one page!), 2 or 3 samples of articles already published in media or internet.
Make sure you have a good verbal expression of the English, French or Polish language.
Accommodation can be in shared rooms, and meals are included for breakfast and dinner (according to polish tradition in the time of lunch). You will receive a free pass for all the shows and for the discussions that will take place during the Festival.
The candidacies will be accepted until 06.06.2022. They must be sent to the director of workshops, Konrad Szczebiot: konrad.szczebiot@e-at.edu.pl A final list of all chosen participants will be announced as soon as possible, to allow time for preparing your trip and for obtaining, if needed, a visa for Poland.
The names of the monitors:
Lucyna Kozien [foto] Former general and artistic director of the Banialuka Puppet Theater and director of the International Festival of Puppetry Arts in Bielsko-Biała (since 2003), theater critic, editor-in-chief of the Puppet Theater magazine. A graduate of Polish Studies at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow and Postgraduate Journalism Studies at the Jagiellonian University. Currently, the 2nd Vice President of the POLUNIMA Puppet Center, previously (in 1989-95) also a member of the Board of PO ASSITEJ – International Association of Theaters for Children and Youth). Author of plays and stage adaptations staged in Banialuka, incl. Tales of a boy and wind and Zbojnicka’s story. Author of several books in the field of theater, recently incl. the monographs of the Banialuka Puppet Theater (Banialuka Puppet Theater 1947-97 and Banialuka Puppet Theater 1997-2007), 100 performances of the Polish puppet theater (co-edited by Marek Waszkiel), the album Theatre without borders (published on the occasion of the jubilee 25th edition of the International Puppet Theater Festival) and publications from the Puppet Theater series (about puppet theater artists: Jerzy Zitzman, Aleksander A. Labiniec, Jan Dorman, Wlodzimierz Dobromilski, Krzysztof Rale). She published her texts about the theater, among others on the pages of Animator, Puppet Theater, Beskidzki Cultural Informator, Stage, Art for Children, Theater, Around the Theater, Relation-Interpretation.
Winner of, among others:
The National Competition „Closer to the Theater” and „Scenes” for „outstanding achievements in popularizing the theater” (1988),
Golden Mask – journalists and critics’ awards for creative contribution to the development of the theater (1997),
Awards of the Minister of Culture (1998),
Nomination for „Icarus” – Art Award of the President of Bielsko-Biala (2002 and 2008),
Awards of the Polish ASSITEJ Center for the Critic of the Year 2005 – „for an outstanding critic of theater for children and youth” (2005),
Awards of the Marshal of the Silesian Voivodeship in the field of culture (2007),
Silver Medal „Gloria Artis” (2007)
Icarus – Awards of the Mayor of Bielsko-Biala in the field of culture and art for outstanding activity so far (2012)
Octavian Saiu Professor Octavian Saiu is a scholar and professional theatre critic. He holds a PhD in Theatre Studies from National University of Theatre and Film (NUTF) in Romania, with a thesis about theatrical space, and another PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Otago in New Zealand, with a thesis about Samuel Beckett and Eugène Ionesco. He completed his PostDoc in Modern Literature at the University of Otago and has been awarded his Habilitation in Theatre and Performing Arts. He teaches in the Postgraduate Programme of NUTF, the Doctoral School of Sibiu University and the Centre of Excellence in Visual Studies of the University of Bucharest. He was Visiting Fellow at the University of London, School of Advanced Study, and has taught courses and offered master classes as Visiting Professor at various universities in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, as well as the Grotowski Institute. He has been actively involved, as Conference Chair and Invited Speaker, in several major theatre and academic events around the world, including the Theatre Olympics, Wuzhen Theatre Festival, as well as Edinburgh International Festival, where he was Chair of the Samuel Beckett Conference in 2013. Since 2004 he has been Chair of the Conferences of Sibiu International Theatre Festival. He is the Chair of the Shakespeare Studies Conference, organized by Craiova International Shakespeare festival in partnership with the International Association of Theatre Critics (IATC). He was Adjunct Secretary General of IATC and President of the Romanian Section Theatre Studies of IATC. He has published academic articles in several international journals, as well as eleven books on theatre. He received the Critics’ Award in 2010, the Award of the Union of Theatre Artists (UNITER) in 2013, and the Order of Cultural Merit from the President of Romania in 2020.
Alina Epîngeac (PhD in Theatre and Performing Arts) is a theatre critic, lecturer and scholar. She has been a member of the International Asociation of Theatre Critics, Romanian Section – Theatre Studies since 2016. She is the author of Manipulation through Theatre. crisis – creation- catharsis, published by The Universitary Print in 2020.
Between 2012 and 2015 she worked as artistic assistant for the ‘Little’ Theatre in Bucharest, and between 2015-2016 she was creative manager for Theatre Arts Group. As a theatre critic she wrote for yorick.ro online magazine (2012-2019), Amfiteatru (2019-2021) and colaborated with Clipa – cultural magazine, BeWhere! and The Time. She is the co-author of the aniversary album ‘Little’ Theare. 50 years, and has started a cultural blog project, d’E-pîn-geac.. In 2016 she was nominated for the National Theatre Prize for theatre criticism.
Since 2021 she has been a University lecturer in the Theatre Studies Departament of the National University of Theatre and Film in Bucharest,.