Estonian Performing Arts Showcase draamamaa.weekend

The next Estonian Contemporary Performing Arts Showcase draamamaa.weekend takes place September 5–8th 2022 in Tallinn & Tartu in collaboration with Estonian biggest annual theatre festival DRAAMA.

Contact:
Liisi Aibel, liisi@teater.ee / +372 55 90 7002 (phone, WhatsApp)

DRAAMAMAA.WEEKEND SHOWCASE 2022:

Monday, September 5th (Tallinn)
arrival
16:00–22:00 installation – “PORTAL” (artists Renzo van Steenbergen, Kristjan Pütsep) / eˉlektron
17:00–18:00 gallery visit  – “ATTENTION FIGURES” (artist Taavi Suisalu) / Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia (EKKM)
19:30–20:40 performance – “TRAPS” (dir. Johhan Rosenberg) / Kanuti Gildi SAAL
21:00–21:30 showing – Marten Esko, Mihkel Ilus / Kanuti Gildi SAAL
21:30–… meet & mingle at Kanuti Gildi SAAL  

Tuesday, September 6th (Tallinn)
tba – showing – Barbara Lehtna, Maija Pavlova / Paide Theatre & Ģertrūdes ielas teātris (LV)
16:00–22:00 installation – “PORTAL” (artists Renzo van Steenbergen, Kristjan Pütsep) / eˉlektron 
14:30–17:00 visit – Estonian Academy of Art’s Scenography Department (prof. Ene-Liis Semper)
18:15–18:45 showing – Sigrid Savi, Valeria Januškevitš, Kadri Sirel, Keity Pool / Sõltumatu Tantsu Lava
19:00–20:50 performance – “TWO GARAGES” (dir. Elmārs Seņkovs) / Vaba Lava
21:00–… meet & mingle at the Estonian Theatre Agency  

Wednesday, September 7th (Tartu)
09:46–11:49 traveling together from Tallinn to Tartu by train
15:00–16:00 cocktail hour at Tartu New Theatre
16:00–17:45 performance – “MELANCHOLIA” (dir. Juhan Ulfsak) / Von Krahl Theatre
18:30–20:05 performance – “Х ** войне. UKRAINE. LETTERS FROM THE FRONT” (dir. Julia Aug) / Vaba Lava
20:45-21:45 performance – “PURE PINK POX” (dir. Arolin Raudva, Mari-Liis Eskusson, Katrin Kreutzberg, Hanna Junti) / Kanuti Gildi SAAL
22:00–… meet & mingle at Tartu New Theatre  

Thursday, September 8th (Tartu) 
15:00–16:30 discussion – tba
17:00–19:00 performance – “72 DAYS” (dir. Ene-Liis Semper, Tiit Ojasoo)
20:00–21:30 performance – “LOOD” (dir. Renate Keerd) / Tartu New Theatre 
22:00–23:40 performance – “EDEN DETAIL” (dir. Johhan Rosenberg, Jette-Loona Hermanis) / Kanuti Gildi SAAL
00:00–… meet & mingle at Tartu New Theatre

Friday, September 9th (Tartu)
departure

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draamamaa.weekend is an Estonian performing arts showcase that has been held every year since 2013. From 2021, the festival will take place in cooperation with the Estonian Theater Festival DRAAMA.

The Estonian performing arts showcase draamamaa.weekend brings about 35 personally invited foreign curators and theater directors to Tallinn. The guests are invited in close cooperation between the theaters participating in the festival and the Estonian Theater Agency. The main goal of the festival is to expand and strengthen the contacts of Estonian performance institutions with foreign countries and to increase the possibility that valuable productions will go beyond Estonia. In addition to the performance program, the festival has various meetings, acquaintances, and, if possible and necessary, also showings of the new productions in progress.

draamamaa.weekend is essentially a festival of contemporary performing arts. The festival program does not represent the mainstream of our theatrical art, and better examples of our word theater are generally excluded from the showcase format. The festival is mainly aimed at a few dozen invited guests, whose expectations and hopes for the festival are to find new contacts, partners, artists, and productions to invite to their festivals or theater houses.

The festival program is put together by the team of the Estonian Theater Agency based on the offers from the theaters, taking into account the export potential of the productions and the possibility of transporting and adapting the production to different halls; the possibility to translate the production text in such a way that not too much is lost during the process (incl. reception by the audience) and flexibility in terms of performance times (possible daytime or late-night performances during the festival). We expect the theaters to be ready to take an active part in the festival, ie to participate in the evening acquaintance events with foreign guests and to prepare materials in English introducing their theaters. There are no genre restrictions on productions, but productions aimed at adult viewers are preferred.

In addition to the above criteria, the program takes into account the criticism of the productions or the new production’s feedback on the creators’ previous works and the fact that the productions would be new and exciting for those festival-goers who have already visited a lot of theaters in their lives. We assume that foreign visitors will no longer come to Estonia only to look for Eastern European exotics because we belong fully to the field of contemporary European performing arts and our performing artists are able to compete with their colleagues in Berlin or Amsterdam.

The Estonian Theater Agency finances the accommodation of guests and the transport costs of some foreign guests. We also cover the costs of translation and translation equipment. The costs related to the provision of festival performances are covered by the participating performance institutions.