The new theatre season has made a strong beginning. Dozens of plays have been performed on all kinds of theatrical or non-theatrical stages across the country over the last three months. To start with, Maria Bouba, in charge of ON STAGE, has counted so far 200 performances of Greek plays and there still is a long way to go. Purely theatrical texts, dramatizations, dramaturgical compositions, devised.

The Greek Play Project is also getting ready for its own performance, as already announced. The play awarded the first prize, Helen or Sula, written by Despina Kalaitzidou is to be performed in Thessaloniki and Athens, starring Nikoleta Kotsailidou.

A new style of writing by a new playwright, who deals with the ancient myth and its relevance to the present in a very interesting way. A play with a sense of humor, a special atmosphere and unexpected changes.

In addition, Panagiota Dimopoulou’s play Diagonal, which was awarded Praise in the Greek Play Project playwriting contest, will be presented in a stage reading, under the direction of Menelaos Karantzas.

Meanwhile, we are getting ready for our next stop in the World Tour: Azerbaijan. A country that tries and strongly lays claim to find its pace and place on the theatre map.

November’s “Constellations” are dedicated to an important woman who has greatly contributed to theater by serving it among other things, Eleni Karaindrou, while in “Backstage” by Tatou Dede and Stelios Bouziotis, we meet Ilias Meletis and Roza Prodromou who share with us their way of work and stories behind the curtain.

All this with the conviction that civilization means “I close my ears to what is being said, I close my eyes to the ugliness around us and I keep on dealing with art, in spite of the many and constant problems, just because I cannot do otherwise”. It is a need that cannot be negotiated.

December 2016

Translated by Effimia Anna Panagiotidou