The project focuses on the creation, translation and circulation of new plays from Central and Eastern Europe. Its main goal is to foster the motivation to discover, understand and present contemporary playwriting from our region.

Main activities:

• learning and networking programs for playwrights
• residencies and networking programs for translators of contemporary drama
• theoretical knowledge base for theatre translation
• networking activities for theatre professionals and academics interested in contemporary drama

Outputs:

Playwriting

• Four new theatre texts for young audiences that reflect the current social and political situation in the Central and Eastern European region. The texts are written by authors from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Ukraine Dagmar Fričová, Oksana Grytsenko, Alžběta Vrzgula and Tomáš Ráliš under the guidance of local and international mentors. Discover the authors and their texts here.
• One new theatre text as a result of collaboration of 2 playwrights from the Czech Republic and 3 playwrights from Chile, who jointly develop a common text under the guidance of professional mentors from both countries. The aim of this collaboration is to reflect on the experience of totalitarian regimes of the 20th century, which had opposite ideological signs in both countries, and on the question of how theatre reflects totalitarianism and its legacy.
• International Conference Drama Revival: Creation, Translation and Circulation of Contemporary Drama from the Central and Eastern European Region: the conference presented the results of the educational and networking project PerformCzech SKILLS: Drama Revival 2023 from the point of view of experts in contemporary drama, mentors, translators and authors who were directly involved in its various phases. The program was divided into three thematic blocks. The first part focused on issues and tools to support the international circulation of new plays. The second block focused on the possibilities of supporting authors in writing plays and the methodology of mentoring. In the final block, the authors involved provided feedback on the project’s progress and the translators shared their experiences with translating several versions of the texts written within the project. The conference took place on 13.11.2023 in A studio Rubín in Prague, Czech Republic. Watch the conference highlitights here.

Theatre translation

Theatre Translation Handbook. Check it here.

Residencies for translators of theatre plays.

• Czech Republic
  PerformCzech SKILLS: Drama Revival – krátkodobá rezidence pro překladatele*ky divadelních her z českého jazyka
  PerformCzech SKILLS: Drama Revival – krátkodobá rezidence pro překladatele*ky divadelních her z arménštiny, estonštiny, gruzínštiny nebo ukrajinštiny
• Poland
  NABÓR NA REZYDENCJĘ DLA TŁUMACZA/KI TEKSTÓW DRAMATYCZNYCH (PL-CZ)

Czech Republic

• Countries’ brief profiles for translation and contemporary plays information and resources. Discover more below.
• Interviews and podcasts about theatre translation.

Main organiser: 

• PerformCzech / Arts and Theatre Institute

Project partners: 

• Tech Degh / Armenia
• Croatian ITI Centre / Croatia
• Estonian Theatre Agency / Estonia
• Drama Panorama / Germany
• Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute / Poland
• Theatre Institute / Slovakia
• Ilia State University / Georgia
• Lviv National University / Ukraine
• National Union of Theatre Artists / Ukraine
• National Theatre Chile

We are grateful for the kind support: Czech Recovery Plan, Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and European Commission – NextGenerationEU.