OPEN CALL FOR TEXTS TO THIRD EDITION OF AURORA. THE DRAMA AWARD OF THE CITY OF BYDGOSZCZ

Teatr Polski in Bydgoszcz is opening the call for texts to the third edition of the international award for playwrights. Texts can be submitted until 16^th of April. The final of the competition will take place in October during Prapremiery Festival 2023. The winner of AURORA 2023 will get an award in the amount of PLN 50.000.

AURORA. The Drama Award of the City of Bydgoszcz has been awarded since 2021 for outstanding contemporary drama. The competition is dedicated to playwrights from the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the Caucasus and Central Asia. The aim of the organizers is to create a platform for international theatre artists where they can come together around new dramatic writing, and to look for different angles on a global world in texts that force reflection and deepen knowledge of other cultures.

“From the beginning of our management at the Polish Theatre in Bydgoszcz, we knew that it was in the East that we would look for inspiration. The AURORA countries are an area where the process of decolonisation, changing perspectives, vectors and perceptions is taking place in a very clear and multifaceted way. We are trying to look at our contemporaneity from a regional perspective in order to better understand the sources and mechanisms of the crises we are facing. AURORA provides us with a unique opportunity to gain insight not only into new theatrical aesthetics, but above all into other themes and perspectives presented by the authors and authors. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it is Poland that is becoming a kind of cultural centre, a meeting place for artists from the East and the West, again – after many years of monolith, we are becoming a cultural, international melting pot. It’s a very interesting and creative moment.” – says Julia Holewinska, deputy programme director of the Polish Theatre in Bydgoszcz.

In 2023 authors from the following countries are invited to take part in the competition: Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Armenia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Albania, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Romania, Macedonia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Kosovo, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan. In face of the Russian war against Ukraine that is still going on, the committee of AURORA upholds the decision to exclude all candidates representing the Russian Federation.

“By establishing AURORA we wanted to create a platform of artistic exchange to promote contemporary drama and its creators. The competition, which we organize as part of the Prapremiery Festival, probably the most important theatrical event in the region, was supposed to have primarily an artistic dimension. The reality in which we have been living since February 24 has given AURORA an additional aspect – humane. We are immensely pleased to accompany the finalists of the previous editions in their development and to be the witnesses of the fact that their works are becoming more and more recognised around the world.” – says Wojciech Faruga, director of Teatr Polski in Bydgoszcz and artistic director of the Prapremiery Festival.

In previous editions of the competition, the AURORA award went to Belarusian author and director Mikita Ilynchyk (2021) and Romanian playwright Elise Wilk (2022). The winner of the first edition returned to Bydgoszcz last year to prepare his latest play ‘F***ing in Brussels’ with the TPB company. Mikita’s final text ‘Dark room’ as a stage sketch was presented at the Divine Comedy Festival in Krakow in 2021, at the Dramatic Theatre in Warsaw in 2022 and at the Theatre Academy in Munich. He is currently working on the dramaturgy for the opera ‘Maria de Buenos Aires’, which will be directed by Wojciech Faruga at the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera. Lena Lagushonkova’s ‘Trilogy from Donbass’ will also be premiered soon (the premiere is planned at TR Warsaw in April 2023). Lagushonkova was a finalist of AURORA 2021. Last year she received the European Drama Award, the most important prize given to a European Young Playwright.

EDITION 2023

Works for the competition can be submitted in one of four languages: Polish, Ukrainian, English,  or Russian. In the first stage of the competition the Jury will select five final texts, which will be presented as stage sketches during the Prapremiery Festival in October 2023. In the final, the Chapter will select the winning text and award the AURORA. The Drama Award of the City of Bydgoszcz in the amount of PLN 50,000.

The call for entries runs until 16th of April. The works, together with the application, must be sent to aurora@teatrpolski.pl by 23.59 Polish time.

The competition regulation, application form and more information are available at www.auroraaward.pl .