RESIDENTIAL PROGRAMME FOR PLAYWRIGHTS IN KUTNÁ HORA

The programme offers a creative space for emerging playwrights from former Soviet bloc countries to work on and develop new dramatic works.

In many of these countries, there are no dramaturgy programmes or long-term strategies to support new and contemporary playwriting. However, most young playwrights are involved in independent stage productions and projects. Through this residency, they gain the opportunity to develop their artistic ideas in a peaceful environment with financial support, fostering productive and creative regional collaborations.

The residency serves as a meeting place for Czech and international playwrights, providing an open space for the exchange of experiences, diverse artistic strategies, and inspiration. This year's theme, Strange New World, refers to Aldous Huxley's famous book and reflects the bizarre and turbulent times we are all currently experiencing.

Miroslav Hristov from the Bulgarian Goethe-Institut is the dramaturge of the residency programme.

The idea of establishing a residency centre in Kutná Hora builds on the foundations of the already established international network of young theatre artists, New Stages Southeast. This year, the very first edition will take place from 12 to 22 September 2024.

The theme of the 2024 edition is Strange New World, referring to Aldous Huxley's famous book, which describes the bizarre and turbulent times we are all currently going through.

Participants:

Hannes Köpke is originally from Hannover and lives in Leipzig. Together with others he founded the interdisciplinary theatre collective fachbetrieb rita grechen in 2018, with which he develops most of his projects. His major works include Was ist mehr zu viel als alles, Viecher, Hält uns wach and Vertigo Years. Educational theatre film projects Schlittski 13 and Salon have also been produced in collaboration with FEELINGS (Berlin). Hannes Köpke also writes. With Laura Immler, he wrote the composition Hält uns wach, which won the naxos studio prize in 2019. With Urs Humpenöder, he wrote, among other things, the love novel Esra und Heit for Kunsthalle Baden-Baden and the work Self Care Strandbefehl about the seaside resort of Prora, which premiered as a fachbetrieb rita grechen project at Festspielhaus Hellerau in 2024.

Urs Cornelius Humpenöder, lives and works in Leipzig. He studied cultural, literary, art and media studies and journalism in Dortmund, Hildesheim, Konstanz and Leipzig. After internships in the feuilleton columns of the Basler Zeitung and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, he wrote for the Südwest Presse and the Deutsche Presse-Agentur, among others. As an independent theatre writer, he is particularly interested in processes of collaborative writing, cultures of remembering, digital cultures and big emotions. In 2022 he wrote a text for the dance theatre Un Amor oder Die Erfindung meiner Mutter for the dancer and choreographer Eva Borrmann. In addition, he often writes together with Hannes Köpke. This resulted, among other things, in the story of a roadtrip on the German autobahn Esra und Heit (2022) for the exhibition Symposium Raststätte (Kunsthalle Baden-Baden) or the play Self Care Strandbefehl (2024), which he and Hannes exhibited together at the Festspielhaus Hellererau - European Centre for the Arts in Dresden.

The project is realised in cooperation with the Kutná Hora Perfoming Arts Festival, the Theatre X10, and the Goethe-Institut Bulgaria with the support of the City of Kutná Hora.