ARENA 2020
Type
Biennial/Festival
Category
Performance
Status
Archived
Deadline
January 19, 2020
Application Fee
Not Available
Host
ARENA... OF THE YOUNG ARTS
Location
Erlangen, Germany

No Drama? Is this Not about Theater?

ARENA is turning 30.
For three decades we have given artist groups from all around the world the opportunity to share their art on stage freely and expressively .
For thirty years ARENA has stood for: no drama. Our motto this year can be understood on multiple levels. While conflicts seem to escalate in all aspects of the world, there's barely any development nowadays that we wouldn't call dramatic. ‘no drama' , it seems, world only Slip the tongue of someone who keeps their eyes closed when faced with the truth. But in the theater, presumably, everybody likes to have their eyes open, especially when the artist(s) on stage rebel against old structures and tries new things to make the audience think new things with a postmodern embrace .
For a long time the people have gone to the stages of the world to face inner and outer conflicts and to be made aware of the limits of their own consciousness. Classical theatre dramaturges have always understood to confront their audience , to wake them up and take a fresh look. For thirty years now we have been following the same goals but try to distance ourselves from their guidelines, to reject their rules. This year once more we, ARENA of the young arts 2020, will give great artists the opportunity to rip off the shackles of dramaturgic obligations. Of course every group of artists is invited to translate this motto onto the stage in their own way. Behind “no drama” there's a very telling yet undefined space for an addressee, a name, a theme, a message or a favorite meal. With ideas ranging from the cute and simple “no drama llama" over the familiar “no Drama mama" to the polarising “no Drama obama" , we think we leave enough space for artistic freedom, to either conjure the conflict or to consciously leave it Backstage.