site.btaIvan Vazov National Theatre to Produce Three Projects Following Open Call for Artistic Ideas

The first open call for artistic ideas at the Ivan Vazov National Theatre is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Apostol Karamitev (1923-1973), the theatre said on Wednesday. Three projects will be carried out in the next theatre season, on a stage on the fourth floor named after the renowned Bulgarian actor.

Karamitev made his debut at the National Theatre in 1947 when he was a student. In the following decades, he played a number of memorable roles in theatre and cinema.

Karamitev is credited with creating a third stage on the fourth floor of the National Theatre in 1968. Prior to that, the floor was where rehearsals and meetings took place, but Karamitev convinced his colleagues of the need to turn the relatively small hall there, which allowed for close contact between the actors and the audience, into a separate stage with a focus on theatrical experimentation with stage language. He offered ideas and aesthetics different from those on the main stages.

This is how the Chamber Stage on the Fourth Floor came to be. It was opened with the play The Amazon by Bogomil Raynov starring Karamitev in the lead role of Ivanov. In the 1990s, the hall turned into the physical address of the creative pursuits of Margarita Mladenova and Ivan Dobchev, and the Sfumato Theatre Laboratory created by them. Since 2018, the stage has borne the name of Apostol Karamitev.

In June, the National Theatre issued its first open call for artistic ideas. Seventy applications were received from theatre and puppet directors, actors, choreographers, writers, etc. Twelve of them made it to the final round. Three of them will be performed on the Apostol Karamitsev stage in the 2024/2025 season: Inhuman by director Lyubomir Kolaksazov and writer Stefan Ivanov, Constellations by actress Radina Dumanyan, and Hypothetically by choreographer Galina Borisova, set designer Darina Stoimenova-Stodara and their team.