site.bta13th ACT Independent Theatre Festival Takes Place in Sofia, October 20-26

At the 13th ACT Independent Theatre Festival, which is taking place in Sofia between October 20 and 26, 2023, newcomers and veterans showcase modern Bulgarian drama, rethought classics, modern dance, circus, performance, interdisciplinary experiments, and improvisation theatre. 

For the first time this year, the entries have not been selected by a jury but five independent performing arts venues (the Derida Dance Center, the Toplocentrala Center for Contemporary Arts, the Yalta Art Room, Atelie Plastelin and the HaHaHa Impro Theatre) have instead been invited to make their own selection.

The Festival opened on Friday evening with Memorial of an Unknown Wife, co-directed by German-Bulgarian actor Christian Bojidar Muller and Oliver Toktasch.

The international programme focuses on emerging actors from across the world who seek new means of artistic expression and challenge the existing status quo. In addition to the opening event, two more projects have Berlin in common: When Was the Last Time You Had Sex on Top of a Mountain? by Mermaids Inc. of Germany/Hungary and We Can Do It Moaning by Aba Naia of Brazil/Finland/Germany. The three emigrant companies offer three radically different versions of the reasons for being elsewhere.

The bill of the Festival lists 20-plus theatre performance, including Ikar Award-nominated Victoria (directed by Yordan Slaveykov), Morphine (which won Kristina Belomorska the 2023 Ikar for best debut director), Here or There (directed by the audience), Georg Buchner's Leonce und Lena (directed by Boyan Kracholov), waR|Raw Faces (a performance installation by Filip Milanov), Anna Dankova's contemporary performance Oratorio, 37 Matchsticks (a Bulgarian-German co-production by Zdrava Kamenova and Gergana Dimitrova), BURNOUT (a one-person show directed by Ahmet Ismail), and Critical Mass (a dance performance by choreographer Silvia Cherneva).

A special Solidarity Section includes One More Step, a modern dance performance by Ukrainian choreographer Violetta Matyushenko. Also on the Festival programme is House of Memories, a sensory performance under the Fugitives from War Project, involving schoolchildren Poli, Marta, Masha and Liana of the Ukrainian Education Centre in Sofia.

The parallel programme offers discussions, presentations, film screenings and special tours of Sofia's independent stages, plus a panel representing a digital archive of the independent stage.

Four international dance films will be screened at the 13th ACT: Nora, directed by David Hinton and Alla Kovgan (based on true stories of Zimbabwean-born dancer Nora Chipaumire), The Artist's Daughter, Oil on Canvas (directed by Margarita Linton and Yaniv Linton), a dance short film by Montreal-based RUBBERBAND Company, and Movement (R)evolution Africa (directed by Joan Frosch and Alla Kovgan). 

The 13th ACT Independent Theatre Festival became possible thanks to the financial support of the Bulgarian Culture Ministry, the National Culture Fund and Goethe-Institut in Sofia. The event is part of the Cultural Calendar of Sofia Municipality.