site.btaNew Bulgarian University Hosts 2nd Tracing Shakespeare International Festival

For a second year running, New Bulgarian University (NBU) is hosting a Tracing Shakespeare International Festival. The event will open on Wednesday, the Bard's birthday, and will be on until April 26.

The Festival, subtitled "Education and Future", involves Bulgarian and foreign university lecturers and undergraduates, as well as pupils, teachers, psychologists, special needs educators, speech therapists, actors, directors, and theatre managers.

The idea is to provide participants with a public space for artistic, social and research activity through Shakespeare as a universal optic for an analysis and reflection of processes in modern theatre and education. 

The Festival's Performative Module presents performances of Shakespeare's plays and such using inherently Shakespearean plot patterns, trends and core subjects. This module also includes seminars and workshops finding an unexpected and intriguing link of present-day plots and social tendencies with Shakespeare's subjects.

Joining the Academic Module of the Festival as guests will be three internationally renowned Shakespearean scholars: Prof. Dr Alexander Shurbanov of Bulgaria, Prof. Dr Boika Sokolova of the UK, and Prof. Dr Kirilka Stavreva of the US. Other lecturers include Dr Javor Gardev, Dr Desislava Shpatova, Prof. Dr Vazkresia Viharova, award-winning Australian director Dr Bagryana Popov, and Assoc. Prof. Dr Georgi Gochev. They will give open lectures and present research papers cutting across the spectrum of Shakespeare's legacy. The audience will also be able to enjoy a Montague v. Capulet football match.

The standing events include an ESCAPE Hamlet game and an exhibition titled "To See or Not to See: Shakespeare in Posters", curated by Assoc. Prof. Dr Olga Galchinska of Ukraine. The exhibits are the work of the Mykhailo Boichuk Kyiv State Academy of Decorative Applied Arts and Design.

On the sidelines of the Festival, NBU undergraduates will take part in "Do you like it as they like it?" - an online discussion with students and faculty of Salem State University in the US, and in a roundtable with Bulgarian theatre managers. The 2025 festival will end with a Karaoke & Shake Party.

The director of Tracing Shakespeare International Festival is Assoc. Prof. Snezhina Petrova, who heads the NBU Theatre Department is a prominent Bulgarian stage and film actor.

Admission to all events is free except for the theatre performances.