NOMINATIONS FOR PLAYS IN THE 13TH "IVAN RADOEV" NATIONAL COMPETITION FOR BULGARIAN PLAYWRITING
Twelve works have been selected, two of them for puppet theatre. On 4 April an awards ceremony will be held at which the prizes will be announced. The Pleven theatre invites everyone to an open discussion with the nominees and the jury on the theme „Contemporary Bulgarian Playwriting“
The "Ivan Radoev" National Competition for Bulgarian Playwriting has been held without interruption since 2001, every two years. It is the first playwriting competition with a national scope. Works for dramatic and puppet theatre that have not taken part in other competition and festival formats and have not been staged are eligible to participate. The Grand Prize is BGN 2,000 and a bronze statuette made by the renowned artist Ubavka Tonchev. The competition is held under the patronage of the Municipality of Pleven and the Ministry of Culture. The chairman of the jury is the playwright and poet Stefan Ivanov, and the jury members are Denitsa Ezekieva (theatre scholar) and Gergana Pirozova (playwright).
A record number of authors took part in the 13th edition of the "Ivan Radoev" Competition for Playwriting. The works for theatre number 71, by 65 authors from across the country, nine of which are for puppet theatre. Among the authors there are many established playwrights and writers, as well as directors, journalists, teachers, lawyers and public figures. A pleasant surprise for the jury was the participation of many young authors, such as Metodi Mihaylov, in the 10th grade from Radomir, and the 18-year-old Ralitsa Stoyanova from Veliko Tarnovo, which shows that, in addition to the traditional and established names, beginning authors also show interest in the competition.
This year the jury found it difficult to select only ten nominees due to the increased quality of the participating works, and therefore announces ten nominations for plays for dramatic theatre and two for puppet theatre.
The nominated authors and plays for dramatic theatre are: Aleksandar Petrov „A Ladder to the Sky“, Ivan Dimitrov „The Book of My Life“, Irina Gigova „Gianni Morandi Was Here“, Maya Ostoich „Love by the Rubbish Bins“, Nedyalko Delchev „In the Little Town“, Pavla Kotova „The Women of Don Juan“, Sevar Ivanov „Between the Hands of the Clock“, Tanya Shahova „Octave“, Olga Kochanova „For a Loaf of Bread“, Milena Varbanova „Dogs“.
The two nominated plays for puppet theatre are – „Fairytale Miniatures for Puppet Theatre“ by Sonya Momchilova and „Grandpa Piperko Hunting Wild Spiders“ by Stanislava Kirilova.
On 4 April at 16:30, on the day of the awards ceremony, the "Ivan Radoev" Theatre organises a discussion about the trends and prospects of contemporary Bulgarian playwriting, in which the 12 nominated authors and the jury members will take part. The doors of the theatre are open to all who wish to attend the discussion. After the ceremony we invite all guests to the performance „A Dangerous Comedy“ after Aleksei Arbuzov, stage version by Dimitar Kabakov, with Anya Pencheva and Georgi Angelov.