Don’t Wait for Me… announced the best play of the 31st International Festival of Children's Theatres Subotica

On Friday, September 27, the 31st International Festival of Children’s Theatres Subotica was concluded with an official closing ceremony at Subotica Children's Theatre. The festival jury, consisting of: Dr. Luka Kecman (jury president), Dr. Ewa Tomaszewska and Morana Dolenc has awarded the Festival Grand Prix to the play Don’t Wait for Me… produced by Compagnie La neige sur les cils theatre - for the all-encompassing authorial expression of Vera Rozanova.

The jury explained that “the performance was characterized by exceptional stage poetics, imagination and unity of stage expression which was carried out through minimalistic means, exceptional acting, cleaver solutions and tenderness in expression”.

The Best Director Award was presented to Ljudmila Fedorova for directing the play Little Red Riding Hood with the Children's Theatre of Republika Srpska. “Her stage adaptation and directing of the classic fairy tale has enriched a well-known story thus creating a blend of style and genre”, the Jury stated.

The Best Musical Score Award was presented to Ivan Marović for the play The Green Mountain produced by the NGO Youth Theatre from Montenegro. “His musical score has provided the play with a true-to-life aspect, somber and sad in its essence”, three members of the Jury have explained.

The Best Stage Design Award was presented to Alexander Andreev for the play The Kuthi produced by the Triktrek Theatre from Estonia, because “the concept design for the castle and its exceptional craftsmanship provided the play with its quintessence”.

The award for the Aesthetically and Technologically Best Puppet Design Award was presented to Marija Kločjeva, Andrej Zaporožskij, Polina Čufirjova and Olga Kaerlina. According to the Jury, “the creative team has produced fully functional, stylistically wholesome, lovable puppets with distinct expression capabilities”.

Five equally distributed awards for the best actor/puppeteer went to Horváth Blanka for the role of Construction worker in Play with Me! by Subotica Children’s Theatre; Marli Santana for the roles in the play Simona the Monkey produced by La Sonrisa del Lagarto from Spain; the entire cast of the play The Prehistoric People produced by Divadla Kladno theatre from the Czech Republic; the entire cast of the play Little Red Riding Hood produced by Children’s Theatre of Republika Srpska; the entire cast of the play A Sugar-Made Fairy Tale produced Virovitica Theatre and City Theatre Joza Ivakić Vinkovci.

The Special Award for Originality and Imagination was presented to the play The Gold Diggers produced by the Zwickau Puppet Theatre from Germany. This play is, according to the Jury, “completely on the track of theatre research and, as a result, has a great didactic impact on children as potential future theatre performers”.

The Young Jury of the 31st International Festival of Children’s Theatres Subotica consisting of Anđelija Stanišić, Sanja Curnović, Tamara Kanalaš, Boglarka Goli and Kira Kakusi, has awarded the prize for the Best Play to the play The Green Mountain, performed by the NGO Youth Theatre from Montenegro. “The multi-layered story - brought to life by the actors – has allowed the audience to experience the ever-current topic of environmental protection through a intriguingly portrayed connection of man and nature, but also the underlying the importance of the family. The combination of classic acting and the use of modern technologies has contributed to an easier comprehending of the adventure”, the Young Jury has stated.

The Young Jury has also commended the play Little Red Riding Hood performed by the Children's Theatre of Republika Srpska “for their perfectly integrated stage design and music as well as their well-coordinated ensemble which completely captivated the audience's attention with a well-known story of the Red Riding Hood”. The Young Jury has also praised The Prehistoric People performed by the Divadla Kladno Theatre from the Czech Republic “which was told in a non-existent language still comprehensible to audience and for their lighting effects that have created pure magic”.

On Friday, the final theatrical play of the official competition program - A Sugar-Made Fairy Tale by Virovitica Theatre and City Theatre Joza Ivakić Vinkovci from Croatia – was performed at Subotica national Theatre’s Jadran stage. The play is a re-telling of a well-known tale about red Riding Hood, a Granny and an unusual Wolf who loves children, but loves sweets and cakes even more Writer and director Sara Lustig commented on the play’s unusual plot twist: "The play questions whether a fairy tale can exist without a villain. A feature unique to fairy tales is that its characters are only portrayed as good or evil – which, naturally, doesn’t work that way in the real world. Here, I deprived the wolf of being evil. He's actually good and being a big, bad wolf is his job. In the play, we follow the characters of Little Red Riding Hood and her Grandma as they strive to complete the fairy tale’s plot - more or less successfully."

In the official selection 12 plays for children - from all over the world - picked by the Festival selector Dr. Zoran Đerić were performed. This year's "Little Prince" Lifetime Achievement Awards for outstanding contribution to the development of culture and performing arts for children were presented to Dr. Luka Kecman (in domestic artist category) and Jaroslaw Antoniuk from Poland (in foreign artist category). The "Oton Tomanić" award for exceptional contribution to Theory of Theatre for children and youth was presented to Dr. Ewa Tomaszewska from Poland.

Between September 23 and 26, the International Forum for the Research of Theatre Art for Children and Youth has gathered 27 experts from 14 countries of 4 continents. The forum was being organized by Open University Subotica and The Museum of Theatre from Novi Sad.

A rich and diverse accompanying Festival program included numerous exhibitions, workshops, book promotions and film screenings.

The Festival was sponsored by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, the Provincial Department for Culture, Public Information and Relations with Religious Communities of Vojvodina and the Municipality of Subotica.