"Athens World Theatre Capital" | Collaboration between the Municipality of Athens and the Karolos Koun Art Theatre

The Municipality of Athens and the Karolos Koun Art Theatre signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with a communal imaginativeness the strategical promotion of Athens into an planetary hub of modern theatrical instauration and a exemplary of utilizing theatre arsenic a instrumentality of democracy, culture, education, and sustainable municipality development.

In this framework, the Mayor of Athens, Haris Doukas, and the Artistic Director of the Karolos Koun Art Theatre, Marianna Kalbari, presented the programme “Athens World Theatre Capital,” which constitutes an inaugural of the Karolos Koun Art Theatre.

The programme begins with a imaginable to turn gradually wrong the adjacent 3 years: from the enactment of caller dramaturgy and the archetypal presentations of works, towards theatrical accumulation and planetary co-productions, successful parallel with educational, social, and taste actions that volition person imperishable yearly beingness successful the calendar of the city. The purpose is the gradual constitution of Athens arsenic an planetary hub of modern theatrical creation.

The Mayor of Athens, Haris Doukas, stated:
“Today, successful the metropolis that gave commencement to theatre, we instrumentality a large measurement to bring it backmost to the planetary forefront. Theatre is the surviving vein that feeds our individuality and our Democracy. With our concern with the emblematic Karolos Koun Art Theatre, we perpetrate to support this vein live and to unfastened caller paths of creator look with events inspired by the operation of the Ancient Dionysia. We privation Athens to go a notation constituent for planetary theatrical co-productions.”

From her side, the Artistic Director of the Karolos Koun Art Theatre, Marianna Kalbari, stated:
“With the ‘Athens World Theatre Capital’ we look again astatine theatre with the regard of the metropolis that gave it birth. Our purpose is not lone the creator work, but the instauration of a communal spot of meeting, learning, and cooperation, wherever skills are cultivated, wherever entree is for all, wherever the span culture–education becomes mundane practice.”

The programme constitutes a multi-level taste instrumentality that is inspired by the operation of the past Dionysia.

Within the model of the cooperation, the Municipality of Athens volition utilize the conception, the know-how, the structures, the networks, the quality resources, and the creator programming of the Art Theatre arsenic a strategical spouse for the readying and implementation of the circumstantial programme with accent connected quality, participation, planetary extroversion, and the humanities individuality of Athens.

The 4 axes of the program

“Athens World Theatre Capital”

1 – Theatre and City

At the bosom of the axis are the pursuing interconnected institutions:

Small New Dionysia (December)
Competitive festival of Greek dramaturgy that is accompanied by workshops, presentations, and networking actions of creators. The works that are distinguished participate a targeted way of improvement done feedback workshops. Aim is for Greek works to beryllium selected and past presented successful the competitory planetary festival of the Great New Dionysia, creating a wide “pipeline” of extroversion of Greek dramaturgy.

Great New Dionysia (Spring)
Competitive festival of planetary dramaturgy, wherever caller works from Greece and overseas are presented, evaluated by planetary committee, and distinguished. Each twelvemonth includes a tribute to an honored state with peculiar presentations and exchanges, arsenic good arsenic acquisition actions, nationalist discussions, and a implicit rhythm of nonrecreational networking with presentations of works, prearranged meetings for co-productions and circuit planning. Aim is, wrong the adjacent years, for planetary theatrical productions and co-productions to compete, culminating successful a large grant ceremonial of planetary theatrical prizes (Athens Dionysia Awards) that volition item creators and innovative practices based successful Athens.

Dionysia Agora (Agora of Dionysia)
Original theatrical marketplace modeled connected the large markets of movie festivals: organized situation wherever theatrical organizations, festivals, troupes, producers, translators, and curators from each implicit the satellite beforehand repertoires, adjacent collaborations, and plan co-productions. Presentations of works and groups, enactment meetings by appointment, thematic networking tables, “catalog” of productions successful progress, and peculiar sections (e.g. honored country) constitute the framework. In parallel, done the integer level Dionysia Digital (submissions, documentation, network) volition run catalog of works/organizations, assignment system, speech of material, and monitoring of advancement wrong the year. Aim: the constitution of Athens arsenic a imperishable theatrical hub wherever each twelvemonth productions are launched and networks of practice are built.

2 – Theatre and Demo-cracy

Theatre functions arsenic nationalist abstraction of expression, dialogue, and consultation: specially designed performances-reasons for unfastened meetings, pb to participatory dialog with citizens and bodies, with anticipation of some unrecorded and integer participation. The metropolis tests successful signifier antiauthoritarian practices connected stage.

Starting constituent of the process is the specially designed for this intent show “The Drama of Democracy,” with way from the Kolonos Festival of the Municipality of Athens (28/9) up to the opening of the theatrical play 2025–26 (from 3/10) astatine the Basement of the Art Theatre.

3 – Theatre and Experience

Experiential, multilingual performances–tours–meetings with the history, mythology, the past theatre, and the modern beingness of Athens. Visitors and citizens enactment actively and cognize the metropolis done the surviving theatrical act, shaping an innovative taste experience.

Starting constituent is the enactment “Athens Acting Ancient Drama” with its archetypal version, “Medea Reloaded,” specially designed for this purpose, successful Greek/English language, that is presented the play 2025–26 astatine the Basement of the Karolos Koun Art Theatre.

4 – Theatre and Social–Educational Work

Theatre for education, empowerment, healing. With tools corporate narration and research, skills of expression, cooperation, and resilience are cultivated that springiness dependable to each societal groups. The results instrumentality to the nationalist sphere arsenic actions, presentations, but besides implicit performances that transportation the imprint of the radical of the city.

Starting constituent is the show “Penelopes and Penelopiades,” the dramaturgy of which volition look done a rhythm of workshops with Athenian women citizens, wherever idiosyncratic narratives, experiences, and reflections connected the presumption of pistillate contiguous volition beryllium translated into signifier speech. Thus, the show volition relation arsenic surviving impervious that theatre is not addressed lone to citizens, but is co-shaped unneurotic with them and returns to the metropolis arsenic communal property.

In the property of exertion and instability, theatre remains the irreplaceable nationalist abstraction of surviving meeting, dialogue, and interconnection of citizens: the spot wherever the metropolis listens, speaks, co-creates, and moves forward.