Adana prepares to welcome festival on World Theater Day

ADANA - Anatolia News Agency

‘I am Bertolt Brecht’ is one of the performances that will be staged during the International Adana Theater Festival.

he curtain will open on the State Theaters-Sabancı International Adana Theater Festival for the 14th time this year on March 27, World Theater Day.

At a press conference held on March 12 at the Hacı Ömer Sabancı Culture Center, the State Theaters’ foreign relations and festival unit representative Sükun Işıtan said that the festival will mark the opening of the State Theaters’ festival season, which will end in May in the southern province of Antalya. “We will organize five international festivals this season. The others will include the Thousands of Breaths in One Voice International Theater Festival, including works from all countries creating theater in the Turkish language, to be held in the central province of Konya from April 14-24, and the Little Ladies and Little Gentlemen International Children’s Theater Festival from April 24-30. The International Black Sea Theater Festival will begin on May 1 in Trabzon. This festival will end on May 15, and Antalya will welcome the International Theater Festival on the same day. We will also organize national theater festivals in the eastern provinces of Diyarbakır and Van.”

‘60 groups from abroad’

Işıtan said that these festivals will host a total of nearly 60 theater groups from abroad, which is no easy task. She said that festivals such as these increase the value brand value of the cities that host them. “Adana is one of these cities, and the theater festival draws more interest every year. The number of visitors was 9,420 for the first festival, and last year’s festival drew 58,404 viewers. This is an amazing increase. The total number of visitors to the festival over the last 13 years has been 257,392, and the numbers demonstrate that the people of Adana itself are attending the festival in great numbers,” Işıtan said.

Adana State Theater Deputy Director Hakan Elmasoğlu said groups from Italy, Belgium, Spain, China and Holland will take the stage at this year’s festival, in addition to 13 Turkish theater groups, and that a total of 60 plays will be staged during the 30-day festival. He also said that this year for the first time the festival will host workshops.

Elmasoğlu said festival events will kick off on March 27 with Italian Studio Fest’s performance of “The World of Magic Dreams” on the historic Taşköprü Bridge. “Also for the first time this year new theater groups from Turkey will be introduced to audiences as part of the Foyer Young Stage, giving young talents a chance to perform on an artistic platform,” he added.

Tickets for the festival will go on sale tomorrow at 10 a.m. at Çukurova University, Gazipaşa Boulevard and central State Theater ticket booths in Adana. Internet sales will start at 2 p.m. Adana State Theater Director Fırat Demirağ said those buy ticket from ticket booths would take priority over those making Internet reservations. Demirağ said three rows at each performance will be reserved for internet sales, and an individual will be able to purchase up to five tickets for any one performance. As for ticket prices, he said prices will be the same as they have been in previous years. “Discount tickets will cost 7.50 Turkish Liras and full tickets 10 liras.”