Theatre in contemporary and modern Cyprus

The Cyprus Theatre Museum, the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation, the Municipality of Limassol and the Cyprus Theatre Organisation announce that a theatre conference will take place from Friday 30th to Sunday 1st of November 2015, titled “Theatre in contemporary and modern Cyprus”.

The conference, dedicated to Giannis Katsouris, enjoys the support of the “Theatre Studies” Postgraduate Programme of the Open University of Cyprus.

Giannis Katsouris (1935 – 2010), lecturer in philology and acknowledged writer, had served as the Director of the Cultural Services of the Ministry of Education and Culture and has contributed greatly to the conferral of scientific status on Cypriot theatre studies.

The purpose of the conference is to accumulate all available research on theatre in Cyprus but also invite further research in this relatively new and highly unexplored scientific field. Therefore, the invitation extends to faculty members of university, academic and teaching communities as well as to Ph.D holders and students. The invitation is also addressed to researchers of the history of Cypriot theatre as well as young theatre practitioners and dramaturges (postgraduate students or graduates), whose academic research may be presented in special sessions during the conference.

The conference will take place at the Panos Solomonides Municipal Cultural Centre in Limassol, which since 2012 also houses the Cyprus Theatre Museum.

The thematic units of the conference will draw attention to theatre in Cyprus from the Renaissance onwards, from the point of view of the Greek-Cypriot community or any other community on the island. More particularly, these issues will be looked at:

• History of theatre troupes and performances
• Choices of repertoire (appointment of writers, national dramaturges, genres)
• Questions of ideology and aesthetics
• Reception of ancient drama (translations, liberal adaptations, performances, Cypriot plays with antiquity themes)
• Cypriot dramaturgy and on-stage readings in Cyprus and abroad (influences and consequences, plays in Greek and in the Cypriot dialect, women writers, comparison between Greek dramaturgy and other local dramaturgies, correlations with Cypriot history)
• Theatre and society in Cyprus
• Theatre for children
• Translators, directors, actors, stage designers, costume designers, musicians and other contributors in Cypriot theatre
• Criticism and audiences for Cypriot performances in Cyprus and abroad
• Theatre in television and on the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation
• Contemporary trends in Cypriot theatrical productions

Scientific and Organizing Committees:
The scientific committee is made up of Walter Puchner (honorary participation, Professor, University of Athens), Andri. H. Constantinou (Assistant Professor, Frederick University, Board member of the Cyprus Theatre Museum), Ioanna Hadjicosti (Ph.D Ancient Drama, Curator at the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation), Avra Sidiropoulou (Open University of Cyprus, director) and Leonidas Galazis (Doctor of Modern Greek Philology, Cypriot theatre researcher).

The organising committee is made up of Andri. H. Constantinou, Lefki Michaelidou and Ioanna Hadjicosti (Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation), Marina Maleni (THOC and Board member of Cyprus Theatre Museum), Minas Tingilis (Artistic Director of ETHAL, former editor of Ekkyklima theatre review) and Angelina Moridou, Natalia Kouhartsiouk and Nikoletta Tziaouri (Cyprus Theatre Museum).