The DbutanT 2021 Festival has announced its winners: Cornelia Iordache, Irisz Kovács, and Alin Neguțoiu

The DbutanT 2021 Festival has announced its winners: Cornelia Iordache, Irisz Kovács, and Alin Neguțoiu
18-10-2021

The 6th edition of the DbutanT Festival-Competition, organized by the "Andrei Mureșanu" Theater (TAM) in partnership with the Constanța State Theater (TSC), concluded on Saturday, October 16, with an awards ceremony and a concert by the band White Betty.

After the audience of DbutanT had the opportunity to watch the collective performance created by the five finalist directors at the Szentkereszty Castle in Arcuș on Saturday at 4:00 PM, the participants gathered at the TAM hall, where the awards were presented. This year's edition had three winners:

  • Cornelia Iordache - debut in playwriting
  • Irisz Kovács - debut directing, "Collective Creation" section
  • Alin Neguțoiu - debut directing, "Competitive Performances" section

The Playwriting Award was presented in advance and consisted of the fact that the winning play, "At the Castle, a Story in Five Scenes", created during the creative workshop in Constanța under the coordination of playwright Székely Csaba, formed the basis for the collective performance in Arcuș. Each nominated director drew a scene from the play to stage.

The other five plays written during the creative workshop will be published in an anthology that will be distributed to all theaters in the country.

For the two winning directors, the prize consists of staging a play at each of the two organizing theaters. Thus, Irisz Kovács will stage on the TAM stage, and Alin Neguțoiu will stage at TSC. The other nominated directors were also invited by the TAM leadership to propose potential theater projects in cinema.

The Saturday evening ended with a concert by the White Betty band from Sf. Gheorghe, marking the conclusion of the 6th edition of DbutanT.

This year, 32 playwrights and 16 debuting directors entered the competition.

The five remaining finalist performances were selected by the Artistic Council of the "Andrei Mureșanu" Theater and were then judged by Radu Afrim, Eugen Gyemant, Cristian Ban, Mihaela Drăgan, and Bobi Pricop. These same professionals also judged the productions in the "Collective Creation" section.

The texts submitted for debut in playwriting were read and selected by Székely Csaba, Elise Wilk, Boros Kinga, Ionuț Sociu, and Gabriel Sandu, who also chose the winner.

In addition to support from the Constanța State Theater, DbutanT received financial backing from AFCN and the Covasna County Council.

As per the festival's cycle, next year, for the second time since its inception, debuting set designers will compete.

(By Mirela Cara-Dragu)