This year, due to a combination of the most unpredictable circumstances, I was invited to curate and moderate the program Meeting the Authors. This is Bitef’s oldest side program and, as someone actively involved in development of audience, children’s, young and old, I accepted the invitation with excitement, though also somewhat concerned that, in spite of my experience, I might not be able to rise to the challenge. Having inherited this important and responsible role, I wanted to apply to Meeting the Authors some of the methods I had developed in audience programs. Audience participation in a theatrical event is of vital importance. It has long stopped being about passively observing a stage event. My feeling is that the audience, especially the new, younger one, is more or less consciously, but always intuitively, aware of the fact that a performance is completed precisely in the experience, sensory and cognitive, and that the authors’ intent, once they stand before the audience, builds on the viewers’ sensations. Sometimes it is difficult to articulate and communicate impressions after a performance, and usually the most important for us are precisely those that raise in us many questions, dilemmas and ideas. We often have the urge to share them with the artists, but seldom get the opportunity. Meeting the Authors is designed precisely for this purpose, so my intention this year is to move it still a bit further toward the audience. My task will be to create conditions for a dialogue between the audience and the artists to be as pleasant and meaningful as possible for both sides.
I deeply believe that there can be no strong theatre without a strong audience. So, dear audience, I am extending an invitation for us to, together and in the name of this year’s slogan Strength, Don’t Let Yourself Be Anyone’s, practice fast but friendly critical thinking with the authors whose works are this year the strength of Bitef, yours and ours. The one thing we could lose are just the unnecessary kilometers that stand between the audience and the artists, while the victory will belong to all. This is a sport in which we can all be nothing but champions.
Ana Pinter, theatre director and educator