3 When we had chosen the motto for 2021, we never could have imagined that we would hit the nerve of our times so precisely! Taking a position is the challenge of our present days! The pandemic forced us to cancel the 36th Festival “Theatertage am See” in Friedrichshafen for the first time in the history of the festival. Not even the burning down of our theatre rooms in December 2002 brought us down to our knees.
But the repeated lockdown of the public life has led to an existential crisis of the cultural sector and our whole society. We are challenged more than ever to take position: doubt and uncertainty are omnipresent - previously believed certainties are beginning to falter.
"Where do I stand?"
"Where do you stand?"
"How do I position myself?"
"How are you positioning yourself?"
At the same time we also experience that culture and art are integral to our existence! We humans cannot live without it! And that is exactly why we wanted to decide that - even when the only certain thing is uncertainty - to start planning the 2021 Festival “Theatertage am See” at Lake Constance in the South of Germany. It will of course be a different festival, at a different time and in different formats. Whether analog or digital, we cannot say yet. We plan to host the Festival in a huge tent, with sufficient possibilities of keeping the distance and in compliance with applicable hygiene regulations.
The motto of the festival 2020 "Solo-Duo-Trio-Quadro" will therefore also remain in effect for our festival in 2021. The associated smaller stage formats will move into the focus of real possibilities of a "theatre at distance", analog or digital. We are curious, which aesthetic answers the amateur theatre will find in/through/because of/for and to this crisis.
We are looking forward to your applications! All performing arts disciplines, inter-generational, trans-cultural, inclusive, international are welcome!
Application deadline is 1st of March, 2021