Union of Theatres of Europe
The Union of the Theatres of Europe was founded in 1991, through the initiative of Giorgio Strehler and with the support of the then Culture Minister of France, Jack Lang. Among its founding members were Ingmar Bergman, Heiner Müller and Jacques Lecoq. One of the most important figures of the European Theatre of the 20th century, Giorgio Strehler, assumed the presidency of the Union and dreamt it as a vehicle of promotion of the European Culture.
Aim of the Union of the Theatres of Europe is to contribute to the European integration through civilization and more specifically through the art of theatre, to develop a common European policy for the theatre, surpassing the language barriers, promoting the cultural exchanges and supporting the idea of an “art” theatre as a meeting and understanding place between people.
The Union of the Theatres of Europe supports effectively the co-productions, the co-operations and the artistic exchanges between its theatre-members showing an absolute respect for the various cultural identities and traditions. The Union was founded at first by 7 big public European Theatres, while today comprises 21 of the most prestigious theatre organizations of Europe.
From 1992, the Union organizes an annual European Festival, which is hosted every time by a different member of the Theatre-members of the Union. Apart from this high profile activity, the Union organizes every year seminars for new actors, directors and set designers, exhibitions of great European set designers, international symposiums etc. U.T.E. has also published festival and exhibition catalogues, the minutes of international conferences, as well as a series of translations of contemporary theatre texts.
The National Theatre of Northern Greece is a member of the Union of the Theatres of Europe since 1996. It has participated in many activities of the Union, as well as in European co-productions, while it has organized in Thessaloniki two U.T.E. festivals, in 1997 and in 2001. The N.T.N.G. has participated with its performances in four festivals of the Union of the Theatres of Europe and, in the context of its European orientation, has presented to the Greek public more than 30 foreign productions, created by some of the most important theatre artists of Europe.
The theatre-members
Piccolo Teatro di Milano - Teatro d’Europa (Milan, Italy)
Teatre Lliure (Barcelona, Spain)
Kungliga Dramatiska Teatern / Royal Dramatic Theatre (Stockholm, Sweden)
Katona József Színház (Budapest, Hungary)
Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus (Düsseldorf, Germany)
Royal Shakespeare Company (Stratford-upon-Avon, Great Britain)
Teatrul Bulandra (Bucharest, Romania)
Maly Teatr - Teatr Evropy (St. Petersburg, Russia)
Stary Teatr (Cracow, Poland)
Teatro di Roma (Rome, Italy)
Théâtre National de Strasbourg (Strasbourg, France)
Suomen Kansallisteatteri / National Theatre of Finland (Helsinki, Finland)
National Theatre of Northern Greece (Thessaloniki, Greece)
Teatro de La Abadía (Madrid, Spain)
Teatro Garibaldi (Palermo, Italy)
Moscow Theatre - Ecole d’Art Dramatique / Anatoli Vassiliev (Moscow, Russia)
Schauspielfrankfurt (Frankfurt, Germany)
Teatro Nacional Sao Joao (Porto, Portugal)
Jugoslavensko Dramsko Pozoriste / Yugoslavian Dramatic Theatre (Belgrade, Serbia)
Israeli National Theatre Habimah (Tel Aviv, Israel)
Teatro Stabile di Torino (Turin, Italy)
Honorary members of the Union of the Theatres of Europe are:
Tamás Ascher
Ingmar Bergman
Andrzej Wajda
Roger Planchon
Robert Sturua
Otomar Krejca
Jack Lang
Independent members of the Union are also: Csaba Antal (set designer, Hungary), Volker Canaris (dramaturg, Germany), Declan Donnellan (director, England), Tadeusz Bradecki (director, Poland), Lluís Homar (actor, Spain), Victor Ardittis (director, Greece), Silviu Purcarete (director, Romania), Gabor Tompa (director, Romania)
ARCHIVE
EVENTS
LITERARY MATINEES
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMES
