The storm has arrived. Spring has won. The Encounter is over.
The 34th edition of the International Festival of Theatre Schools SETKÁNÍ/ENCOUNTER 2024 came to an end on Saturday at the theatre Husa na provázku. The closing ceremony featured an awards ceremony, a dance-off, and videos about the past week.
The ceremony began with thunder and lightning. It was the thunderstorm that foreshadowed the resolution of Vesna’s dispute with Morana, which began at the festival’s opening ceremony. The goddesses of winter and spring clashed at Husa na provázku in a dance battle to the song My Sister's Crown by the group Vesna. The name of the band might have already given the viewer a hint who would win the duel, and indeed she did. Unfortunately, although many of us welcome the arrival of spring, we will miss winter someday, as Morana correctly pointed out.
There was also the ceremony for the Marta award. The winners were chosen by a jury of four. Its members were three professionals - Maria João Vicente, a dramaturge, teacher, and actress from Portugal, Márton Birta, a Hungarian director, actor, and teacher, Tata Tavdishvili, a Georgian lecturer, director, and performer, and one student - Viktor Hájek from the Master's degree program in Theatre Science and Cultural Anthropology at Palacký University in Olomouc. Two actresses were honoured - Barbora Šimová for her performance in The Image of a Woman and Nina Perge for her performance in 4.48 Psychosis. In the Male Actor category, Matīss Kučinskis won for the production Hello, Out There! The Directing Award went to Kristina Kellner and Jovita Siu Ji Chin for Anytime, Anywhere.
The rest of the ceremony was dedicated mainly to more formal affairs – speeches by Dean Petr Francán and Festival Director Sonja Špačková, thanking the sponsors and the entire festival team. Two short videos capturing the great atmosphere of the past week were also screened.
At the end, everyone was invited to the next Encounter from April 1–5, 2025. And for those who hadn’t had enough of the festival yet, a banquet and closing party awaited them in the foyer.
