“Ideo Ideis” National Young Theatre Festival

Ideo Ideis Theatre Festival was created nine years ago by teenagers, and its aim was to build a bridge between culture and education.

România Internațional, 13.09.2014, 12:33

Nine years ago, in Alexandria, some 90 km southwest of Bucharest, the “Ideo Ideis” National Young Theatre Festival was born. It was created by teenagers and its aim was to build a bridge between culture and education. The founders, Andreea Bortun, now a set designer, and Alexandru Ion, an actor, started a real adventure in a town that didn’t have a theatre or a cinema hall. Marcel Iures joined them very quickly and became an honorary president of the Festival, and so did Catalin Stefanescu, Andi Vasluian, Medeea Marinescu, Vlad Zamfirescu and Marius Manole, who are its so-called “mentors.” TV producer Catalin Stefanescu has taken part in the festival ever since its second edition:

“We are this year’s mentors and, along with the founders Andreea and Alex, we have changed the philosophy of the Festival. It is no longer an award-granting event, therefore we are no longer jury members, but we are trying to do something modern while still encouraging competition between the participants. We are not giving individual awards, but we do offer some form of recognition for the best teams. We call ourselves mentors because, after every show, we get together with the participants and discuss their performances.”

The Ideo Ideis festival is unique in Romania, as Catalin Stefanescu says, because it is not just a theatre festival, but also a form of “alternative education through theatre”.

220 participants, 26 trainers, 120 volunteers, 14 shows by established theatre companies, 10 high school drama groups, 2 late cinema nights, 3 Transylvania International Film Festival nights, 3 storytelling nights, 4 children’s’ shows and 3 Masters training sessions. This sums up the 9th edition of the “Ideo Ideis” National Young Theatre Festival in Alexandria.

Andreea Bortun, the festival’s co-president, tells us more:

“The festival lasts for 10 days. In the first 4, the personal development workshops take place: in the morning we have acting workshops, which are compulsory, and in the afternoon participants can choose from 5 master classes, in choreography, visual education, stage design, music and rhythm, and playwriting. The next three days are dedicated to performances by high school teams. The evenings are also full. Every evening two professional theatre shows take place, which we bring both for the participants in the festival and for the members of the local community. There are also 3 evenings devoted to mentoring, which we call Storytellers’ Nights. We bring professionals from various fields, apart from the arts, who come to Alexandria to share stories about their professions and talk to the participants. Another section is Late Night Cinema, which addresses moviegoers. We bring Romanian directors, who either screen their latest films, or films that inspired them throughout their careers. These screenings are followed by Q&A sessions. And last but not least, we also have the Ideo Ideis Masters sessions, on the last day of the festival, when we bring theatre professionals. These Masters classes are chaired by Catalin Stefanescu and followed by discussions with the participants.”

In a town with just over 40,000 residents, the “Ideo Ideis” festival manages to create a special spirit. Andreea Bortun tells us more:

“You walk down the street and everyone smiles, you see hundreds of kids with red t-shirts and badges and you can tell they are a part of the festival, you can tell that the people in the town are happy to see them and many say that Alexandria is brought back to life when the festival starts. There are a lot of good vibes, people hugging each other and crying, enjoying themselves and learning something. Ideas are exchanged and projects are being born, as well as meetings between professionals and young people. I think it would not be healthy to have the festival for more than 8-10 days per year, but when it happens, it is magical and hard for me to explain.”

For the first time, this year high school drama groups have not presented their shows in front of a jury nor have they received any individual awards. Instead, the organisers’ idea was to focus on the process, rather than on performance and prizes. The participants were offered experiences, such as the chance to participate at the 2014 National Theatre Festival, or perform at the International Theatre Festival in Sibiu in 2015, or at the Romanian Comedy Festival, also in 2015. Andreea Bortun tells us more:

VF T: “We would like to do more for the community and children in the years to come, because the interest in our festival has grown considerably. We would like to bring to Alexandria as many high school students from Romania as possible. We also hope to have a nice camping trip next year, for our 10th anniversary. And above all, I hope that we remain united as a team and continue to have this festival in place.”

The festival’s organisers are getting ready to celebrate their 10th anniversary in 2015. Calin Stefanescu tells us why these young people deserve more support than they have been given:

“I would like to brag about the way the festival takes place in Alexandria and the basic philosophy on which things are achieved there. Everyone who has ever attended the festival found something unique. Everything about the festival is like an open book, the money is spent with transparency, and everyone involved in organizing the festival does this for free, which is a wonderful and important thing.”