Theatre Institute of the Czech Republic         >TOP<

The Theatre Institute is a modern information centre and research institute, which was established in 1959 as a non-profit organisation by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic. It promotes Czech theatre culture abroad through its informative theatre quarterly bulletin, its newsletter, its periodicals Theatre Revue and Czech Theatre and by preparing the online Czech Theatre Production and Project Catalogue.
While having at its disposition one of the largest theatre libraries in Europe, it is also the largest publisher of theatre literature in the Czech Republic. It is engaged in cultural exchange by participating in international exhibitions, symposiums, seminars and theatre presentations. One of its most important projects is the prestigious Prague Quadrennial, which it has coordinated since 1967.

Finnish Theatre Information Centre (TINFO)         >TOP<

The Finnish Theatre Information Centre TINFO promotes Finnish theatre and aids its promotion around the world. TINFO produces and circulates information about the theatre within Finland, as well as providing information and promoting Finnish theatre on the international stage.

The centre has recently developed its digital information services: -   a database ILONA of performances, plays, and performers dating back to the first years of the professional theatres in Finland. -   opened Centre's renewed home pages with databases on Finnish theatres and on translations of Finnish and (Finland)Swedish drama into foreign languages www.teatteri.org . Homepages are in Finnish, Swedish and English. -   further developed an internet portal for the arts together with other arts organisations www.kulttuuri.net

One of the main tasks of TINFO is promoting Finnish theatre and drama internationally. TINFO translates new plays, edits promotion material on playwrights, participates in promotional events, and in partnership develops international promotion programs. TINFO informs international festivals of interesting productions and helps theatres in their international tour planning.

The Centre publishes, among others, annual theatre directories and an English and French language magazine Finnish THEATRE Finlandais. The Centre keeps the statistics on the repertory, audience, employee, and economic figures in professional theatres.

TINFO organises national and international theatre events and seminars, for example, workshops for drama translators, national and Nordic and international theatre meetings.

In addition to ICDE, TINFO has participated in projects Transmission, Taru, and Platform Contemporary Theatre, funded by European Commission.

TINFO functions as the Finnish Centre of the ITI as well as the Finnish Centre of the Nordic Theatre Union, and is a member of IETM and ENICPA.

The members of the Finnish Theatre Information Centre are associations of theatres, Theatre Academy, Tampere International Theatre Festival, and all theatre practitioners' organisations, which guarantees close contact to the whole theatre scene in Finland. The Centre is funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture Department.

TINFO has a permanent staff of five people, and temporary project staff, annually 1-3 assistants, contracts from 3 months to one year. (Staff 2004: director: Ms. Riitta Seppälä; communications officer: Ms. Anneli Kurki, treasurer: Ms. Pirkko Tanninen, statistics: Ms. Titta Ylinen, information secretary: Ms. Piia Kivinen.)

Maison Antoine Vitez        >TOP<

"All the texts produced by humanity
compose a single great text written
in infinitely different languages
They all belong to us
and all should be translated."
Antoine Vitez

A HOME FOR TRANSLATORS
The desire to create a permanent vital centre for theatrical translation and gain recognition for the specificity of the profession underpinned the founding of the Maison Antoine Vitez.

It all began in 1989, when theatre director Jacques Nichet and theatrical translator Jean-Michel Déprats decided to give concrete form to the work begun at the 6th Literary Translation Conference in Arles that had focused on the subject of theatrical translations.

The International Centre for Drama Translation was inaugurated on September 1, 1990 in the city of Montpellier, capital of the Languedoc-Roussillon region in southern France near the Mediterranean coast. In honour of a great theatre director and a great translator who never dissociated one activity from the other, the centre was baptised Maison Antoine Vitez.

The Maison Antoine Vitez has been working ever since to promote and further the art of theatrical translation by actively supporting the translation of contemporary texts and new translations of the classics so that plays written in all languages can travel beyond their linguistic boundaries. The centre has become a pole for translators, publishers, directors and actors, a place for encounters, discussions, documentation, advise and counselling.
We are still and will always be far from Vitez' goal of translating all texts, but the work has begun.

CREATING AN INVENTORY
The centre has begun creating a computerised data bank itemising all French translations of foreign plays. Regularly updated, the listing is available to theatre practitioners for consultation. It will be helpful in enabling us to easily pinpoint important gaps. This vast enterprise will be accomplished in close collaboration with all of the countries in Europe.

TRANSLATIONS
The centre has set up individual literary committees for each language. Co-ordinated by a translator, the committees are composed of theatre translators, playwrights, " dramaturgs ", directors and bilingual actors. Each committee decides on the plays that it considers most important and urgent to translate. On the basis of these suggestions, the artistic board defines an annual programme of translations. Maison Antoine Vitez then provides funding for the translation work. The number of annual grants varies with the centre's own annual budget and outside subsidies.

Unlike the novel or essay, theatrical texts are made to be staged. The sign of a truly talented theatrical translator is his/her capacity to incorporate this dimension into the translation. The specificity of theatrical translation is one of the main considerations informing all of the literary committees' choices.

REACHING THE PUBLIC
The Maison Antoine Vitez puts out a catalogue of translated plays with complete literary and technical details concerning each text. Both the catalogue and the manuscripts are available to professionals upon request. They can also be consulted in a good number of libraries or documentation centres.

A theatrical text requires a body and a voice to achieve its real, full dimension. Whence the importance of hearing a text delivered, of seeing it played. For this purpose Maison Antoine Vitez organises readings of newly translated texts in theatres and at festivals throughout France. The majority of these public readings are recorded and broadcast on radio by France Culture.

COUNSELLING
The theatrical translator is an isolated worker, often ill-equipped to deal with the financial and administrative aspects of his/her work. In collaboration with the SACD (Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques), the centre can supply translators with model contracts. Maison Antoine Vitez also works to promote recognition and respect for the work of translators by protecting their legal rights, and highlighting the specificity of their profession. Finally the centre puts out a quarterly bulletin, CORRESPONDANCE, that provides its members with pertinent information and articles, and in this way contributes to lessening the distance, creating exchanges and maintaining ties between translators.

Maison Antoine Vitez
Domaine de Grammont
34000 Montpellier
France
Tel: +33 (0)4 67 22 43 05
Fax : +33 (0)4 67 22 48 34

contact@maisonantoinevitez.fr
www.maisonantoinevitez.fr

German Centre of the International Theatre Institute (ITI)         >TOP<

Objectives and Structure
The International Theater Institute devotes itself to the reciprocal exchange of theater artists worldwide and to an improved understanding of world cultures.

The ITI is represented in more than 90 countries with its national centers. The General Secretary of the ITI is located in Paris.

In Germany, about 200 artists, theater specialists and institutions from all branches of the performing arts are members of the Zentrum Bundesrepublik Deutschland des ITI e.V. (Federal Republic of Germany Centre of the ITI). The ITI headquarters is in Berlin.

The Germany Centre shapes and initiates projects, realizes its own Festival, symposia and workshops, and supports artistic encounter on an international level. We also advice artists, organizers and producers regarding international collaborations.

Projects
THEATER DER WELT, an ITI-sponsored festival, is held every three years in a different city. As an outstanding project for international theater exchange, Theater der Welt is also Germany's largest international dramatic arts festival. www.theaterderwelt.de

The ITI develops projects together with theaters and festivals (such as the festivals New Works from Europe, Bonn, Wiesbaden, Frankfurt am Main; Mühlheimer Theatertage NRW - Stücke, the Berliner Festspiele and others): Translators' Workshops, Theater Meetings, Symposiums, and guest productions from abroad.

Founded in 2001, the INTERNATIONAL PLATFORM FOR CONTEMPORARY THEATER has enriched the area of contemporary European drama. As a project series with cooperating partners throughout Europe, the PLATFORM initiates workshops with authors, translators and directors, as well as translations of theatrical works, readings, premiere performances and guest productions. www.theater-platform.org

The German Centre cooperates with the International Committee of the ITI by organizing workgroup encounters and international symposia - such as the International Music Theater Workshop of the Music Theater Committee and My Unknown Enemy, a workshop series of the Cultural Identity and Development Committee.

Together with the Goethe-Institute the German ITI runs an Internship Program for young people working in theater: directors, dramaturgy specialists and choreographers are given the opportunity to experience the production work in German theaters.

Information Services
The German Centre of the ITI publishes impulse, a bilingual publication that appears twice yearly, focused on international theater work. At the beginning of each theater season the publication Play Service appears, a bilingual overview of premieres and first performances staged in Germany.

Additional Publications on Germany's theater situation and international tendencies in theater production work are published in collaboration with festivals, theater producers and publishers.

The Homepage provides information on ITI projects, a database, collected writings on theater-related political debates, and downloads of publications.

Network Connections
The German ITI Centre is a member of international networks in the areas of Theater and Cultural Politics.
European Forum for the Arts and Heritage (www.efah.org)
Informal European Theatre Meeting (www.ietm.org)
European Network of the Information Centre for Performing Arts (www.enicpa.org)

Theater Instituut Nederland (TIN)         >TOP<

Theater Instituut Nederland is a unique knowledge and information centre for everyone who is interested in theatre. Five monumental buildings on the Herengracht form the setting for a great number of diverse activities for a wide-ranging public. Culture enthusiasts, professional theatre-makers, students and school-pupils make their way to us daily. The exhibitions in the Theater Museum, the extensive multi-media centre with information on more than 65,000 performances, 60,000 books and a great number of theatre texts, the exceptional museum collection, the events and the wonderful historical buildings and gardens, make a visit to the Theater Instituut more than worthwhile.

The Multi-Media Centre: Rich Collections and Revealing Background Information
The multi-media centre is a unique and modern information and documentation centre. The extensive collection of books, photos, videos, reviews, etc, encompasses all theatre forms. One can study everything in the reading and study rooms. In addition we loan many books and sound materials to members.

The multi-media centre's digital databank provides answers to many questions about Dutch theatre. In the databank, which can be accessed via the website www.tin.nl, there is information on more than 65,000 performances, with photos, interviews, reviews, etc, and nearly 173,000 descriptions and images of materials such as sheet-music, theatre texts, books, costumes, posters, paintings and accessories from performances. In the databank there is also information on all professional premières from the period 1992 to the present. Addresses of theatre companies, producers, and theatres can also be looked up easily via the data bank.

Other Activities for the Professionals
The Theater Instituut is the knowledge centre of the Dutch professional theatre culture. We accumulate a great deal of knowledge, carry out research, stimulate the research of others, produce books and other publications and chart trends and developments. When there is occasion we organise symposia, expert meetings, readings and presentations, sometimes for a select audience but also regularly for a broader group of interested persons.

Our Bureau Theatre Consultants informs and advises small podia about the programming and marketing of contemporary (youth)theatre and dance. The four consultants closely follow developments in theatre and provide support, where desired, for various parties, with applications for subsidies and other funds, amongst other things.

We are also active in the international field. Our International Office provides information and promotes Dutch theatre and dance. In addition it initiates and produces projects directed to the strengthening of the position of the Dutch offering abroad. The International Office organises diverse programmes in which foreign theatre professionals take part. Exchange with Dutch makers and the attendance of performances are permanent features. It also focuses on bringing attention to Dutch playwrights and their works.

Theatre Institute in Warsaw         >TOP<
Among the responsibilities of the Institute are: organizing, preserving and making theatre collections publicly available, promoting the achievements of Polish theatre both domestically and abroad, providing theatrical education and stimulate historical and academic research of Polish theatre, publishing, cooperating with domestic and international institutions, organizing theatre festivals and events that serve promotion of Polish theatre.
The Institute manages the Polish Theatre Library, in 2005, an Internet bookstore, Prospero, where numerous published works about Polish theatre are available was established. Currently, the most important project of the Theatre Institute is the establishment of the largest Polish Theatre Portal, www.e-teatr.pl, which contains the latest information about contemporary theatre life in Poland. The information is updated several times daily, with news and information about upcoming premieres and festivals, schedules of performances in all Polish theatres, as well as reviews and articles from daily newspapers and theatre magazines.
The Institute also engages in several educational and research initiatives, acts as moderator in the public debate about contemporary Polish theatre by organising its own festivals, theatre events, meetings and discussions.

Gate Theatre London      >TOP<

The Gate is London's only theatre dedicated solely to producing international work. With an average seating capacity of 70 and only 4 full-time staff, the Gate is small, but very ambitious - we always have been ever since Stephen Daldry made his mark as Artistic Director of the Gate, bringing casts as large as 20 to the tiny Gate auditorium. In August 2004, Thea Sharrock joined the Gate as its new Artistic Director. Her first three shows have been an extraordinary success and show the diversity and challenge of the work the Gate does. Tshepang by Lara Foot-Newton was a haunting piece of South African storytelling hailed by John Peter of the Sunday Times as having "the earthly vigour of Barney Simon's Market Theatre and visionary realistic style of Peter Brook", Daniel Kramer's did a dazzling reinvention of Büchner's Woyzeck, listed in both Time Out and the Observer as one of the top ten shows of 2004. Our current show, Tejas Verdes by the Spaniard Fermin Cabal and directed by Thea, received 5 stars from Michael Billington in the Guardian and immediately sold out, prompting one of the longest runs in Gate history.

Over the past few years the Gate has also run a Translation Award and discovered some extraordinary work: the 2002 winner was Witness by the Swedish writer Cecilia Parkert, a contemporary play about events in former Yugoslavia, the 2004 winner was Marieluise by Kerstin Specht about the Brecht protégé Marieluise Fleisser. Other plays received for the Award have been produced at other theatres around the country and also in the USA.

The Gate's legacy is to give emerging artists the opportunity to take risks, to excel and to make their mark. Working with the Jerwood Charity, we continue to foster young designers and push the limits of theatre design. Many talented directors, designers and actors have been nurtured by the Gate at a crucial stage in their careers, among them Katie Mitchell, Ian MacNeil and Jude Law.

"One of the major generators of theatrical talent in this country…the Gate holds a very special place in my heart"
Stephen Daldry