Editorial

Cooperation

Working in teams, creating alliances, exchanging ideas: Together we can achieve more – this realization runs through all our reports on the summer’s events. The keyword alliance is taken up by Marc Grandmontagne, managing director of the German theatre association Deutscher Bühnenverein, in our interview: To keep the theatre landscape in Germany alive, everyone involved should meet and talk, he urges, even if they do not all have the same interests. Joint efforts must be made to ensure successful work in theatre.

Issues of renovation and finding qualified specialists concern everyone, and the BTT was once again a productive forum for discussing these and other subjects, including the latest technological innovations.

The International Theatre Engineering and Architecture Conference, ITEAC, ventured a look ahead to the future. Is there an ideal theatre? How can theatres be made fit for the future? Which technologies and architectural designs will appeal to young people enough to get them interested in theatre and opera? The conference once again provided a good opportunity to question old habits and find new perspectives. That has always been the aim of OISTAT, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. See the enclosed copy of Podium for a review of OISTAT’s first half-century. Also featured in this issue of BTR is an interview with Dr. Joel Rubin, one of the co-founders and the second president of OISTAT, an organization that has always held to the principle of reciprocal learning as an ongoing, vital project.

https://www.der-theaterverlag.de/Of course, we haven’t forgotten to review the latest events. In this issue, we look at some exhibitions featuring interesting medial and dramatic elements. The Manifesta art exhibition in Palermo is especially impressive. It turns the whole city into a stage, including the usually neglected parts, where it hopes to spread optimism among the people.

That was also what Walter Felsenstein set out to do when he re-founded Berlin’s Komische Oper in 1947, after the war. In its 70th anniversary season, the opera house paid special tribute to his work. Remembering is important but moving forward even more so. A good example is the venue Kunstkraftwerk Leipzig. Though only in its 3^rd year, it has managed to breathe new life into a disused industrial area with some extraordinary projects.

The enclosed copy of Podium also brings our theme of alliance and cooperation full circle, containing the latest information on IGVW and ETTE, or the new network for beginners, aiming to help young people start careers in theatre.

As the hot summer fades into memory, we wish you a ‘cool’ start to the new season!

The Editors