News & Notices
Preview in Charlotte: PQ '11, Scenofest Offer International Perspectives
Once every four years, the theatre design community from around the world joins together to celebrate recent accomplishments in the field with the world's largest exposition for theatre design at the Prague Quadrennial.
PQ '11 will take place June 16 to 26 in the Veletrzni Palace, the National Museum of Modern Art, and other locations in the city of Prague. The Veletrzni Palace is a short walk from the familiar grounds of Vystaviste where the exhibit has been hosted in the past. Recently damaged by a fire, the Industrial Palace will not be restored in time for this year's PQ. The Countries and Regions Exhibit and the Student Exhibit will both be located in the Veletrzni Palace, while the Architecture Exhibit is to be housed in Prague Crossroads, a deconsecrated church.
Sixty-four countries will participate in the PQ this year. The Section of Regions and Countries will feature contemporary productions in a variety of performance design disciplines and genres including multi-media, projection, and digital applications to design for theatre, mapping the latest trends in theatre from around the world. The Extreme Costume Exhibit, new to this year's PQ, will focus on using unconventional materials and silhouettes for costumes.
PQ and Scenofest activities are scheduled to occur around the city in theatres and on the streets. On the piazetta of the National Theatre, the Intersection: Intimacy and Spectacle project will present 30 installations/performances housed in black boxes and white cubes. This series will feature scenographers, fashion designers, photographers, and choreographers from around the globe.
The Disk Theatre at the Academy of Performing Arts (DAMU) will host "Disk Stories," performances from international students and schools, featuring sound and light as the central force for the narrative or concept.
Site specific performances, called Six Acts, will be performed around the streets in the heart of Prague. Teams of students from different countries will work with leading artists to create unique performances or installations drawing from their cross-cultural backgrounds and intensive collaboration.
Street Stories, consists of teams of student collaborators bringing 30-minute design as performance events, will be presented in squares in the center of the city. In the tradition of street theatre, these performances must be completely portable and self-contained.
Scenofest will present many workshop opportunities for students. Held in the DAMU building, they will include lighting, sound,and costume design; scenography; digital media; puppetry; directing; architecture; and virtual theatre. Each student may sign up for one workshop, and registration for these events ends February 15.The Scenofest web page is scenofest.pq.cz.
Students interested in participating in the live-action portion of the USA Student Exhibit may sign up at www.pqusastudent.com.
OISTAT Commissions meet in Prague, designated as an OISTAT Congress site. All members of USITT are automatically members of OISTAT and are invited to attend Commission meetings and other OISTAT-sponsored events. OISTAT will formally initiate Digital Theatre Words, an online dictionary of theatre terminology covering over 40 languages, and unveil the first volume of World Scenogaphy covering the period of 1975-1990. For more information about OISTAT, go to www.oistat.org.
Members seeking details about the PQ and connected activities are invited to attend two sessions in Charlotte. On Wednesday, March 9, Sodja Lodker, artistic director of the 2011 PQ, will talk about the vision for this dramatically distinct version of the event. Jessica Bowles and James McKernan, organizers of the Scenofest, will present their scheme for events on Thursday, March 10 at 5:30 p.m.
