Thirteen universities and theater academies from Western and Eastern Europe will present plays at the fifth International Festival of Drama Schools “ClassFest” that will take place in Chisinau between April 28 and May 3, IPN reports.

Victoria Melnic, rector of the Academy of Music, Theater and Plastic Arts which organizes the event, told a news conference that this exchange of experience is very important for the young generation because it is aimed at promoting the values of arts and at contributing to developing the intercultural dialogue. Every year the festival’s geography extends. For the first time this year, the festival will involve students and teachers from France, Austria and Germany. Plays will be also put on by students from Romania, Georgia, Slovakia, Poland, Russia, Ukraine and other countries.

The festival’s artistic director Svetlana Tirtau, who is the dean of the Faculty of Dramatic Arts and Artistic Management, said over 200 students will take part in the festival’s performances. The festival entitled “Communication, gesture and motion” includes plays based on corporal expression and movement, theater-dance and pantomime, dancing workshops, exhibitions, recitals, etc. The festival will also commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great man of the theater Tadeusz Kantor.

The plays will be presented at the National Theater “Mihai Eminescu”, the Puppet Theater “Licurici”, “Luceafarul” Theater, the State Russian Dramatic Theater “A.P. Chekov”, “E. Ionesco” Theater, and others. Entrance is free of charge.