27 artistic teams from 12 countries meet at “Crossroads”

During nine days, from May 24 to June 1, the stages of five theaters from Chisinau will host 27 artistic teams from 12 countries in the 8th edition of the International Scenic Arts Festival BITEI 2008 (the Bienale of Eugene Ionesco Theater) with the generic name “Intersectii” (Crossroads), Info-Prim Neo reports. “During nine days, on Chisinau’s stages and streets, different cultures, nationalities, traditions, genres of scenic art, talents, aesthetic visions, passions will meet at crossroads,” stated on May 24 at the opening ceremony, Petru Vutcarau, the director of Eugene Ionesco Theater and of BITEI-2008. At the same time, over 250 people of culture from Japan, Russia, Ukraine, Spain, Croatia, France, Ireland, Poland, Romania, India, Turkey and Moldova will meet in Chisinau. Why in Chisinau? Because as one of the characters of from Eugene Ionesco’s play “Man with cases” says “Chisinau is the ideal city for meetings”. The organizers of the festival, Eugene Ionesco Theater with the Culture and Tourism Ministry, the Moldovan Union of People of Theater and the Chisinau City Hall, want to demonstrate through this action that the great playwright was right, Petru Vutcarau said. Starting from this edition, the Festival is under the patronage of the Moldovan Government, being recognized as an event of major importance for Moldova. The Culture and Tourism Minister, Artur Cozma, remarked this was an inspired and lucky decision to advance the festival’s status to the national level, in addition to those two festivals under the Government’s patronage “Martisor” and “Maria Biesu invites”. Another novelty of this edition is the fact that the plays were selected by a jury formed from theater critics, playwrights and journalists and not by the troupe of E. Ionesco. At the same time, the festival transformed from a strictly theatrical one to a festival scenic arts – the artists will play drama, musicals, dance theater, street theater and theater for children. The trophy of this year was made by the artist Veaceslav Jiglitchi and is called “The Golden Eye”.