“Art, Science And Sport” Charity Foundation of Alisher Usmanov within the framework of the “Special View” program supporting people with visual impairments and “Inclusion” Centre for Creative Projects, together with the New Stage of Aleksandrinsky theatre, sponsored by the Ministry of Culture of Russia and “Connection” Deafblind Support Foundation will organize the Second Special View Forum Festival of Socially-Oriented Theatre which will take place in St. Petersburg on November 4 till 7, 2021. Leading socially-oriented professionals and experts in related spheres, theatre managers, marketing specialists and producers will take part in organizing of the festival. Theatre on Liteyniy Avenue is the partner of the Second Special View Forum Festival.
The forum will comprise theatrical, educational and inter-disciplinary programs. Theatrical part will include the most prominent works of inclusive and socially-oriented theatre. The inter-disciplinary part will consist of performance art, interactive projects, online projects, exhibitions. Educational program participants will be able to attend seminars, workshops and lectures given by leading experts in inclusion: stage directors, teachers, producers and curators.
The festival will present different plays and projects touching upon urgent social issues or prepared with participation of people from socially disadvantaged groups. Guests and participants will have the opportunity not just to discover interesting examples of socially-oriented art but to establish contacts and make connections for its development and promotion.
Alexey Platunov and Kristina Matvienko will be the curators of the theatrical and educational program, Anton Ryanov, Marina Israilova and Yegor Rogalev will be curators of the inter-disciplinary program. Sign language interpretation will be provided for all the events of the theatrical, educational and inter-disciplinary programs, and audio description will be given during all theatre performances. Theatre performances will also be available for live online viewing.
After the main program is completed, on November 11 to 13 the forum festival of socially-oriented theatre will give several special performances and discussions at the St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum. For example, the audience will see the Plus-Minus Play by Xenia Shachneva (Special View: Regions laureate) and This Is More Than Just Herring by Tufan Imamutdinov.
Viewers may register for the forum festival performances from October 15 till November 4, 2021.
The first Special View Forum Festival of Socially-Oriented Theatre took place in Moscow in 2019. Special View: Regions Forum Festival was held in 2021 in Kazan.
As a result of the second forum festival, the second digest entitled Socially-Oriented Theatre in Russia will be published. It will be made up out of the cases accumulated during the festival. Moreover, an expert board (which will include representatives of theatre community proposed by curators and directors of the festival, and also residents of the festival city selected on an open-call basis) will choose a showpiece play which will be performed later, at the next regional stage of the festival: it will take place in 2022 in one of the Russian federal districts.
