Next Stage Level
Five performances that use high technologies or include the audience in the performance
about the festival
Next Stage Level features five shows that use high-tech solutions or innovative ways to include the audience in the performance. Visitors will be able to participate in discussions and professional meetings between guest and Bulgarian artists and discuss ideas related to the use of new media and technologies in the arts
PROGRAMME
26 March – 29 May
26, 28 March, 19 April | theatre
28 March | performance and discussion
4, 5, 6 April | performances, discussions
12 April | performance and discussion with Antoni Rayzhekov
26 April | workshop with Antoni Rayzhekov
29 May | performance by Tin Men and the Telephone
Happy Beckett
interactive theatre performance created by Mariy Rosen and inspired by Samuel Beckett's play Happy Days
26, 28 March, 19 April | theatre | 19:30 – 21:00

Instead of the original text by Beckett, the performance uses texts provided by the audience on that particular evening. To become a playwright, each of the 25 viewers must visit the site happybeckett.com, choose a date, complete a questionnaire, and only then buy a ticket at The Red House. Each performance has its own original dramatic language, but the structure always remains the same. The aim is to achieve the arrangement of a multicoloured mandala to be scattered by the wind at the end. The active prior participation of the audience is necessary for this format to work.

Idea and directing: Mariy Rosen
Dramaturgy: Mariy Rosen and Anna Valchanova
Stage design and costumes: Petya Boyukova
Music: Konstantin Tymoshenko
Starring: Anna Valchanova, Mariy Rosen, Petya Boyukova, Konstantin Tymoshenko

In Bulgarian.
Tickets: 15/ 12 BGN

Dior in Moscow
dance and theatre performance of Lithuanian artists Agnija Šeiko and Ingrida Gerbutavičiūtė with the participation of Bulgarian artist Albena Baeva
28 March | performance and discussion | 19:00 – 21:00
Dior in Moscow is a dance and theatre performance by Lithuanian artists Agnija Šeiko and Ingrida Gerbutavičiūtė with the participation of Bulgarian artist Albena Baeva. In 2017, it was nominated for the Lithuanian national award "Golden Cross" and the "Klaipeda" Alternative Theatre Prize. It has been shown at festivals in Berlin, Kiev and Prague and has been part of the programme of Tanzmesse, Düsseldorf.

The performance explores the transformation of the definition of femininity in post-socialist societies and is based on the article "Socioeconomic Conditions and Discursive Construction of Women's Identities in Post-Soviet Countries" by Aneta Pavlenko, as well as on different interviews with women from Lithuania and the Czech Republic taken by the artists. The performance will be followed by a discussion with the authors about the changing roles of women in the period of post-communist transition, to this day.

The performance and the discussion will be in English.
Entrance: 12/ 10 BGN

Low Cost
performance-experiment of the young playwright Stefan Prochorov on the border between documentary theatre and theatre of the senses
4, 5, 6 April | performances, discussions
The newest documentary performance of talented young playwright Stefan Prochorov has an unusual format: promenade theatre. Spectators turn into tourists and travel through all Red House spaces, in each one participating in various tourist experiences: they choose between free Sofia tours, travel back in time to socialism, taste typical Bulgarian products and even party at Sunny Beach.
Created on the basis of documentary materials – interviews with workers in the tourism sector and representatives of various institutions, such as Sofia Municipality, the Ministry of Tourism, etc., the performance gradually leads to an open discussion with the audience about the image of Bulgaria as a tourist destination and explores themes crucial to EU policies. The performance has been adapted for an English-speaking audience.

Dates:
4 April:
19:00
5 April: 18:00 | 5 April: 20:00
6 April: 18:00 | 6 April: 20:00


In Bulgarian and English.
Tickets: 12/10 BGN
RЕ_SONANCE
a musical and video performance-duet for augmented piano and solo performer by Аntoni Rayzhekov that studies the connection between the human body and the instrument
12 April | performance and discussion | 20:00 – 21:30

In the performance RE_SONANCE the connection between the instrument and the performer is transformed into a partnership that grows into an unpredictable musical duet. The communication between the body of the performer and the piano is established through a bioelectronic acoustic instrument called SOMAPHONE designed specifically for the project by performer Antoni Rayzhekov – a Bulgarian artist, teacher and IT specialist. SOMAPHONE is connected to the piano through sensors for vibration. Meanwhile, a miniature wireless application is attached to Rayzhekov's body and measures his emotional and physical reactions – pulse rate, body movement, muscle tension – and, based on that, the sound changes. SOMAPHONE was nominated by Music Tech Fest 2016 in Berlin, Germany, for high achievements and innovations in the music industry and sound art. SOMAPHONE is an open project. The software аnd the necessary information for replicating it has been published and can be accessed for free in order to enable the creation of bioelectronic instruments and help the development of contemporary electronic and performing arts.

The performance will be followed by a discussion with the audience about the use of new media in the performing, visual and sound arts.

In Bulgarian.
Free entrance.
Musification and Generative Visualization
workshop with Antoni Rayzhekov

26 April | 17:00 – 21:00
The workshop "Musification and Generative Visualization" focuses on contemporary practices that use new technologies in the performing arts to synthesize real-time sound and generative graphics based on motion-tracking, on information extracted by various sensors for movement and for monitoring physiological processes occurring in body, and more. The workshop will introduce the audience to different approaches to integrating new technologies into the performing and audiovisual arts and will demonstrate and present practical experiments.

Programme

1. Introduction
2. Biosignals and sensors
3. Examples of sonic synthesis from biosignals and motion
4. The design of interactive audiovisual instruments
5. Work session / demonstration / experiments
6. Discussion.

In Bulgarian
Tickets: 5 BGN



About Antoni Rayzhekov

Antoni Rayzhekov was born in 1980 in Sofia. He has lived and worked in Vienna since 2008. In 2001 he received a degree in acting from the National Academy of Theatre and Film Arts "Krastyo Sarafov" where he studied in the class of Professor Encho Halachev. In 2007 he graduated in theatre directing under Prof. Encho Halachev and Prof. Zdravko Mitkov. In 2009 he was accepted to the Vienna Conservatory where he studied jazz piano with Professor Fogert Bertolt. Between 2008 and 2010 he worked as an IT specialist at the UN in Vienna and obtained professional qualifications in the field of computer technology within the LearningTree training sessions, London.
World Domination, volume 1: Furie
an interactive performance by Dutch trio Tin Men and the Telephone that lets the audience dictate what happens on stage with the Tinmendo app

29 May | performance | 19:00 – 20:30
The interactive concerts of the Dutch trio Tin Men and the Telephone (Tony Roe on the piano, Pat Cleaver on the bass, Borislav Petrov on the drums) allow the audience to influence the performance in different ways: they can vote for the band to play "weird", "psychedelic", "nervous" or to "take a break", send rhythms and melodies that the musicians use to improvise compositions on the spot, and many others. This happens through the Tinmendo mobile app, which practically functions as a remote control.

In Bulgaria, the trio will present its new album World Domination, volume 1: FURIE – a fun and provocative look at populism and fake news in the form of a sci-fi, interactive music game. Through the Tinmendo app, you will be able to vote for the abduction of leaders like Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin or Kim Jong-un who will be exiled on other planets by the alien peacekeeping force FURIE. ( FURIE is an abbreviation for Federal Union for Restoring Intergalactic Equilibrium.) You will also be invited to collectively compose a new world anthem that the musicians will play on the spot, and many other equally amsuing things. The music is a combination of acoustic jazz and futuristic electronic sounds composed on the basis of speeches by the populist leaders. You can hear some of the music and give kidnapping ideas now here: http://tinmendo.com/furie/.

Tin Men and the Telephone have received great reviews in publications like Тhe Guardian, The Sunday Times and London Jazz News and their show is practically the world's first fully interactive jazz concert. To interact with the trio during their performance, you need to download the free Tinmendo app, which is available for iPhone and Android. See below how it works.

In English.
Tickets: 12/ 10 BGN
Tinmendo
Download the free app for iPhone or Android
Workshop with Tin Men and the Telephone
30 May | 19:00 – 21:00
Each one of Tin Men and the Telephone's performances is a unique, interactive experience. Through the band's very own smartphone app Tinmendo, the audience can actively participate in almost every aspect of the show by sending melodies, rhythms and chords for the band to improvise with, dictating the style and tempo of playing, and many others. The show is practically the world's first fully interactive jazz concert. What technologies are behind it and how do they work? You will be able to discover this in detail during the workshop. Read more here: https://tinmenandthetelephone.com/education

In English.
Tickets: 5 BGN.

Financial support
The festival is supported by Sofia Municipality's Culture Programme, the National Culture Fund and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Bulgaria.
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