2019 marks the 90th anniversary of the creation of the International Puppet Union (UNIMA).
To honor this date, UNIMA has proposed an open competition for interested young authors to create a script or concept for puppet theatre to be performed on the occasion of the 90th anniversary celebrations. The selected scenario/concept will be used as the basis for four productions created in four geographical regions: Africa, America, Asia-Pacific, Europe.
One of the scenarios/concepts will be selected by an international jury specially created for this project. This jury is composed of seven recognized personalities.
It is chaired by Margareta Sörenson (Sweden) author, journalist and critic of theatre, dance and live performance, she has a particular knowledge of the puppetry arts. She has been President of the International Association of Theatre Critics since 2014.
It is composed of:
- Haydeé Boetto Bárcena (Mexico): actress, director, scenographer, author of several plays and theatre teacher.
- Etienne Minoungou (Burkina Faso): comedian, storyteller, director, playwright and cultural entrepreneur based in Ouagadougou, where he directs the Festival d’écriture contemporaine.
- Ignacio del Moral Ituarte (Spain): president of the Spanish Association of Theatre Authors, Ignacio del Moral Ituarte is a theatre author and a film and television screenwriter.
- Clément Peretjako (France): artistic director of the Compagnie Collapse, director and puppeteer, he defends an approach of the puppet as an art, as a tool of sociological lighting and as a response to any system of oppression.
- Kamini Ramachandran (Singapore): a pioneer in the field of storytelling in Asia, she teaches at Lasalle College of the Arts and leads projects with indigenous tribes in the Malaysian jungle.
- Marek Waszkiel (Poland): historian of puppet theatre, critic, author, teacher at the Theatre Academy in Warsaw, head of the Puppet Department at the Bialystok school, he was the artistic director of the Bialistok Puppet Theater and then the Poznan Animation Theatre.
This jury will meet in Charleville-Mézières between 19 and 23 September 2018 to decide which text will be the basis of the four creations and award the prize to its author.