BITEI 2023 International Festival of Stage Arts resumed after seven-year break

Chisinau, 22 May /MOLDPRES/ - The 13th   edition of the International Festival of Stage Arts (Eugene Ionesco National Theatre’s Biennial - BITEI), titled, Chisinau, Ideal Place for Dating, will take place in Chisinau on 26 May – 4 June.    

The event is organized by the Culture Ministry, along with the Eugene Ionesco National Theatre, under the High Patronage of President Maia Sandu and the government of Moldova, with the support of the Chisinau city hall.   

The schedule of the 13th of the BITEI Festival will include plays by 20 theatre companies, music and dance, with plays on stage and in open air, from China, South Korea, Georgia, Japan, Italy, Poland, Romania, Spain, Ukraine and Moldova. Workshops, discussions and news conferences with the participation of famous personalities in the stage arts field (stage managers, theatre critics, editors of specialized publications) will be held within the Festival. The events will be hosted the Eugene Ionesco National Theatre, Mihai Eminescu National Theatre, the Nameless Theatre and the Maria Biesu National Opera and Ballet Theatre.         

At a today’s news conference, the director general of the Eugene Ionesco National Theatre, Petru Vutcarau, said the BITEI Festival had been resumed after a seven-year break, since 2016 till present.    

”BITEI is a quite important cultural event not only for our theatre, but also for the entire culture of our country, for the audience, who showed a special interest and always asked us: when will we return to BITEI? When the next edition will take place? And so, after more efforts taken, we are on the edge of inaugurating the 13th edition. It would not have taken place, if we were set to organize it only with our own efforts or with the help of sponsors. The role of the state in the organization of this event is substantial and fundamental. This is an action which has a special status. Thus, under government decision, in 2016, the BITEI Festival got the status of event of national importance, along with the Maria Biesu Invites International Opera and Ballet Festival, Martisor International Music Festival. We are honoured to have this status and  let us not let this event disappear or minimize its importance,’’ Petru Vutcarau noted.     

Attending the event, Culture Minister Sergiu Prodan said that the BITEI Festival represented, in fact, a pillar of Moldova’s theatrical life and the return, after seven years of pause, is an extremely important moment. ‘’It is quite important that this festival is not only for the theatrical world, not only for the audience loving plays, but also for the institutions who can and must support all cultural events from Moldova. It is very important for Moldova to have an international festival of theatre and it is important that we do no start from the scratch each time. We have nice things started many years ago; we should continue them and convey to the next generations; so that there is a continuity of the development of the cultural space from Moldova,’’ Minister Sergiu Prodan said.  

The official opening of the BITEI 2023 Festival will take place at the headquarters of the Eugene Ionesco National Theatre on 26 May at 18:00. The event will be followed by the premiere of the play, The Government Inspector, by Nikolay Gogol, stage management of Petru Vutcarau.      

The Culture Ministry allocated a budget of 5.8 million lei for the organization of the BITEI Festival.