The Black Box International Theatre and Dance Festival () has taken place every spring in Plovdiv, Bulgaria since 2007. It lasts for one week and is centered on theater and contemporary dance.
The first edition of the festival in 2007 was hosted in the Hindliyan House-Museum in the Old town of Plovdiv. The event was supported by the Plovdiv Municipality, the Cultural Institute "Old Plovdiv" and the Ministry of Culture of Bulgaria. The focus of the first edition was to give the floor to female performers only.
The festival's ninth edition in 2015, with its 600 applications for participation, is reportedly the first major cultural event which takes place after the official designation of Plovdiv as European Capital of Culture for the year 2019. The festival is considered to be "one of the most valuable international events for theater and contemporary dance" that take place in Bulgaria. Partners in the organization of the Black Box Festival'2014 are the Ministry of Culture, Plovdiv Municipality, the Embassies of Austria, Belgium, Israel and United States, The Italian Culture Institute, The Polish Institute, The Hungarian Cultural Institute, Plovdiv Culture House "Boris Hristov", Plovdiv Drama Theatre, Municipal Institute "Old Plovdiv" and Trakart Culture Centre. In 2015, the history of the festival is shown with a photo gallery that is publicly installed in the central pedestrian zone of Plovdiv.
History 2017 - 11th festival Opening: Joséphina, by Sandrine Heyraud and Sicaire Durieux, ChaliWate Company, Belgium Contemporary Dance Program: iShade, by the Jade Dance Theatre, Taiwan Before Sunrise, by Hsiao-Wei Hsieh & Hsiao-Ting Hsieh, InTW Studio, Тaiwan 360º, iMEE Dance Company, USA Suites, by Tomas Danielis, Austria Program Plovdiv in Focus: _WръZки_, by Yanitsa Atanasova I, the Lie, by the Pantarey Dance Studio ... point. Point of view, by the Duende Dance Studio Smoke like a man, solo Performance by Yafit Levi, Israel Queen of Spades, State Puppet Theatre, Plovdiv, Bulgaria Helicopter, a documentary film about Kolio Karamfilov, directed by Krum Philipov Blue eyes black hair, by Irena Ivanova, based on works by Marguerite Duras and Vladislav Hristov Couchettes by Alain Giroud, performed by Fractorium Dei Movement Theater, Bulgaria Contemporary Ballet Master Class with iMEE Dance Company, USA Contemporary Dance and Bulgarian Folklore workshop with Rara Avis Dance Company, Bulgaria Closing: Evening Shadow, by Alessandro Serra, performed by Chiara Michelini, Teatropersona Company, Italy
2016 - 10th festival Opening: Apartheid, by Étienne Béchard, Opinion Public Company, Belgium Contemporary Dance Program: De-parts by Miriam Engel No Hands by Miriam Engel love-joy diver, by Megan Mazarick and Les Rivera, USA Bitter-Sweet, performed by Gustavo Hoyos and Jerome Leperlier, Umami Theatre & Dance Project, Spain Blood Wedding, solo performance by Maria Vidal, Abrego Theatre, Spain 6 rooms, a joint dance project by Boriana Tengulova, Maya Pavlova, Maria Ivanova, Elena Zdravkova and Ivaylo Ivanov, Denitsa Gergenikova and Dragomir Yordanov, Bulgaria Crazy Glue, inspired by Etgar Keret, Single Shoe Productions, United Kingdom The Samsas, inspired by Franz Kafka, directed by Katya Petrova, Theatre Laboratory Sfumato, Bulgaria Master class with Tomas Danielis, Austria Closing: Expanding Foam, by Gabriella Catalano & Paolo Rosini, Bambula Project, United Kingdom/Italy
2015 - 9th festival Opening: How I Managed Not to Flatten My Husband, choreographed by Anne Lopez, Les Gens du quai Company, Montpellier, France Earth and Tales in Black and White by Andrea Hackl, Austria OOups by Jordi L. Vidal Company, Belgium World Wide Violin by Frédéric Tari, France Birds Never Sleep, PTAH Theatre, Hungary Why I Killed My Mother by Dor Zweigenbom, Israel contemporary dance program: Ivonice, Untitled & The secret of life is to fall seven times & get up eight, works by Andrea Dawn Shelley and Spencer Gavin Hering, iMEE Dance Company, United States of America The Perfect World, solo by Bartech Woszczynski, Poland Morgan & Freeman by Ferenc Fehér, Hungary Slipstream by Mihaela Griveva, Bulgaria/Ireland Program “Plovdiv in Focus”: So Close, Duende Dance Studio, Bulgaria Apathy by Denitsa Gerginkova, Pantarey Studio, Bulgaria Loneliness by Boryana Tеngulova, Bulgaria Escurial, Theatre Hand, Bulgaria Naveneva, Naturalis Labor Company, Italy Closing: Other Side by Dejan Dukovski, choreographed and directed by Fenia Apostolou, Lydia Lithos Dance Theatre, Greece
2014 - 8th festival Opening: Bob’Art by Étienne Béchard, Opinion Public Company, Belgium The Woman Who Didn’t Want to Come Down to Earth – a trilogy by Gabrielle Neuhaus, Israel Brecht by Toma Markov, Bulgaria contemporary dance program: Alma, duet by Rachel Erdos Prism solo by Andrea Hackl, Netherlands Exit solo by Olga Kosterina, Russia from the festival “euro-scene” in Leipzig: Bim bam bum, performed by Justyna Kalbarczyk, choreographed by Bridie Gane Dark Quark by Irina Demina, Hamburg, Germany Immured by Veselka Kuncheva, Contrast Films LTD and State Puppet Theatre, Plovdiv, Bulgaria PASS/AGES by Elena R. Marino, Teatrincorso, Italy Monologue for Two, Duende Dance Studio, Bulgaria Weathered/Layers, Erica Essner Performance Co-Op, New York Closing: Duel, choreographed by Anne Lopez, Les Gens du quai Company, Montpellier, France
2013 - 7th festival Opening: Two of Us, directed and performed by Ana Pepine and Paul Cimpoieru, Passe-Partout D.P. Theatre Company, Romania Program “Contemporary dance and performance”: Mi arma solo by Laila Tafur, Spain Adi el-Rabi, duet dance by Orly Portal and Shlomit Yossef, Israel Plant B by Ilona Roth, performed by Anna Majder and Marina Mazaraki, Transitheart Productions, Germany Play.Back.Again.Then. by Ji-Eun Lee, United Kingdom/Korea Souvenir, solo by Julia Danzinger, Austria About Me and a Bit about You, solo by Liwia Bargieł, Poland Second Hand Landscapes by Cristina Goletti and Nick Bryson, Legitimate Bodies Dance Company, Ireland Zona de arribo, solo by Nidia Barbieri, Argentina/Italy Svarta Rosor, individuo by Mieke Segers and Yentl de Werdt, Sacred Places, Belgium Program “Plovdiv in Focus”: Ego by Ivo Ignatov-Kenny, Theatre Hand, Bulgaria Glass by Elena Aleksieva, directed by Kalin Angelov, performed by Ivana Papazova The Road/Trail, Duende Dance Studio, Bulgaria Closing: Gagarin’s Daughters, Mobil Teatr Lab, Hungary
2012 - 6th festival Opening: Dilemma, solo performance by Olga Kosterina, Moscow, Russia Wild Green by Dimitar Atanasov, directed by Nikolay Georgiev, Alma Alter Theatre-Laboratory, Bulgaria Prophecy, based on texts by Peter Handke and Vesselin Dimov, directed by Vesselin Dimov, MOMO Theatre Company, Sofia, Bulgaria Penthesilea (Pathologie), video performance by Evy Schubert, Berlin, Germany Mo(ve)ment by Tali Farchi, painting, and Benno Hübner, dance, Israel/Holland Art Collective Misery by Iván Rojas, Atomic Theatre Company, Spain/Chile Contemporary dance program “Body and Rhythm”: Calypso by Noa Shadur, Tel Aviv, Israel Juanita Hildegard Bo, solo performance by Galina Borissova, Sofia, Bulgaria Tessitura, solo performance by Lucille Teppa, London, England Bluebird, solo performance by Rosa Mei, 13 Dance Troupe, Belgium Nothing for Body, solo performance by Howool Baek, Germany/Korea
2011 - 5th festival Opening: Odysseus Chaoticus by Masha Nemirovsky, Ish Theatre, Israel Birth Mark by Mimoza Bazova, Sfumato Laboratory Theatre, Bulgaria The Woman I Could Have Been, written and performed by Inbal Lori, directed by Shmulik Levi, Israel The Heart Made a Mess by Juan Luis Mira, Diáfano Theatre Company, Spain Nevena and the Night by Georgi Toshev, Bulgaria The Stone Guest by Alexander Pushkin, directed by Olesya Nevmerzhitskaya, A. N. Ostrovsky Theatre, Russia
2010 - 4th festival Opening: Bleeding, written and directed by Yaron Kerbel, The Room Theatre, Israel The Impossible You, The Impossible Me by Nikolay Georgiev, @lma @lter Theatre-Laboratory, Bulgaria Oedipus: The Celebration of the Blinding by Ruslan Kudasov, coproduction by the Plovdiv, Stara Zagora and Burgas Puppet Theatres, Bulgaria The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol, directed by Ivan Kovachev, Zig Zag Theatre Company, Bulgaria Scenes of Family Life, based on three novels by Anton Chekhov, directed by Olga Vasilieva, Ostrovsky Drama Theatre, Moscow, Russia The Suitcase Play by Federico Nieto – El’ Gazi, directed by Margarita Amarantidi, βλακlist International Theatre Group, Greece – Colombia The Girl With the Nine Wigs, based on the autobiography of Sophie van der Stap, directed by Mina Salehpour, Schauspiel Frankfurt, Germany
2009 - 3rd festival Velyo Goranov, special guest Words of Silence by Laurent Decol, France The Line by Tarick Markovich, Bosnia-Herzegovina Mira Mirrors by Nilson Muniz, Brazil The Smile by Mania Papadimitriou, Greece Pilgrim by Elian Valaji, Israel
2008 - 2nd festival Lazaritsa by Yordan Radichkov, directed by Krikor Azaryan, Tear and Laughter Theatre, Bulgaria I’m Not Dreyfus, written and directed by Yehoshua Sobol, Chamber Theatre, Tel Aviv, Israel Futurological Congress by Stanisław Lem, directed by Marcel Luxinger, Schauspiel Frankfurt, Germany The Diary of a Madman by Nikolai Gogol, directed by Takis Zamaryas, Onstage Art Theatre, Athens, Greece Hooligan’s Confession by Sergei Yesenin, directed by Valeriy Taganski, Taganka Theatre, Moscow, Russia M. Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Koran by Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt, directed by Snezhina Tankovska, Ivan Vazov National Theatre, Sofia, Bulgaria
2007 - 1st festival: The curator is the Bulgarian director Krikor Azaryan Oscar and the Lady in Pink by Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt, directed by Yordan Slaveykov, Vratza Drama Theatre, Bulgaria Nothing More Beautiful by Oliver Bukovski, directed by Mladen Alexiev, Nikolay Binev Youth Theatre, Sofia, Bulgaria Martin, Dancho and Their Mother, written and directed by Kamen Donev, Ivan Vazov National Theatre, Sofia, Bulgaria Partly It’s About Love, Partly It’s About Killing by Fiona Sprott, directed by Stilyan Petrov, Ivan Vazov National Theatre, Sofia, Bulgaria Obsessed by Koraksia Kortez, directed by Marcel Luxinger, Schauspiel Frankfurt, Germany
References
External links official website The dancer Mihaela Griveva about her work and about the festival About the "Other side" show at the festival http://institutpolski.org/?tribe_events=mezhdunaroden-festival-za-teatar-i-savremenen-tants-chernata-kutiya&lang=pl https://web.archive.org/web/20160303200646/http://institutpolski.org/?tribe_events=ix-%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%B6%D0%B4%D1%83%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BD-%D1%84%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BB-%D0%B7%D0%B0-%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%8A%D1%80-%D0%B8-%D1%81%D1%8A%D0%B2&lang=pl https://web.archive.org/web/20160303203627/http://www.iicsofia.esteri.it/IIC_Sofia/webform/SchedaEvento.aspx?id=455 http://kultura.bg/web/истината-за-човека/ https://web.archive.org/web/20160303172101/https://web.archive.org/web/20160303172101/http://timeart.me/bg/stcena/festivali/Festivalyt-Chernata-kutiJa-2015-nablijava_14459 http://timeart.me/bg/stcena/festivali/Festivalyt-Chernata-kutiJa-2015-nablijava_14459 https://web.archive.org/web/20160303191741/http://www.artualno.info/teatar-savremenen-tants-i-kontserti-na-devetiya-mezhdunaroden-festival-chernata-kutiya http://bgdancer.info/2015/05/22/девети-фестивал-за-театър-и-съвремене/ http://podtepeto.com/art/chernata-kutiya-festivalt-na-tvorcheskiya-duh-i-talant/ http://pik.bg/започва-фестивалът-черната-кутия-в-пловдив-news341071.html https://web.archive.org/web/20160303213632/http://plovdiv.topnovini.bg/node/609540 http://www.dariknews.bg/view_article.php?article_id=1444475 https://web.archive.org/web/20160303170428/http://bnt.bg/part-of-show/mezhdunaroden-festival-za-teata-r-i-sa-vremenen-tants-chernata-kutiya-v-plovdiv