Fast Forward 2024

Fast Forward ends with the ceremony for awards from the audience, the young jury and the festival jury. And then we’ll celebrate the final party together!

JURIES & AUDIENCE AWARD
A jury is a group of people who have been invited to publicly describe what they’ve seen. Of course there are always different perspectives on a production and that’s why it’s so interesting to hear about them. In 2024, there will again be a Fast Forward Young Jury: five young people and one mentor will visit the festival together and make their decision on the last night of the festival, as will the international jury of experts and the audience with the audience award. We’re looking forward to an awards ceremony with lots of different voices!

FESTIVALJURY
The 2024 festival jury includes a director and professor of directing, a curator and dramaturge, a theatre critic and the head dramaturge of the Staatsschauspiel Dresden. On the last night, the jury will award a prize to one of the eight festival productions. The award-winner(s) will then be invited to create a new production for the Staatsschauspiel Dresden. Before its final deliberation, the jury also will meet representatives of the acting ensemble at the Staatsschauspiel Dresden to exchange views on the works they have seen.

Anja Suša, b. 1973 in Belgrade, studied Directing at the Belgrade Academy of Theatre, completed a master’s in Philosophy and was the recipient of a Herder grant at the Faculty for the Social and Human Sciences in Vienna. From 2002 – 2011, she was director of the Belgrade children’s and youth theatre „Duško Radović“. From 2006 – 2016, she curated the international theatre festival BITEF in Belgrade. She has directed around 50 productions in Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Sweden, Denmark and Poland. Since 2019, she has been the head of the Directing programme at the University of the Arts in Stockholm.

Gábor Thury, b. 1990 in Budapest, studied Dramaturgy at the Budapest School for Theatre and Film (SZFE). Since 2013, he has been working in the independent scene in Hungary, including with the director Regisseur Kornél Mundruczó and as a member of the theatre collective STEREO AKT with Martin Boross. From 2015 – 2017, he was assistant dramaturge at the Thalia Theater Hamburg, from 2018 – 2021, dramaturge for dramatic theatre at the Lucerne Theatre. His focuses include experimental performance, socio-political aspects of the theatre and collective and participatory formats. Since 2022, he has been curator for theatre and performance at the festival steirischer herbst in Graz.

Lina Wölfel, b. 1998 in Naila, studied Cultural Studies and Aesthetic Practice with a focus on theatre and media at the University of Hildesheim and Journalism at the University of Leipzig. As a freelance writer, she writes for publications such as the Hildesheimer Allgemeine Zeitung, jetzt.de, nd-aktuell, Deutsche Welle, Süddeutsche Zeitung and for Theater der Zeit, where, as the online editor since 2021, she has been significantly responsible for the redesign of its digital platform. Together with Nathalie Eckstein, she develops teaching formats at the Academy for Contemporary Theatre Journalism.

Jörg Bochow, b. 1963 in Budapest, studied Theatre Studies at the Humboldt University Berlin, where he completed his PhD and was a research assistant until the year 2000. From 2000 – 2005, he taught Theatre Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto, Canada, was the head dramaturge and deputy artistic director at the Staatsschauspiel Stuttgart and head of the Dramaturgy programme at the Academy for Performing Arts Baden-Württemberg from 2005 – 2013, and from 2013 – 2017, head dramaturge at the Deutsches SchauSpielHaus Hamburg. Since 2017, he has been the head dramaturge and deputy artistic director at the Staatsschauspiel Dresden.

FAST FORWARD YOUNG JURY
A festival for young stage directors should have a young jury too. The young generation’s view is no doubt a very unique one. In art, in theatre, in storytelling, on and in front of the stage, it is also always about the resonating body that we are as the audience. It’s about the echo that a production triggers in us, whether that’s identification, distancing, sympathy or rejection, the experience of a new feeling or an intense encounter with an idea. Sometimes being the audience is work, theatre professionals know this very well. That’s why we’re happy to welcome five young people to the young jury again this year, who will watch all festival productions with professional support and also award a prize just like the festival jury. They’ll meet the artists, have discussions, give praise, applaud and enjoy the whole festival programme. At the award ceremony, the young jury will announce and explain their choice, and then the Fast Forward Young Jury Prize will be awarded once again!

AUDIENCE AWARD
After four days of the festival, we would also like to ask you, the audience, which of the festival shows was most touching, surprising, provocative, inspiring or made you think. You can get your voting cards at each performance and from the front of house staff in the Kleines Haus. Don’t forget: every vote matters!