Focus on the European Dramatic Residencies in KVS

Karolis Kaupinis

What are you working on? 

One of the things that interests me most in theatre is how time is different from other art forms, because of its ephemerality. I’m writing a piece in which people live in both the past and the future, but can’t be in the present. It will probably be related to Lithuanian history and the history of Lithuanian theatre. I’m starting from an idea of a mockumentary piece about a legendary theatre performance that in reality never existed.

How do the residencies fit in your practice as a playwright? 

As I'm not originally from the theatre industry, I mostly used the residencies in Madrid, Brussels and Berlin to grasp what's happening in the field of theatre within these countries, as well as to explore the pressing issues shaping their societies. I'm not a big fan of political art and I noticed that a lot of what's happening in theatre is in some way political and being in Brussels validated this thought. So, it helps me to find my place here.

What are your thoughts on the current state of playwriting in Europe? 

It seems to me that the deconstruction of narrative in theatre has complicated the writer’s possibility to tell a story. Other means of art such as literature or cinema seem to be more suitable for that. The performances that impress me the most on stage are when the text is secondary and would make little sense if read separately, meaning the performances are very directorial. The initial start is always the author’s vision, not the writer’s text. 

That’s why I’m reading plenty of classical plays and trying to understand how to write for theatre in the present day, so it wouldn’t become obsolete. I want to give freedom for directorial decisions, but at the same time want the story to remain easily re-tellable, and this is important to me. We need narration and stories nowadays. They help to make sense of the world, while algorithmic randomness of social media doesn’t. 

About Karolis Kaupinis

Karolis Kaupinis (1987) was born and raised in Vilnius, Lithuania and is a graduate in Political Science. Karolis has been working as a foreign news editor for Lithuanian National Broadcaster, and later switched to film and stage directing as well as writing and curatorial activities, whilst teaching at the Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy.

Vedrana Klepica

What can you (already) tell us about the project you’re working on?

It’s a project that has been on my mind for a while now, and it deals with the notion of ‘home’, both in a philosophical and in an economical sense. I wanted to ask myself what makes us feel that we ‘belong’ to a certain place, or that we have a right to be in a certain place, thinking about how the hypercomercialisation of real estate, local, and international politics and tourism affects our relationships to these places, to certain buildings and the history they have. Why is ‘home’ in the most concrete sense not a basic human right, but subject to a very complex set of influences that mostly have to do with the tragic concept of privilege, politics and class. How are we using all of these buildings and structures around us? Are we making the best of them?  It is really one of the biggest questions we are going to have to deal with in the 21st century. My play is a meta play about people trying to deal with these exact questions. 

Can you talk a little bit about your process, and about the place of the Brussels’ residency in the process? 

The great thing about this residency was that the writers had the time to actually conceptualise their ideas, and to discuss them with the team from each theater they were guests in. My idea was to use each of the trips to do some field research, to talk to activists, journalists, rent control organisations and to gather materials that would make the topics more contemporary, accurate, and really nest them it the reality of all these places. I learnt a lot about the specific political and social situation in Brussels, and how that situation affects the residents of the city.  And I had a really productive week in KVS, not only for researching, but also just talking to the team from the theatre, such as  Dina Dooreman, one of the KVS’ dramaturges, and my fellow residents, Karolis and Maite, brainstorming the topic and seeing how my ideas are received by them. 

What are your thoughts on the current state of playwriting in Europe?

Playwrights are a very specific breed of writers, and for me they are the most interesting when they are closely connected to the medium of theatre, be it as practitioners who are part of rehearsals or just understand how the mechanism functions. Theatre can come from so many starting points – from text, visual material, movement etc… but the importance of contemporary performance texts is irreplaceable in society. 

It's a thermometer of the social and political momentum we are living in. We have amazing writers in Europe, but the problem is that they’re often perceived as ‘outsiders’ from the theatre. They will write something and then occasionally it gets staged, and this shouldn’t be the case. I think it’s very important for writers to be a part of a supported development program. Good plays need support and time to be developed, as much as directors, choreographers and artists need a place and means to work.

Programmes such as this one are also good for the theatres, because they need to find writers that resonate with their program, topics and aesthetics. So, I am very supportive of this residency, and think that all of the partners have done an amazing job trying to understand what the writers really need from them. I specifically want to mention my theatre ZKM from Croatia, who has always had a very progressive repertoire, but it’s probably the first theatre in Croatia to offer a program for writers on this level. And I’m sure in the end it’s the audiences who will profit the most from the material that has been created through these programs.   

About Vedrana Klepica

Vedrana Klepica works as a writer and theatre director. Her work mainly focuses on topics of class and privilege, and is influenced by an interdisciplinary approach combining material that is part documentary part fictional. Her plays have been performed on big and small stages in Croatia and abroad - UK, Australia, Argentina, Chile, Austria, Portugal, Serbia, Germany, France, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein. Her work include: J.A.T.O, To Fuck Because We Want To, The Tragic Death of the Economic Analyst, The Whistle-blower, Prairie Oysters, Our class, Lepa Brena Project, Instructions for understanding multiannual plants, Keinberg, Mileva, Things That Burn Easily etc.  She has been translated into English, French, German, Polish and Spanish. 

Maité Perez Astorga

What can you tell us about the project you are working on?

When I began to imagine this work, "Europa catacrack", I knew that I wanted to write about the European crisis and about the crisis of an old man. At the end of his life, the old man sees how the project in which he believed so much (Europe, the Europe of solidarity and transcending borders) isn’t what he dreamed of, all while his own mind begins to fail him. I wanted to write about social and personal collapse and think about what happens when all structures disappear. 

The play tells the story of a family. A father, his daughter - named Europa - and his grandson. The daughter suffers from the ills of the welfare society. She is unable to be present in her life and consequently is losing her son. She is the one who falls apart without her father being able to do much to help her. 

The crisis in the European Union is a humanitarian crisis. I believe that the only way to change things is by appealing not just to social responsibility, but to individual responsibility too. How are we going to collaborate for a greater good, further beyond Europe. How are we going to take care of the world, if we are not capable of taking care of ourselves? To see our children for what they are, not for the project we wish them to be; to see ourselves. 

In this sense, I would say that the image that best defines this piece is the crack. A crack is a fracture, something that breaks, which can be painful and the consequence of a crisis, but which simultaneously opens a door to another side. A crack can be the prelude to evolution, to change. 

The work speaks of life and death and for the yearning of transcendence. 

Can you tell us about your process, and the place of the residency in it?

I am writing this work from a very intuitive place. For several months I have not tried to find a structure, nor a place where it happens. Instead, I have allowed myself to write down the images that come to mind in relation to the themes, and to write individual scenes based on those images. I remained deeply true to these visions, embracing them without judgment. Writing a lot without understanding what I was writing, and with a deep respect for the creative process. Working on trusting what came to me, even if it didn’t make sense at first. It’s as if I had imagined that the work had already been created elsewhere, and in order to bring it here, the best thing I could do was to remain open and listen, without letting my fears or need to control interfere.

This attitude has allowed me to adapt very well to the environment around me, and in this sense, each residency has been super inspiring. In Madrid, I feel that I discovered the seed of the story and in ussels, I took the next step by uncovering its tone. 

Something very interesting happened to me here, I was writing really crazy scenes, very surrealistic, and I didn't quite understand how I was going to relate that to the story of a father, a daughter and a grandson. Suddenly, when walking around the city, I started to see paintings by surrealist artists. I followed them like someone following breadcrumbs through a forest until they took me to the Magritte exhibition at the Magritte Museum. 

Of course I went in, and discovered to my delight that besides the paintings the exhibition was full of quotes from the artist. It was as if he was talking to me, a personal guide almost. Because as he said, surrealism appears when reality becomes so narrow that it is necessary to transcend it. This was one of the gems that I uncovered in Brussels, to trust in the surrealist part of the work. Since then, it’s become clearer how I link this with the family’s history. 

I also treasure the conversations I had with Dina [Dooreman] and Kathy [Van Den Bossche], and with my fellow playwrights Karolis and Vedrana, who helped me to understand how the European experience outside of what I know in my country. And finally, being accompanied by my father and son has meant that our experiences together have been inspiring when thinking about the collective experience of the characters. 

What are your thoughts on the current state of playwriting in Europe?

I don't know exactly what is happening in European dramaturgy, beyond London, Berlin, and Brussels where it seems to me there is a clear commitment to promote contemporary national dramaturgy. 

In Spain, I think we find ourselves in a good moment where different public theaters are programming contemporary playwriting, which encourages today's creatives to imagine perspectives from the present day, which is wonderful. Artists are uniquely positioned to offer fresh perspectives on the world around them, as they deeply engage with and reflect the essence of their time. This in no way detracts from the universality of the great authors and texts, but the problem is that it’s difficult to make a living only from playwriting, at least in Spain. Many of us have to combine it with other jobs, such as television etc and although on a creative level this is a good thing, I feel bad that not being able to dedicate your time exclusively to playwriting translates into less production of theatrical texts. But all in all, I think it's a good moment for playwriting in which there are many authors trying to write with a critical eye, questioning the establishment and looking for new ways to tell stories. 

About Maité Perez Astorga

Maité Perez Astorga graduated in Audiovisual Communication at the University of Navarra, in the Master of Film and TV Scriptwriting at the Pontifical University of Salamanca and in the annual workshop of Contemporary Stage Direction taught by Carlos Tuñón at the Umbral de Primavera. She combines television and theater working as a screenwriter, playwright, director, assistant director and coach. In 2022, she was one of the 12 finalists for the CDN playwriting grants (Residencias Dramáticas). In 2023 she was selected for the IsLABentura laboratory with her feature film project Una suicida en Mafasca, which finally won the CIMA award and the MUSIC LIBRARY award for best feature film. In 2024 she is the playwright selected by the CDN for the European Dramatic Residence grant.

In theater she has written the plays El bosque despierta, Lejos (co-written with Javier Albalá), Sahara (produced by the Fisahara festival) and De algún tiempo a esta parte... Fracaso? The latter premiered at the Teatro Español under his direction. She has directed the dramatised reading of the play by Benito Pérez Galdós, Bárbara, also for the Teatro Español, whose adaptation is signed by Lucía Carballal. She was the Associate Director of the musical Billy Elliot in Barcelona and the Resident Director in Madrid. She has directed and adapted Dos más dos with David Serrano and Olga Iglesias, and Los miércoles no existen. As Assistant Director, she has worked with Sergio Peris Mencheta, Daniel Veronese, Claudio Tolcachir and David Serrano, among others.

In the audiovisual field, she has written for twelve national and international fiction series and co-directed a couple of episodes of Luimelia, a series for which she was also a coach.