The Sibiu International Theatre Festival () is one of the most important theatre and performing arts festivals in the world, and the third biggest, after the Festival d'Avignon and the Edinburgh International Festival. FITS takes place in the city of Sibiu, Romania, in June every year and lasts for ten days. Founded in 1993 by Constantin Chiriac, the festival programme features renowned names of the international stage, offering spectators a broad range of sections, with guests from around 73 countries per edition, performing approximately 550 events.
History
In March 1993, Constantin Chiriac organized the National Student Theatre Festival. The participants to this first edition of the festival represented no more than two countries (Republic of Moldova and Romania), and in 1994, the number of participating countries rose to eight, while the following two editions had guests from 21, and 24 countries, respectively. In 1994, the National Student Theatre Festival became the International Festival of Young Professional Theatre. Unlike the first three editions, in which the festival lasted for three days, the 1995 edition had a duration of four days, and for the first time proposed street performances, too. In 1997, the International Festival of Young Professional Theatre became the Sibiu International Theatre Festival (FITS), the name it still holds. Starting with the 1999 edition, it was decided that the festival would last for ten days every year. FITS played a decisive role in the city of Sibiu receiving the title European Capital of Culture 2007. Starting with the 8th edition (25 May – 3 June 2001), FITS has been organized yearly by the Radu Stanca National Theatre in Sibiu, the Sibiu City Hall and the Sibiu Local County, with the support of the Ministry of Culture, the “Lucian Blaga” University in Sibiu, the Romanian Cultural Institute, the Romanian Theatre Union, and the Sibiu County Council, and produced by the Democracy through Culture Foundation.
Slogans
From the 1995 edition on, each year, FITS has unfolded under the sign of a slogan: 1995 - Tolerance 1996 - Violence 1997 - Cultural Identity 1998 - Links 1999 - Creativity 2000 - Alternative 2001 - Challenges 2002 - Bridges 2003 - Tomorrow 2004 - Legacies 2005 - Signs 2006 - Together ?! 2007 - Next 2008 - Energy 2009 - Innovations 2010 - Questions 2011 - Community 2012 - Crisis. Culture makes a difference 2013 - Dialogue 2014 - Uniqueness in diversity 2015 - Growing Smart - Smart Growing 2016 - Building trust 2017 - Love 2018 - Passion 2019 - The art of giving 2020 - Empowered
Sections
Theatre
From the very first edition of the festival, Sibiu saw the presence of some of the most representative international theatre companies, directors, actors, scenographers, which led to a transformation not only in terms of the community's openness to other mentalities, worlds, and cultures, but also to a professionalization of the Romanian performing arts artists and students invited to Sibiu to perform and participate at workshops, conferences, etc.
Throughout its 27 editions, the festival has presented over 1,500 indoor performances (theatre, dance, circus, music, opera, musicals, concerts), of which more than 1,000 theatre shows.
Famous world-class or young directors with a huge potential have contributed to the notoriety of the festival: Rimas Tuminas, Andriy Zholdak, Hanoch Levin, Lev Erenburg, Eugenio Barba, Yuri Kordonsky, Pippo Delbono, Eimuntas Nekrošius, Masahiro Yasuda, Levan Tsuladze, Lars Norén, Peter Brook, Armin Petras, Joël Pommerat, Declan Donnellan, Hideki Noda (playwright), Ivan Vyrypaev, Peter Stein, Wajdi Mouawad, Krystian Lupa, Lev Dodin, Angélica Liddell, Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota, Data Tavadze, Kazuyoshi Kushida, Yoshi Oida, Monika Strzepka, Christoph Marthaler, Thomas Ostermeier, Luk Perceval, Jarosław Fret, Alvis Hermanis, Tim Robbins, Tang Shu-wing, Philippe Genty, Akihiro Yamamoto, Jernej Lorenci, Robert Wilson (director), Eric Lacascade, Lisa Peterson, Eirik Stubø, Timofey Kulyabin, and many more.