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It gives me great pleasure to present another Festival de Otoño hosted by the Community of Madrid. I am once again fortunate to have the responsibility to bring one of Spain's best theatre events together. For years, we have been working hard to develop the Festival’s identity and to attract people and theatre groups to participate. We do so firm in our conviction that the Community of Madrid deserves an excellent event that brings theatrical joy and openness to the arts scene. It is an event that is embracing of multilingualism and, therefore, promotes encounters and dialogues. It is a Festival that takes place in a variety of spaces from the great coliseums to the local town hall, from the stages of Madrid Capital to those of its surrounding townships and, of course, in unusual spaces. This is a Festival de Otoño with a huge yearning for excitement and reflection through a great line-up of events, like the many poems forming part of the anthologies and mosaics, all unique but making up an amazing experience.
It’s always in the back of my mind that a festival is a celebration above anything else and an act of trust in a shared future. We were able to celebrate the first edition whilst still in the pandemic and since then we have always been accompanied with a strong feeling of hope. Another lesson we learned from that first edition is that, as the poet said, "no person is an island". Since taking on the role, I have been looking to build bridges, alliances and meet with other festivals, institutions, cultural actors, etc. This willingness to collaborate is essential to provide the Festival not only with more resources and visibility, but also to grow its potential and broaden its horizons. We are always creating space for new people who bring new and fresh ideas and to offer exciting perspectives for growth. This year, for example, we are excited to start working with the Círculo de Bellas Artes, the Compañía Nacional de Teatro Clásico and the Museo de Artes Decorativas. They join the more than fifty that have hosted or are hosting the Festival de Otoño in the vast array of venues and performance spaces. The Festival de Otoño embraces diversity, celebrates it and makes it its own. We are what surprises us. We are also that which we do not yet understand, but we feel as our own.
Before quickly going through the programme, I would like to thank the public for their warm response in recent years. Our audience, wherever they have been from, has been generous, full of curiosity, ready to be surprised, have asked questions and have been excited. The Festival has had an average occupancy rate of close to 90%, even during the pandemic, and the best revenue numbers seen throughout the Festival's history. These days I have reviewed the names of the more than 150 companies and creators that have taken part in the past four Festivals and of all the participating spaces. The number has increased exponentially over the past four Festivals. We have expanded the Festival de Otoño and, although there is still a lot of work ahead of us - the pandemic affected the first two years - we have still managed to turn it into a cultural reference point. I insist nothing would have been possible if it were not for the hard work and great effort put in by everyone involved. And, for the people on the front line, I give a special thanks to you.
I receive great kindness from spectators and tour companies who take part in the Festival, not only here in Madrid but also when I travel around as the Festival’s director. This goes way beyond anything numbers can tell us, despite also being important. I always feel thankful and appreciative for the Community of Madrid’s Festival de Otoño and for the clarity of its artistic approaches. Although there is still work to be done, what we have already achieved is a testament to the fact we are on track for a great Festival.
Every decision I have taken, I have followed through right to the end to not only ensure of its importance but also of its utility. From the Festival’s leadership team, I want to be useful to spectators, to my colleagues, and to the teenager inside of me who fell in love with theatre and loved going to the Community of Madrid's Festival de Otoño.
The 41st Festival de Otoño
At this year's Festival, there will be 38 theatre companies, groups and artists coming from 12 countries and 6 of Spain’s autonomous regions. This will be a Festival with 9 world premieres, 7 premieres here in Spain and 34 for the Community of Madrid. The schedule of events will take place across 13 venues in Madrid Capital and another 15 more in the Community of Madrid’s townships.
Another year running brings together text theatre, object theatre, physical theatre, dance and, this year, much more than last year, there will be live music. Our goal is to transcend boundaries and that the stage be a place for hybridisation, for that which escapes taxonomies.
All the shows at this year’s Festival encourage us to look at ourselves in a different way, to reimagine ourselves, to discover that an unexpected gesture is enough to open new possibilities of life. So is the gaze of the photographer and object poet Chema Madoz. This year's poster - which one of them features his work - reminds us of the poetry that sleeps in all things and is enlivened by their unexpected combination. There are secret worlds in everything around us if we dare to break the syntax of the everyday. This is what we want from the Festival de Otoño: a space for surprises.
Over three weeks, big names from abroad from the world of theatre will come to Madrid and take part in the theatrical arts, one of Madrid's main identities, but this year will specially focus on the home-grown talent. The Festival is also a promoter of proposals that can only be seen in its programme and that, we trust, will be memorable. This will be the path to move forward on in future Festivals. The one we now present to you makes way for the Festival to continue growing even more, widening the walls of its open house, putting in more and more seating so we can all enjoy it. Welcome to the Community of Madrid’s Festival de Otoño.
Alberto Conejero
Artistic Director, Festival de Otoño in the Community of Madrid
He has a Stage Direction and Playwriting Degree on the RESAD (Real Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático) and a PhD in the Madrid Complutense University.
From his dramatic production career, we highlight: El mar: visión de unos niños que no lo han visto nunca (2022); La geometría del trigo, National Dramatic Literature Award (2019); Los días de la nieve (2017), Lorca Award in the category of Best Author (2019); Todas las noches de un día, winner of the III Theatrical Texts Competition from the AAT (2018); La piedra oscura (2015), Max Award in the category of Best Dramatic Author and Ceres Award 2016; Ushuaia, Ricardo López de Aranda Award 2013; ¿Cómo puedo no ser Montgomery Clift? , winner of the LAM Contest 2010; Húngaros, National University Theatre Award in 2000; and Fiebre, National Short Theater Award 1999.
He has also intervened in some adaptations and rewritings: Medea (Teatre Lliure); Electra(Ballet Nacional de España and Teatro de la Zarzuela, 2017); Fuenteovejuna (Compañía Nacional de Teatro Clásico, 2017); Troyanas (Festival de Teatro Clásico de Mérida, 2017); Rinconete y Cortadillo(Sexpeare Teatro, 2016); Amor de don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín (Festival de Otoño a Primavera / Metatarso, 2016); Proyecto Homero / Odisea (La Joven Compañía, 2016); among others.
In february 2020, he published En esta casa, his second poem collection, after Si descubres un incendio, written in 2017.
Selected Plays:
La geometría del trigo
Ushuaia
¿Cómo puedo no ser Montgomery Clift?
La piedra oscura
Todas las noches de un día
The poster for this year’s Festival features an image taken by the
photographer Chema Madoz.
Chema Madoz (Madrid, 1958) is one of Spain's most prominent contemporary
photographers. He has international prestige, which is evident from his
presence at the last Les Rencontres d'Arles photography festival. In 1983,
he displayed his first work with the Madrid Royal Photographic Society.
Only in 1990 did he succeed in defining his inspiration and developing his
own language: he decided to work exclusively with objects. Chema Madoz has
been awarded a Culture Award of the Community of Madrid in the photographic
arts category (2012), the Spanish National Photography Award (2000), and
PHotoEspaña Award (1998), among others. His works are exhibited at museums
and collections such as the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, the
Telefónica Foundation, the Andalusian Center of Photography, the Juan March
Foundation, the IVAM Centre Julio González, the Ministry of Culture and the
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
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