HONORARY AWARD OF THE 27TH ISTANBUL THEATRE FESTIVAL
The 27th Istanbul Theatre Festival Honorary Award was presented to Prof. Mehmet Birkiye, Head of the Drama and Acting Department at our university. The award was presented to Prof. Birkiye by Bülent Eczacıbaşı, Chairman of the Board of Directors of İKSV (Istanbul Culture and Arts Foundation).
The promotional event for the 27th International Istanbul Theatre Festival, which will be held between October 25th and November 25th this year, took place on September 4th. At the promotional event, the 27th Istanbul Theatre Festival Honorary Award was presented to Prof. Mehmet Birkiye, Head of the Drama and Acting Department at our university, who is also a director and actor.
The Istanbul Theatre Festival Honorary Award was first given to Yıldız Kenter in 1997, and in subsequent years to individuals who have made worldwide contributions to theatre, such as Melih Cevdet Anday, Robert Wilson, Genco Erkal, Pina Bausch, Şükran Güngör, Theodoros Terzopoulos, Müşfik Kenter, Münir Özkul, Peter Brook, Eimuntas Nekrosius, Engin Cezzar, Gülriz Sururi, Ferhan Şensoy, Thomas Ostermeier, and Tadashi Suzuki. The 27th Istanbul Theatre Festival Honorary Award was presented to Prof. Mehmet Birkiye by the Chairman of the Board, Bülent Eczacıbaşı.
Mehmet Birkiye began his speech at the ceremony by saying: “Looking at the masters who have received this award since 1997, it’s impossible for me to hide the smile that fills my heart. Especially when I think of my teacher Yıldız Kenter, who received this award in 1997… I first stepped outside the safe boundaries of the theater I knew in 1975, through the door opened by The New Shakespeare Company’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, staged at Rumeli Hisarı as part of the Istanbul Festival. And after 1989, this door opened even more intensely with the Istanbul Theater Festival, reaching east, west, north, and south. I follow many directors and theaters that entered through that door opened by the Istanbul Theater Festival. As a theater professional, I am grateful. However, the festival has another feature that I don’t know how to describe. The rhythm that connects us to the fire of Dionysus. It is exciting to meet thousands of theater lovers, young and old, on the common ground of this rhythm. Therefore, let’s love and promote the Istanbul Theater Festival,” he said.
At the awards ceremony, Bülent Eczacıbaşı, Chairman of the Board of Directors of İKSV, Yağız Eyüboğlu, President of Koç Holding Energy Group, on behalf of the festival sponsors, and Işıl Kasapoğlu, curator of the 27th Istanbul Theatre Festival, each gave a speech.
