United States of Europe or a federation of equal European National states? – this is also a very poignant and dramatic question of the cultural scene, which could redefine the place,
role and contemporary mission of national theatres.
What motivates the artists who bring performances representative of their communities to us, who believe that the notions of linguistic, national and cultural identity remain
meaningful in the current globalized world?
What makes the theatre of an old or new nation a national theatre, what is a national theatre for a an autonomous, but not independent state and what type of theatre should serve
a people who live across several countries, have no country, no autonomy, but they do have a specific culture?

Participants of the roundtable discussion:

S. E. Wilmer theatre scholar and playwright, professor emeritus of the Dublin Trinity College. Since more than a decade, he is part of the STEP international research team established
for comparative studies of the theatres of seven Western and Eastern European countries. The main focus of his varied interests (American and Finnish drama and theatre, Beckett)
is national theatres and their changing functions; creation of identity in contemporary theatre.

Magdolna Balkányi, associate professor at Institute of Germanistic Studies at the Debrecen University. Her area of research is contemporary German drama and theatre, issues of
Hungarian-German relations a drama translation. She led for ten years the Hungarian branch of the STEP international research team on comparative theatre studies.

Ildikó Sirató, head of the Theatre Collection of the Széchenyi National Library, associate professor of the Pannon University, expert on Estonian and Finnish theatre. Her main research
area is the history of Hungarian and European National Theatres.

László Koppány Csáji, cultural anthropologist, ethnographer, fellow of the Pécs Science University. Areas of research: ethnicity research, cultural constructs, discourse analysis. Editor
of the Napút literary and cultural magazine, and of Napút books.

During the roundtable there will be a screening of an interview with Norwegian resident Sami playwright Sara Margrethe Oskal, conducted on March 28, 2018 at the Gáspár Károli
Protestant University.

Moderators: Magdolna Balkányi and Zsolt Szász, executive editor of Szcenárium.

(20 March 2018)