The art program for the Athens Epidaurus Festival was announced, presented by artistic director Katerina Evangelatou.

The Athens Epidaurus Festival is completing 70 years of operation this year. World premieres, international co -productions and symphonic music nights with Theodoros Kourentzis are included in this year’s program, and it was announced that the Stavros Niarchos Foundation would be the big donor of the Epidaurus Anniversary Program. This year’s Epidaurus opens with Sophocles’ Antigone by Ulrich Rasche for three days in co -production with the National Theater. Foreign names in the program include Lebanese and Canadian descent, director and actor Wazi Muawant, artistic director of Théâtre National De La Colline. Ziliet Binos will play the lead role in his work.

Maria Protopappa, Yiannis Houvardas, Michael Marmarinos with the KATBE and Dimitris Tarlou are the Greek names of directors who will see their performances at the Ancient Theater of Epidaurus, and there will be a repetition of the performance of “Oresteia”.

As Katerina Evangelatou said at a press conference: “The Athens Epidaurus Festival is completing 70 years of operation this year. In these seven decades of uninterrupted artistic activity and creative conversation with the domestic and with the international stage we wanted to honor with a series of distinctive and large -scale projects, which we have included in our program. Today we have the pleasure of presenting you with the Epidaurus program, which will include eight events. We will see four productions and co -productions of the festival, performances with the stamp of our two national theaters and two independent productions. It is worth noting that seven of the eight projects will premiere in Epidaurus. The public will have the opportunity to enjoy world premieres from leading directors in monumental works of ancient drama, international co -productions and new works inspired by ancient Drama, written by distinguished contemporary creators, in the context of the Contemporary Ancient Ancient Circle, Theater but also a special night of symphonic music, according to Exception to Epidaurus. I would like to emphasize once again how important we consider to be presented at the Ancient Theater of Epidaurus specifically designed for this area. This year, starting with the celebration of our anniversary year, we include four separate productions in our program – three theatrical performances and a concert – that will premiere in Epidaurus, and many of them will be present exclusively there and will not tour. “

Katerina Evangelatou also observed: “Such unique works are of particular complexity both at the level of artistic design and implementation. And we would not be able to present them today with pride, if, beyond the support of the Ministry of Culture, a stable companion in our vision, we did not have the extremely generous offer of a great donor. So we are pleased to announce our cooperation with the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, a great donor of the Anniversary Program in Epidaurus. Thanks to its valuable help and polite support, we make great productions and co -productions this year, presenting to the public of Epidaurus leading Greek and foreign artists from the field of theater and music music, fields that brought to the forefront of the 70th Festival. His presence in the cultural life of our country.

Seventy years of Athens Epidaurus Festival, 70 Years of Culture. We treat the cultural good as a meeting place and point of connection of people and communities. The festival listens to important issues of our time and talks to the public, not only through the contemporary themes of the performances presented, but also through separate initiatives, which this anniversary gives us the opportunity to highlight. On the occasion of the presentation of the program at the Ancient Theater of Epidaurus for the summer of 2025, but also at the Small Ancient Epidaurus Theater for July (the August program in Little Epidaurus is purely musical and will be announced soon, along with the program of the Festival at the Festival. Athens), Once again the main pillars of the Epidaurus Festival, pillars that are the core of our goals in recent years. Epidaurus means festival. And Epidaurus means ancient drama. The focus of our planning and a steady protagonist remains the ancient drama and its evolution over the years. The Festival establishes initiatives aimed at research and fruitful dialogue on the tradition of the genre. An institution with 70 years of history must have a look at the future, even if he needs to take risks and dare. Our mission is to link the heritage of ancient drama to modern figures and dramaturgical pursuits, and not the museum representation of a speculation about what was once the form of these works/performances. Our goal is to create theatrical events about contemporary viewer and evolve his perspective – in the world and in art. To this end, we make targeted efforts and have taken strategic actions to strengthen modern drama in dialogue with ancient texts. Texts that still resonate today and are invited to stop being bold in reading. “

And the artistic director concluded: “One of the most recognizable actions in this direction is the Contemporary Ancients circle, which concerns the commissioning of writing and directing and the publication of theatrical works starting with ancient drama. This cycle, which closes five years this year, was designed specifically for Epidaurus – both for the ancient theater and for the small theater of ancient Epidaurus, where they were presented from 2021 to 2024 thirteen new works. These works have been published and have been the backbone of the festival’s theatrical series. For example, we will mention some of the distinguished writers and creators who in recent years responded to our call and composed works for this cycle: Maya Tsand, Thiago Rodriguez, Alexandra K., Christos Hammouidis, Vangelis Hadji, Vangelis Mavritsakis et al. The Contemporary Ancients cycle this year is significantly expanding, with more projects and more species. In addition to the creation of Wazi Muawant at the ancient Epidaurus Theater, this year’s July in Little Epidaurus is fully dedicated to the goals of the circle. It begins with the Educational Program – Studio Residency Paros and continues with five works inspired by ancient drama. These are works not only theatrical, but also musical theatrical and cinematic. We feel this year that the circle is going through a new, freer phase, with a creative mix of artistic genres and languages, which always have the ancient drama and her legacy of today. But apart from the new works created by the legend and ancient drama, our systematic invitation of distinguished directors from abroad, representatives of new artistic languages ​​and European theatrical tradition, work with talented actors and artists. Contributors from Greece. This initiative, which continues this year for the third year (Castorf in 2023, Kuliabin in 2024), creatively grabs the artistic community of our country and opens communication channels with international scenes. Our Educational Programs: The Little Sacrifies, The Theater Education Program in Epidaurus, the Parodos – Research Intercourse for the New Drama in Ancient Drama, which is being held at the small theater of Epidaurus and the Open Plan Program, which continued this year for the fourth year with very creative educational activities inspired by ancient drama, extending for yet another year the activity of the festival and during the winter months. The Open Plan Platform remained true to fashion, pottery and dance this year, but it also invited us to discover the magical universe of paper and its special arts and techniques. This year we were inspired by Dionysus and Apollo, archetypal forms that express the vortex of contradictions. Drawing inspiration from the brilliant and all -powerful divine twin we find in endless mythological episodes and repeatedly in ancient drama, Open Plan’s workshops offered us moments of creative expression and imagination this year. “