The festival aims to provide a space for students, educators, and other theater professionals to come together to present and discuss their work and methods. The jury plays a key role in this.
The jury offers an expert perspective and helps identify exceptional student projects. The SETKÁNÍ/ENCOUNTER International Festival of Theater Schools is thus not merely a world of art for its own sake, but a place for a lively exchange of experiences and constructive feedback.
This year’s jurors are a diverse group of experts from various fields of theater production—ranging from directing and dramaturgy to set design and criticism. Their task will be to carefully review the productions in the main program and select those that deserve recognition. At the end of the festival, they will present the Marta Award, which is exclusively for student performances—whether in acting, directing, music, or the technical aspects of the production.
Sára Torley-Havas
I was born in 1998 in Budapest. I am a freelance dramaturg based in Hungary, working across both institutional theatre and independent, alternative productions.
I am particularly interested in site-specific theatre and community-based projects, where the relationship between space, audience, and performers can be reimagined.
I completed my studies in 2021 at the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest. Due to the political restructuring of the institution by the Hungarian government during my final year, my diploma was issued by the Academy of Performing Arts Baden-Württemberg.
Davide Giovanzana
Davide Giovanzana is a theatre director, theatre pedagogue, and researcher with Italian, Swiss, and Finnish backgrounds, based in Helsinki. His work draws on physical theatre, mask performance, and object theatre. His most recent book, Performing Violence (Routledge), reconsiders the possibilities and limits of representing violence on stage. He is Honorary Professor at the Latvian Culture Academy, former Visiting Professor of Artistic Research at the Theatre Academy of Helsinki, and currently University Lecturer in Acting at Tampere University. He serves as Artistic Director of the Finnish theatre company Teatteri Metamorfoosi, which has performed widely in Finland and internationally.
Aris Pretelin-Esteves
I am a Mexican vegan scenographer and scenic artist who cares deeply about animals, plants, insects, humans, objects and places. My work is about understanding myself as an artist-activist with social responsibility and as part of a community. I design open ecoscenographic actions that promote opportunities for humans and nature to connect with one another and participate in the recovery of public spaces. My materials include waste, the discarded and the abandoned. I am also a professor and academic researcher. My works and papers have been exhibited in Prague Quadrennial since 2015 and World Stage Design since 2017. I am co curator of the Mexican Student´s Pavillion for Prague Quadrennial 2027.
Amin Boudrika
Amin Boudrika is a Moroccan scenographer, stage director, and researcher. He is a professor of scenography and head of the Scenography Department at the Higher Institute of Dramatic Art and Cultural Animation (ISADAC) in Rabat. His work focuses on contemporary scenography, visual dramaturgy, and the relationship between space, memory, and performance. He has created several theatre productions presented in Morocco and internationally, and he regularly participates in international scenography exhibitions and theatre events.
