More than 1,500 participants from 30 countries Make the Virtual Good The@ter Festival a Success

by  EVENTFAQS Bureau Entertainment | December 3, 2020 | News

Good The@ter Festival Red Curtain International

The Red Curtain International, a theatre group from Kolkata, executed the Good The@ter Festival featuring live performances online on November 21, 22, 28 and 29. More than 1,500 participants from 30 countries made it a success.

For the awards segment of the festival, each finalist performed live twice before a jury of 11 theatre leaders from seven countries who deliberated on the best in theatre.

The Red Curtain International announced the winners of The Good The@ter Festival, the first to award theatre post-COVID-19, on the basis of online performances. The awards were christened spontaneously by a global audience from 30 countries as ‘The Reddies’.

Here are the winners: 

Best Script: MahanaNarimani, for 'Labor', an ePlay performed from Iran

Best Individual Performance: Nicky Harley, who played Lady Macbeth in a 90-minute version of 'Macbeth', from Northern Ireland

Best Ensemble: The Art of Facing Fear, performed by a cast and crew from Brazil, UK, Sweden, Germany, Senegal, Cape Verde, Nigeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe.

Honorable Mention: One Can Only Laugh, from Tamil Nadu, India.

Most Innovative Use of Technology Joint Winners: Macbeth from Northern Ireland & Metamorphosis from Wales.

Honorable Mention: Fat Kids Are Harder To Kidnap On Zoom, from Singapore.

Best Direction: Ben Pettitt-Wade (Metamorphosis). From Wales.

Honorable Mention: Zoe Seaton (Macbeth), from Northern Ireland.

Best Production: The Art Of Facing Fear. Initiated from Brazil, but with performers from eight more countries.

Honorable Mention: Labor, from Iran.

With this festival, The Red Curtain International announced the formation of the ‘Good The@ter Family’that had given birth to an award which will now be called ‘The Reddies’. Members of this theatre family believe that the audience and actor must be visible to each other for theatre to spread the healing touch. “Good theater is a hospital for the soul," said Rodolfo Garcia Vasquez, whose team won two 'Reddies'.

Sumit Lai Roy, Festival Co-Director and Founder Member, The Red Curtain International, said, “It has been a very satisfying experience to see that the Good The@ter Festival and Awards could attract more than 1,500 participants from 30 countries. Quite organically, a 'Good The@terFamily’ has evolved. Productions from Iran and India got world recognition.”

The proceeds of the Good The@ter Festival will go to theatre artistes in India, who do not have the means to continue performing due to the pandemic-induced closure of theatre spaces. StayINaLIVE, an artistes’ collective, is the donation partner for the festival.

The Red Curtain International also announced plans for a Short The@ter Festival in the first quarter of 2021, a more global version of ‘The Art Of Facing Fear’ with cast and crew in six continents in the second quarter, The Good The@ter Festival & Awards 2021 in the third quarter, and a Joy To The World Festiv@l in the last quarter of 2021.