page_title: International Sabancı Theater Festival
section_title: Festival in 2010
hierarchical_section_title: International Sabancı Theater Festival / Festival in 2010
caption_attribution_description: English: Art Exhibition at Taşköprü during Sabancı Theatre Festival
context_page_description: International Sabancı Theater Festival or International Adana Theater Festival, more precisely State Theater-Sabancı International Adana Theater Festival, is theatre festival held every year in Adana since 1999. It is a joint organization of Turkish State Theatres, the Ministry of Tourism and Culture and the Sabancı Foundation. Many national and international theater groups perform their plays during the festival.
  Featuring as an annual international festival lasting a month, the festival entertains almost 20 thousand devotees of drama, who are eager to see the plays performed during the festival. The festival plays were only staged in Adana until 2005 and since then some of the plays are also staged at Sabancı University's Performing Arts Center in Istanbul. The "Sakıp Sabancı Lifetime Achievement Award" is presented on the opening day of the festival since 2005, to honor and recognize the role of the masters, who had profound contributions to the evolution of the drama as an art.
context_section_description: The 12th Theater Festival began on March 27, again on the World Theatre Day, with a spectacular show by the Italian Studio Festi ensemble. Studio Festi is known across the world with their fascinating visual performances and dramatic creations orchestrated in city centers, natural surroundings and historical sites, and their show for the Festival opening viewed by thousands of people with great interest.
  The one-hour "Concert for Elements" performed on the Seyhan River featured Studio Festi dancers defying gravity atop huge planets and model ships rising to the sky. Dancing with fire, water sphere choreographies and the fireworks show were among other captivating spectacles performed by the group. The festival reaches more than 20 thousand spectators every year, and features 21 performances by 12 foreign and 6 Turkish ensembles this year. In addition, 5 ensembles performed their plays at the Sabanci University Performing Arts Center, bringing the festival spirit to Istanbul.
  
  General Manager of State Theaters Lemi Bilgin said, 
  “We are proud to have the 12th Theater Festival in Adana. Starting on the World Theatre Day, this festival is first in a series of festivals by the State Theaters.  We are as excited as we had been a decade ago. We are delighted to be depicting the sacred face of drama. We are happy to blend peoples and traditions of various countries.  Finally, we are blissful that art is making its mark on the fertile lands of Adana.  We would like to thank the people of Adana for supporting drama and their festival.”
    Chairman of the Sabancı Foundation Board of Trustees Güler Sabancı noted their pleasure in helping thousands of people enjoy drama through the festival, which she said was supported by the foundation to help spread the outreach of social, cultural and artistic events in Turkey and uphold traditional values. Sabancı added that the festival breathed new life into the artistic and cultural facet of Adana, and said, 
  "I am proud that what began as a local event is now an international festival. This is an important step in making Adana a center for culture and the arts,"
   and continued, 
  "Taşköprü is a part of the festival again. The festival is now a part of the way the people of Adana live."
   Minister of Culture and Tourism Erturul Günay expressed his pride in the success of international festivals held in various cities of Turkey. The master of ceremonies for the night was actor Ali Düşenkalkar, and the "World Theatre Day Declaration" was read by Derya Keyf. In 2010, Sakıp Sabancı Lifelong Achievement Award was given to Müşfik Kenter. Speaking at the ceremony, Müşfik Kenter said, 
  "I am honored and proud. Speaking onstage is something; speaking at this ceremony is something altogether different."
  The festival concluded with carnival in the streets: The French Transe-Express Theater, performing for the first time in Turkey, began its street spectacle "Freedom of Violins" at the Atatürk Park, and ended at the railway station, offering an unforgettable experience to spectators. The rhythmic cortege accompanied by vocalists melted into the crowd, playing electronic music like a medieval techno parade. Suspended by an outsized pendulum, two acrobats alternately beat the hide of a vast drum, while violinists suspended 100 feet in the air caused suspense to linger in the air.
  The festival hosted eleven foreign groups from nine countries in addition to three state theater ensembles, three private theaters and one municipal theater, who performed 21 plays in total. Foreign participants of the festival were; Théatre de la Huchette and Trans-Express Street Theater from France, Theater Freiburg from Germany, Markus Zohner Theater from Switzerland, Pappa Tarahumara Theater from Japan, La Luna and Unforgettable Women Theaters from Cuba; Tuva State Music and Drama Theater from Tuva, Nicosia Municipal Theater from Northern Cyprus; Tatiana Garrido Flamenco Ensemble from Spain and Studio Festi from Italy. Domestic performers were the Kenter Theater, Dostlar Theater, AYSA Production Theater, Istanbul Metropolitan Mu
caption: Art Exhibition at Taşköprü during the Sabancı Theatre Festival
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