A Shared Vision Across Europe
MEDUSA – Contemporary Playwriting and Inclusive Identities in Europe is built on the conviction that contemporary theatre needs spaces of exchange, translation and shared reflection in order to circulate beyond national borders. The project brings together organisations from Italy, Germany and Bulgaria that work in different cultural contexts, but share a common concern: how can contemporary playwriting give visibility to voices, identities and experiences that are still marginalised within European theatre systems?
Connecting Italy, Germany and Bulgaria
The partnership is one of the key strengths of MEDUSA. It does not simply connect organisations from three countries; it creates a working community where different theatrical traditions, curatorial practices and cultural perspectives can meet. Italy, Germany and Bulgaria each present distinct conditions for contemporary playwriting: different levels of institutional support, different models of production, different relationships between authors, translators, venues and audiences. By placing these contexts in dialogue, MEDUSA creates the possibility of a deeper European comparison and of a more concrete circulation of new dramatic writing.
Different Theatre Landscapes, Common Challenges
The consortium brings together complementary expertise. Some partners contribute experience in cultural planning, coordination and project management; others bring strong theatrical infrastructure, production capacity and audience development; others are deeply rooted in dramaturgical research, theatre translation and the promotion of new writing. This complementarity allows MEDUSA to follow the entire path of a contemporary play: from research and selection, to translation, public presentation, critical discussion and final dissemination.
This is particularly important because contemporary playwriting often remains isolated within national or linguistic boundaries. Many new plays, especially those written in less widely spoken languages or by women, queer authors, migrant voices and other underrepresented subjectivities, struggle to reach other European contexts. MEDUSA responds to this gap by creating a shared observatory, a collective selection process and a multilingual translation pathway. In this sense, the partnership becomes a practical tool for circulation: it does not only discuss the need for exchange, but builds the conditions for it to happen.
The involvement of partners from Bulgaria, Germany and Italy also allows the project to address different needs at the same time. In Bulgaria, MEDUSA supports the visibility of contemporary drama in a context where new texts often rely on independent platforms and limited opportunities for presentation. In Italy, the project responds to the need for stronger international circulation of contemporary playwriting, especially from Southern cultural contexts and from underrepresented authors. In Germany, where contemporary drama and theatre translation have a more consolidated tradition, MEDUSA opens a space for comparison with other European dramaturgies that are still rarely present on German stages.
The partnership is also significant because it connects artistic organisations, translation networks and academic institutions. This creates a dialogue between professional theatre practice, critical reflection and education. Through the involvement of universities and research-oriented partners, MEDUSA reaches students, young practitioners and future cultural professionals, encouraging them to approach contemporary playwriting not only as spectators, but as active participants in a broader cultural conversation.
A central element of the project is its female-led and horizontal approach. MEDUSA is driven by organisations and professionals committed to gender equality, inclusive leadership and collaborative decision-making. This structure is coherent with the themes explored by the project: identity, representation, marginalised voices and new forms of cultural participation. The partnership therefore does not only promote inclusion as a topic; it tries to practise it in the way the project is governed, curated and communicated.
A Partnership Built on Complementary Expertise
The transnational nature of the consortium makes it possible to build a common methodology while respecting local specificities. Each partner contributes its own knowledge of audiences, artists, venues and cultural debates. At the same time, all partners work within a shared framework: the selection of plays, the translation process, the mini-festivals, the public discussions and the final digital publication are conceived as parts of one European process. This balance between local roots and international exchange is essential to the identity of MEDUSA.
Through this partnership, theatre becomes a space of encounter between languages, countries and perspectives. Translation is not treated as a merely technical act, but as an artistic and cultural practice that allows texts to travel, meanings to shift and audiences to discover new ways of seeing. The role of translators, curators and dramaturgs is therefore central to the project, because they act as mediators between different theatrical systems and different imaginaries.
The strength of MEDUSA lies precisely in this shared movement: from national scenes to European circulation, from isolated texts to collective dialogue, from local practices to common strategies. The partnership creates the conditions for contemporary playwriting to become more visible, more accessible and more connected to the social and political questions of the present.
Female-Led Cooperation and Inclusive Governance
In this sense, MEDUSA is not only a cooperation project between organisations. It is a European platform for cultural exchange, artistic research and social transformation. By bringing together partners with different backgrounds but shared values, the project aims to support a more open, inclusive and interconnected theatre landscape — one in which contemporary voices can cross borders, meet new audiences and contribute to a broader reflection on identity in Europe.