Kosovo Theatre Showcase started in 2018 as a platform for exchange, international promotion, and networking for the theatre scene of Kosovo.

In the annual programs of Kosovo Theatre Showcase, we have tried to reflect not only the latest productions and those we considered the most representative of their respective theatre scenes, but also the political, social, and cultural context of theatre-making in Kosovo, Albania, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Greece – the countries from which we have presented theatre performances in past editions of the showcase. The way we have cultivated this platform artistically, conceptually, and organizationally – even though very challenging – has been about capturing the pulse of aesthetic developments, as well as realities of theatre-making.

Across these eight editions, we have wandered in search of physical spaces to host the showcase program; in search of performances that communicate timely, relevant themes; in search of works produced by the independent theatre scene; in search of ways to collaborate with public theatres despite the financial and bureaucratic obstacles that almost make their cooperation with the independent scene impossible…

Over these years we have seen theatres open and close (mostly close), budgets rise and be drastically cut, turbulent social developments reflected on stage and in our discursive programs. All of this we have embraced, questioned, and by making it integral to our program, opened it for international attention at each edition. The aim has never been to present a ‘retouched’ theatre scene, but the scene as it really is, with all its strengths and flaws, its challenges and problems, both aesthetic and conceptual.

While last year we physically moved to Albania in what we called a special edition – Kosovo Albania Theatre Showcase – this year we will move between Kosovo and North Macedonia, in another special edition we’ve titled Kosovo / North Macedonia Theatre Showcase. This year’s program, like last year’s, will feature performances and themes from Kosovo and North Macedonia, while also critically looking at the level of exchange between these neighboring countries.

The social and political context in North Macedonia remains complex, with extremely limited exchange between its two largest communities, Albanian and Macedonian. This division is also reflected in theatre, with public theatre institutions separated by community – Albanian and Macedonian.

On the other hand, while plays by Macedonian authors have been staged in Albanian theatres, as far as we know, Macedonian theatres have never staged a play by an Albanian author. Once again, Macedonian-language theatres have never put on stage a play written by an Albanian playwright – despite the fact that Albanians make up about thirty percent of the population in North Macedonia, and despite the fact that North Macedonia borders both Albania and Kosovo.

And while exchange between Kosovo and North Macedonia is limited, there is also limited exchange within North Macedonia itself, between the communities that live and create there. Opening the showcase to North Macedonia’s theatre scene this year is –  more than a signal of answers –  another act of searching for us. In other words, we are curious to learn about this social and theatrical context. To learn what makes the theatre pulse there, what the aesthetic and thematic trends are, what conditions have shaped this terrain of theatre-making, and how these social dynamics appear in practice.

Today we remain nomads – no longer only for technical reasons but more so for conceptual and value-based reasons – because we believe that physical presence in different places and contexts provides a more meaningful space for learning and understanding, and it becomes essential especially in a region like ours, where we are so close yet distance and division are propagated to us daily. In this spirit, last year we moved to Albania and this year, for a part of the program, we will move to North Macedonia.

Kosovo / North Macedonia Theatre Showcase begins on October 28, 2025, in Kosovo (Prizren, Gjakova, Prishtina, and Ferizaj), while the North Macedonia program (Skopje) continues from October 30 to November 1.

This year’s edition will present performances from both public and independent scenes of the two countries, accompanied by a discursive program exploring relevant social and theatre-related issues for both contexts (Kosovo and North Macedonia), but also globally, alongside an educational program.