Application deadline: May 31, 2026 (23:59h)

Part of the New Theatre Market (NTM) Project

Following the highly successful first edition of the Residency Programme in 2025, Sarajevo Theatre Showcase is happy to announce the Open Call for the Residency Programme – Directors 2026.

This year, the Directors Residency enters a new chapter under the mentorship of internationally acclaimed theatre director Alia Luque, who joins the programme as the new Head of Studies.

The Sarajevo Theatre Showcase (STS), organised by Sarajevo War Theatre – SARTR (Bosnia and Herzegovina) in partnership with Heartefact Foundation (Serbia), Ulysses Theatre (Croatia), Para Film and Theatre (Norway), Binario Vivo (Italy), and Realstage (Bosnia and Herzegovina), continues to develop the Residency Programme as one of the core training strands of the New Theatre Market (NTM) project.

STS is a curated regional platform connecting contemporary artistic production with international touring, co-production, and collaboration opportunities. This year’s edition will take place in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, from September 11 to 13, 2026, while the Residency Programme – Directors will run from September 6 to 14, 2026 (including arrival and departure days). 

About the Directors Residency

The Directors Residency is conceived as a practice-oriented laboratory focused on rehearsal methodologies, scenic composition, collaboration with actors and the development of individual artistic approaches through intensive practical work. Led by Alia Luque, the programme combines workshop sessions, rehearsal processes, theoretical impulses, collaborative experimentation and a specialised lighting masterclass, placing particular focus on how theatrical means such as body, language, space, rhythm, sound and light shape meaning on stage. 

Rather than functioning as a traditional academic programme, the residency places participants directly inside the Sarajevo Theatre Showcase ecosystem, where they work in dialogue with playwrights, actors, producers, critics and international theatre professionals attending STS. Participants will spend more than a week inside an intensive full-day creative environment built around:

• rehearsal-based directing practice
• experimentation with different performance methodologies
• collaborative scene work
• artistic exchange with fellow participants
• direct exposure to international theatre professionals
• performances, talks and professional STS events
• practical work with actors and newly developed dramatic texts

As part of the programme, selected directors will also work on staging short excerpts from selected Atelier for Playwrights texts. Each participant will develop their own stage-reading approach in collaboration with professional actors and acting students from Sarajevo.

This practical component is conceived as an additional opportunity for participants to:

• test directing approaches in a real rehearsal environment
• collaborate with fellow artists from the Atelier programme
• present their work within the STS professional context
• gain greater visibility in front of invited international theatre professionals
• open possibilities for future artistic collaborations and professional engagements

Head of Studies – Alia Luque (Spain/Germany)

Alia Luque (she/her) was born in Barcelona in 1978. She studied Arabic Studies, German Literature and Social and Cultural Anthropology in Spain and Holland. In 2004, she interned at the Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel and began working at the Metropoltheater München, first as assistant to the artistic director, then as a costume designer and choreographer. From 2009 to 2011, Alia Luque worked as an assistant director at the Thalia Theatre. Since 2011, Luque has worked as a freelance director; since 2014, she has also been a member of Trio ACE, a theatre collective founded with Christoph Rufer and Ellen Hofmann.

Luque’s artistic practice is shaped by a distinctive theatrical language in which text, image and movement are closely interwoven. In her solo work as well as in her collaborations with Trio ACE, she explores forms that extend beyond the conventional stage, situating theatre within a broader field of visual art and performance. Her work has been commissioned by leading European theatres, including Schauspiel Stuttgart, Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin, Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Staatstheater Darmstadt, Burgtheater Wien, Beogradsko Dramsko Pozorište and Sydhavn Teater Copenhagen, among others.

Word of the Head of Studies

“You are warmly invited to take part in Applied Theory – Means in Scenic Work, a practical workshop exploring how theatrical elements influence the composition and effect of a scene. Through exercises in casting, language, body, space and sound, participants will deconstruct and transform scenic material across different performance forms. Combining rehearsal practice with short theoretical impulses, the workshop invites actors and directors to investigate how shifting particular theatrical means transforms meaning on stage. As part of the programme, participants will also attend the masterclass Lighting in Theatre: Applied Practice with Light Types, a 6–8 hour demonstration on stage. The session introduces the main types of theatre lighting and examines how angle, intensity, color and design choices can create mood, guide focus and support the dramaturgy of a scene. Participants are asked to arrive well prepared and ready to work practically from the first day.”

Eligibility

Applications are open to emerging theatre directors from: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia.

The residency is intended for directors at the beginning of their professional development, including students of directing and related fields, recently graduated directors, early-career theatre makers, artists transitioning into directing practice and directors who have already realised several projects and wish to further develop their artistic approach within an international collaborative environment. 

We are interested in artistic curiosity, openness to experimentation, collaborative spirit and the desire to question and develop one’s own directing language.

What Participation Includes

Selected participants receive:

• workshops, mentorship, and the lighting masterclass led by Alia Luque
• practical rehearsal and stage-reading work in collaboration with professional actors and acting students from Sarajevo
• access to STS performances, talks, and professional events
• networking opportunities with regional and international theatre professionals
• festival accreditation with access to the wider STS programme
• inclusion in official STS communication materials

The organisers provide:

• accommodation with breakfast
• festival lunch during programme days
• festival accreditation

Please note: travel costs are not covered by the organisers.

Participation Requirement

The Residency Programme – Directors is an intensive full-day in-person programme. Selected participants are expected to be physically present in Sarajevo for the entire duration of the residency programme, from September 6 (arrival day) to September 14, 2026 (departure day). Due to the collaborative and rehearsal-based nature of the programme, partial attendance is not possible. Prior to the live programme in Sarajevo, selected participants will take part in online preparation meetings with the Head of Studies, the Head of Atelier and the selected Atelier playwrights whose texts will be developed during the residency. Additional meetings may be organised depending on the working process and programme needs.

Timeline

Application deadline: May 31, 2026 (23:59h)

Online preparation meetings: TBA (August 2026)

Residency Programme: September 6–14, 2026

Arrival day: September 6, 2026

Departure day: September 14, 2026

All applicants will be informed about the results by email.

How to Apply

Applications must be submitted through the official online application form. Before starting the form, applicants are encouraged to check the application form and prepare all required information and materials in advance. The form includes detailed descriptions and guidance to help applicants understand what kind of responses are expected in each section.

Supporting materials are optional, but applicants may submit non-expiring links to portfolios, directing excerpts, rehearsal documentation, videos, visual materials or other relevant artistic documentation. Materials should support, not replace, the written application. If links are password protected, the password must be provided. If Google Drive is used, access must be set so that the material can be viewed by anyone with the link.

Incomplete applications or applications that do not follow the submission guidelines will not be considered. For any questions regarding the application process, applicants may contact: programmes@sts.ba  or adna@sts.ba 

We look forward to welcoming a new generation of theatre directors to Sarajevo Theatre Showcase 2026!