Future N.O.W. Festival on Onassis Channel on YouTube

A new theater festival – FUTURE N.O.W. – is being born at Onassis Stegi, FUTURE N.O.W., to be made available on the Onassis Channel on YouTube. The first four works to be selected during lockdown for the festival via the FUTURE N.O.W. open call last March offer up new, amusing, and surprising stories that treat the future as the present. Because what do we really want to be in the future? Funnier? Smarter? Richer? Wiser? Tougher? More resilient? One thing is certain: the future is yet to come. And the idea that the future is doomed is by no means established fact. In the words of the British thinker John Higgs: “It is a story we tell ourselves.” With a wink, this first crop of projects springing from FUTURE N.O.W. are beating a path for those to come; declaring – boldly, and with cheek – that the future is not unlivable. Quite the opposite.

Since it proved impossible to premiere these productions in front of live audiences (as planned for November 2020) they are now being presented in a new form that flirts with cinema. Award-winning next-generation directors were brought in to work with the festival’s four stage directors and create versions of their works designed specially to live online. Filming took place both on Onassis Stegi’s stages and outdoors to create a hybrid form.

Here we are. Under a melting iceberg. War manuals in hand. Among passionate protectors of the Earth, scientists, and new life forms. With four online premieres, an online international open forum, and an in-depth talk with the festival’s artists about culture and the lack thereof in 2021.

Last but not least, FUTURE N.O.W. presents the video documentation of an international online forum and workshop for specialists in, and lovers of new dramaturgical approaches held in November 2020 and titled DRAMATURGY NOW, as well as a disruptive discussion with the festival’s participating directors – titled “Theater Futures as Present Realities” – that gives voice to the thoughts and concerns of young artists. The future is here, now, in Neos Kosmos – the “new world” – and all around the world thanks to the online YouTube platform, in the hope that we will all soon meet again inside theaters.