Open to the public, the awards ceremony will begin at 11pm and feature a short presentation followed by the festival closing party.
Birmingham DJ Mazzy Snape will be guiding the party vibes with a mix of soul, funk and classics. Interactive video games courtesy of Unstable King and a host of other surprises in store.
The festival awards include:
BE FESTIVAL 1st Prize
Supported by Birmingham REP
£1500 plus a fully covered three-week creative residency in Birmingham and a performance of the full-length version of the winning show at next year’s festival
Mess Festival Prize
The winning performance will be programmed and supported at the International Theatre Festival MESS in Sarajevo in autumn 2017
ACT Festival Prize
The winning performance will be programmed and supported at the Bilbao’s ACT Festival in June 2017
Three Special Mentions
The jury will decide on specific categories and winners for a series of honorary awards.
Audience Prize
Every night, each audience member will have the opportunity to vote for their favourite show with the most popular to be awarded the Audience Prize.
Best of BE
After the festival, three companies from this year’s festival will be chosen to take part in BE FESTIVAL tours in Spain (Autumn 2016) and the UK (Spring 2017).
This year we are very pleased to be joined by the following jury members:
Luca Mazzone (Replacing Elli Papakonstantinou)
Luca Mazzone is Artistic Director of Teatro Libero in Palermo.
Pep Pla
Pep has been the Director of the Catalonia based CAET (Centre d’Arts Escèniques de Terrassa) and the Artistic Director of the festival TNT (Terrassa Noves Tendències). As a performer he has worked in numerous theatrical shows with directors like Maurizio Scaparro, Mario Gas, Sergi Belbel and Calixto Bieito as well as performing on TV shows. He has directed shows for theatres Teatre lliure and Teatre Nacional de Catalunya in Barcelona.
Peter Rowe
Peter is Artistic Director of the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich. Previously he has been Artistic Director of the Everyman Theatre Liverpool, Chester Gateway, The London Bubble and Solent People’s Theatre. With a particular interest in music theatre, Peter has written and directed shows in the West End and for regional theatres and touring companies throughout the UK and Europe.
Matt Trueman
Matt Trueman is a theatre critic and journalist, who writes regularly for the Guardian, Financial Times, The Stage and New York Times, amongst other publications. A five-time winner of the Allen Wright award at the Edinburgh Fringe, set up to celebrate critical arts journalism, Matt is also WhatsOnStage.com’s lead critic, Variety’s London theatre critic and is well known for his theatre blog www.matttrueman.co.uk
Tomeo Vergés
Tomeo Vergés is the choreographer and director of Cia. Man Drake. Based in France since 1980, he has worked with many choreographers including Maguy Marin, Caterina Sagna, Régine Chopinot and François Verret. In 1992 he established his own company in Paris and has toured around France and abroad. Tomeo’s work combines theatre and dance but always has the body as a point of departure. Vergés has taught and delivered workshops internationally.