teatri riflessi: international short performance competition

Now in its 11th edition, The International Competition in the framework of Teatri Riflessi is a contest for short performances, live works no longer than 15 minutes. Since its first edition in 2009, the competition has been promoting and encouraging a discussion on dramaturgy and contemporary performing languages connecting the stage to the representation of the territory and the territory to the contemporary scene.

The image evoked by the theme, legacy, is that of a trace: a mark that remains, but also a seed that transforms and is passed on, a memory layered within bodies, landscapes, and relationships. The aim is to open spaces for reflection on the responsibilities we hold towards the future – cultural, ecological, political – questioning what we choose to leave behind and how every choice, whether artistic or social, can become an act of care.

Teatri Riflessi wants to enhance the short performance format per se: not as a reduction of a longer work nor as a starting point for a full-evening adaptation. The strength of the format lies in the artistic immediacy and urgency it conveys. The framework of the competition connects, in a way, the ancient Greek theatre—devised as an outdoor competition for a vast audience—to the most provocative tendencies in happenings and performance art, which leverage the innate desire of the beholder to participate.

Through an open call, 12 short performances of a maximum duration of 15 minutes will be selected. The semi-finalists will perform on the evenings of Thursday 16 and Friday 17 July 2026 in Zafferana Etnea.