Festival and Exchange

The ONE MINUTE Play Festival (Festival de Peças de UM MINUTO) is seeking strategic partnerships with the objective of directorship and/or coproduction with a European producer and/or theatre group. The partnership will entail inviting playwrights from the partner country, holding a national competition for authors, and presenting the winning plays from said competition in the partner country, which will be performed by a cast comprised of Brazilian and local actors. 

The performances will take place in a theatre in the partner country and also at Espaço Parlapatões in São Paulo, Brazil.

The ONE MINUTE Play Festival provides a platform for the performing arts to showcase a synthesis of their writing, through the eyes of a group with a keen focus on contemporary dramaturgy. It offers a valuable opportunity for exchange between Brazilian and partner country cultures.

The History of the ONE MINUTE Play Festival

In 2008, the Parlapatões identified an opportunity to innovate in the artistic expression space. They sought to synthesise and reduce the time spent interacting with art by introducing a new format: one-minute plays. A total of 50 playwrights working and residing in São Paulo were invited to contribute to the project, with all the texts subsequently staged in a single theatre production. Each play was directed by a guest director and had its own independent structure. The duration of each performance was displayed on a large clock on stage, and the title and author of each mini-play was shown between each play. The event was a great success and a wonderful party atmosphere was created.

The success of the inaugural ONE MINUTE Play Festival can be attributed to two key factors. Firstly, it facilitated an invaluable artistic encounter, particularly in the field of dramaturgy, through the involvement of guest directors, actors and actresses. Secondly, it offered a unique insight into the current landscape of theatre production. The inaugural edition was followed by two further seasons of performances at Espaço Parlapatões, which formed part of a project supported by the São Paulo City Theatre Promotion Programme.

In 2010, Parlapatões organised the second ONE MINUTE Play Festival with a revised format. A national competition was held, with submissions accepted from across Brazil. The competition was publicized online, and out of more than 200 submissions, 30 plays were chosen and staged. Additionally, five plays by guest authors were included in the programme. This performance was part of the project O Teatro e o Poder (Theatre and Power), which was also covered by the Theatre Promotion Programme.

In 2013, the Parlapatões were invited by Funarte – Fundação Nacional das Artes, part of the Brazilian Ministry of Culture. The Brazilian government chose the group for the Year of Brazil in Portugal, and the Parlapatões performed in Lisbon in two versions. ONE MINUTE Play Festival – Portuguese and Brazilian plays. A competition was held to select Portuguese texts, via the internet, from which 30 texts and 8 well-known Portuguese authors were chosen. These authors were invited directly by Parlapatões to write plays for the Festival.

The third ONE MINUTE Play Festival season was presented at Chapitô, located on Lisbon’s Costa do Castelo. All sessions were fully booked.

In 2017, the Parlapatões travelled to Uruguay to hold the fourth edition of Obra Teatral de UN MINUTO. Over one hundred submissions were received, with thirty selected texts and ten authors invited to participate. In addition to Montevideo, the fourth edition included a season in São Paulo. The event was organized in collaboration with the production company Metroveinte and sponsored by Itaú Cultural in Uruguay.  In this edition, a prize was offered for the best submitted text, with the winning author invited to attend the premiere of their text in São Paulo.

The most recent edition was the 5th ONE MINUTE Play Festival, held in 2020, a year which was marked by the global pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The performances were held at the Porto Seguro Theatre with no audience in attendance and were broadcast online.

In this, the 5th edition, we received in excess of 500 submissions from across Brazil. Following a rigorous selection process, 35 texts and 15 guest authors were chosen to participate. The winning text was selected by the audience.

The staged texts were published as a book in partnership with Giostri publishing house.

The texts staged at the 5th ONE MINUTE Play Festival demonstrated how contemporary dramaturgy can be expanded to reflect historical moments with lyricism, humour or tragedy. This demonstrates the value and importance of art and culture in society.

The Playwright Contest

The eligibility for the Playwright Contest will be determined by the country, region or city selected for the Festival.

Those wishing to submit their texts are required to do so exclusively online.

The results of the competition, indicating the authors and texts selected to be included in The ONE MINUTE Play Festival, will be announced 30 days prior to the Festival’s commencement.

The competition rules and results will be published on the Parlapatões website: www.parlapates.com.br.

We will also announce a call for texts for ONE MINUTE Play Festival via social networks.

Each new edition of The ONE MINUTE Play Festival will include a competition to select new texts. The competition is open to authors, playwrights, scriptwriters, and writers of all levels, including both amateur and professional, who reside in the country, region, or city selected for the edition. Furthermore, Parlapatões and its local partners will extend direct invitations to renowned authors to contribute plays for the Festival.

The selected texts will be announced.

The renowned authors who will be participating in the Festival will be announced.

Rehearsals

Four performances of The ONE MINUTE Play Festival will be staged, featuring a selection of the best texts from previous editions. These will be combined into a script comprising between 40 and 50 texts.

Four performances of new texts from The ONE MINUTE Play Festival will also be staged. These will be gathered together into a script comprising between 40 and 50 texts.

Season staged in São Paulo at the Parlapatões theatre.