Ibsen Awards has awarded the Romanian project “Hedda’s Sisters. Empowering Women Theatre Artists in Romania and Eastern Europe” an International Ibsen Scholarship 20114. The project initiated by theater critic and curator Cristina Modreanu focuses on Ibsen’s feminine characters, aiming to use them as a tool to showcase contemporary women’s perspective and empower Romanian women theater artists, extending the conversation to the Eastern Europe too. In the same time, the project underlines the importance and value of Ibsen's plays in the Romanian artistic and social context of change and enlightenment in the theater field. Not in the least, the project will contribute to re-imagining Ibsen’s female characters from the 21st century perspective.
The jury’s statement

The Jury consisted of Cliff Moustache, Line Rosvoll and Helge Rønning with Hilde Guri Bohlin as secretary. They stated that this is a very ambitious project that takes its point of departure in a description of the situation in Romanian theatre, where there are very few women who are theatre directors. As it is formulated in the application Romanian theatre is “dominated by the male gaze”, and this is the case also when the plays have female protagonists such as in Ibsens’s two dramas – A Doll’s House and Hedda Gabler. This situation is aggravated so much more by the fact there is an equal number of women who start studying to be directors, but very few, if any, get the chance to direct plays, except in small free groups.
In conclusion the Jury is very impressed by the scope and daring of the project, and feels that it will contribute substantially to a theatrical understanding of Ibsen’s work from a women’s perspective.
