The Red Cross of the Stage is a collection of plays and theatre essays written by Tzveta Sofronieva.
Through concepts typical to Sofronieva’s texts, like the anthroposcene, cloning, and the literary multiverse she introduces a combination of practices in theatre, poetry, psychodrama, and natural sciences for the purposes of a new type of theatre for the Anthropocene, as a world that humans have created and for which they refuse to take responsibility.
The book is also a reflection of the author’s deep collaboration with Emergency Theater and the wider independent theater scene in Bulgaria.
The Red Cross of the Stage explores the ways in which culture can provide “emergency care in a time when humanity is reshaping its relationship to itself.”
It’s a book for readers interested in writing in times of global trauma and liminality.
In the words of the author:
There are no perfect times, and we will have to learn how to live with the irreversible catastrophes we’ve caused… The reading of the past and of the present depends on the visions for the future. We do write anew old cultural narratives, bring the unheard voices to sound, precisely because we want a respectful and fair future. We’re searching for an honest approach to a connection between art and technology. We increasingly feel the lifesaving need of multilingual senses and emotion knowledge. If an acceptable future is our leading concept, we still could demythologize the past and shape the present accordingly.”
Tzveta Sofronieva writes poetry, fiction, drama, and non-fiction in Bulgarian, English, and German. She holds a M.Sc. in Physics and a Ph.D. in the history and philosophy of science. Her works have been translated into twenty-two languages.
The book contains images from theatеr performances based on the work of Tzveta Sofronieva.
The edition was issued in partnership with the Emergency Theater Foundation.
The publication of this book was supported by the National Culture Fund as part of Emergency Theater’s project “Final Countdown / The Human during an Implosion.”