József Nagy Applies For Trafó Post

Speaking in an interview at the Festival D?Avignon, Nagy said he would basically keep the Trafó?s main profile as a centre for experimental Hungarian pieces that mix disciplines, while inviting important international productions to Budapest as well as placing a bigger emphasis on workshops.

Nagy, an ethnic Hungarian from Vojvodina, Serbia, who works in France, said he had already applied for Hungarian citizenship, which he hopes to get in August, clearing an administrative hurdle in the application process.

The Budapest Municipal Council has said a decision on a new head for the Trafó will be taken at the end of the summer vacation. The previous tender for the job was declared invalid.

Nagy applied in the earlier tender and was supported by a professional committee with a vote of five and one abstention, but his application documentation was incomplete, according to the local council.

Nagy, who regularly performs at the Trafó, said the institution?s director till now, György Szabó, had established a ?very selective programming policy that must be maintained?, but said it could be supplemented with regular workshops.

Nagy said he himself would hold master classes, but would mainly invite directors and guest instructors. He declined to reveal any names until a final decision is taken on the Trafó post.

The workshops Nagy envisions would bring artists in different disciplines closer together by, for example, putting filmmakers and puppeteers or circus artists and installation artists in working proximity.

He also wants to restructure the interior of the Trafó, expanding it and using the stage as an exhibition space from time to time.

Nagy said he would like to see the ?French model? of theatre adopted in Hungary in the long term. In the French system, artists who belong to one or the other state-supported centre of dance or theatre are free to experiment and can bring finished productions across the country, he explained.

Nagy said that if he gets the post, he wants to convince decision-makers that institutions similar to the Trafó should be established elsewhere in Hungary.

?The trouble with the Trafó is that there?s just one,? he said.

Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)