Halász Péter-díj átadása / 2022-2023 és 2024

Prior to the awards ceremony, starting at 7:00 p.m., the Club will host a performance of *MAGICAL DEER and the gravity*, one of the shortlisted works for the 2024–2025 Péter Halász Award.

Details: https://trafo.hu/programok/magical_deer_and_the_gravity_3

The Péter Halász Award was established in 2018 by Trafó House of Contemporary Arts and SZÍNHÁZ magazine with the aim of strengthening Hungarian theater’s tradition of experimentation and transcending genre boundaries. Only in its first year was the award not presented under extraordinary circumstances. Since then, pandemic lockdowns, the energy crisis, inflation, and government measures affecting the independent performing arts sector (from the abolition of the KATA tax to radical cuts in subsidies) have presented not only theater creators but also the curatorial board with new challenges year after year.

We did not view the method of awarding the prize as a set of rules carved in stone; rather, we adapted it to the ever-changing production conditions. The drastic funding cuts of recent years have made it very difficult to create and continue the aesthetically daring performances we wish to recognize, and consequently, the work of the curatorial board as well. For this reason, in 2023 we decided that under these conditions, we would award the Péter Halász Prize not annually, but on a biennial basis. Because even in the face of serious difficulties, we did not want to let it go, as recognition is needed most at a time like this.The award is still largely symbolic, as it does not come with a cash prize, but we hope it will shine a spotlight on quite a few noteworthy productions.

In 2022 and 2023, we were captivated by performances that, as we discussed them, gradually began to expand the boundaries of space and time around us. In the end, it was not two works but two creators who remained “in the running.” One happened to have distilled her own life into a tragically powerful, barely sixty-minute masterpiece, while we have been trying to follow the other’s work for decades, though not always from close up. For this reason, we have decided to award two lifetime achievement awards for the 2022–2023 period, with which we wish to recognize the creative work of Lili Monori and Katalin Ladik.

Several productions presented in 2024 and 2025 made it onto our shortlist, but we would like to highlight two of them in particular: Csaba Molnár (alias Nicole Clore)’s performance series, and the Hétpróbás Társulat’s production titled SzexEd: Kabaré.

You can read our rationale in the laudations to follow. In the meantime, the curatorial board—Beáta Barda, Noémi Herczog, Beatrix Kricsfalusi, Zsófia Molnár, Lilla Proics, and Anikó Varga—extends its warmest congratulations to the award winners and the artists on the shortlist.

Péter Halász Award 2022–2023

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

KATALIN LADIK

LILI MONORI

SHORTLIST

THE DELICATE BALANCE OF A STICK

Creator: Dávid Somló

MÁTÉ AND I

Creator: Máté Mészáros

NECROMANCY

Writer, Director: Kristóf Kelemen

THE ESTUARY

Authors: Petra Al-Farman and Sára Holczer

Director: Petra Al-Farman

Péter Halász Award 2024–2025

AWARD WINNERS

CSABA MOLNÁR/NICOLE CLORE

performance series

SEXED: CABARET

Creators-performers: Attila Lestyán, Veronika Szabó (Hétpróbás Társulat)

SHORTLIST

THE MAN SUDDENLY BECOMES SAD, THE WOMAN STARTS TO SHIVER, THEY DIDN’T KILL THEMSELVES

Writer, dramaturg: Lilla Szauer

Harmonizer: Sámuel Gyulai

Director: Sára Gálhidy

CHARLIE

Choreographer: Adrienn Hód - HODWORKS

Performer: Károly Tóth

MAGICAL DEER AND THE GRAVITY

Creators: Tímea Udvari-Kardos, Eszter Nozdroviczky, Sandy Keelan, Krisztina Sipos

MOSTAKKOR.

Concept, performers: Maja Juhász, Luca Kovács

More information about the Péter Halász Award and previous winners: https://trafo.hu/laban-halasz-dij