Invitation

Competition rules and conditions

The competition is public and candidates from all countries are welcome to participate. Directors and designers who can show proof of appropriate professional training or artistic experience and who have not yet staged an independent production at a major theatre are eligible to enter. Participants should not be more than 35 years of age. All candidates are in principle required to form teams, each consisting of one director and one designer. In any case of dispute as to eligibility to enter the competition, the decision taken by the Ring Award Jury shall be final.

Registration and submission

Conditions of submission

The following conditions are binding for a prospective realisation of the first act of the operetta “Die Fledermaus” in the competition finals:
strict compliance with the allotted budget:

EUR 16.000,-- for the stage design
EUR 5.000,-- for the costumes
EUR 1.000,-- for makeup

All budgets include costs for materials, stage workshops (labour hours), and value-added tax (20 %). Participants accept that submitted project data may be used for Ring Award PR after the submission deadline has passed. For organisational reasons, the submission material, or parts of it, cannot be returned.

The submission is in two parts:
• online registration
• postal delivery of a portfolio

Registration

Registration is exclusively possible by filling in the online form (link) and contains the following data for each participating team member:

• personal data (name, nationality, date of birth, contact
data)
• scans of passport and of receipt certifying payment of
registration fee
• brief curriculum vitae (course of studies taken, previous
artistic activities)
In addition, each team is required to attach the following:
• short versions of the director's and designer's conceptions
• a storyboard of the conceptions

A storyboard is expected to state clearly, step by step, what takes place in detail on the stage (stage directions and setting). This should be done pertaining to an individually
selected, self-contained sample passage from the score of “Die Fledermaus” and should necessarily incorporate references to the respective musical text.

The portfolios are expected to be submitted by surface mail either in German or English to the following address:

Ring Award 11
Postfach 557
8011 Graz
AUSTRIA

When submitting, entrants have to make sure that their names and any other information which would enable their identification (institutions etc.) appear only on the cover of the portfolio and nowhere else on the texts, pictures, etc. Anyone not complying with this regulation will be excluded from the competition.

The portfolio should contain the following items:

• description/presentation of the director's and
designer's conceptions of the complete operetta “Die
Fledermaus” (following the specifications for the Ring
Award and ring.award.off options, respectively). The
material (folders etc.) must not exceed the measure
of DIN A3.
• a film file of five minutes' length at most (CD-ROM,
DVD) of an already realised project

The conception must comply with the following condition: sketches compatible with the stage of the Schauspielhaus Graz (for Ring Award), or with the “Dom im Berg” (for ring.award.off), which strictly observe the technical preconditions at the respective sites. Blueprints can be downloaded from the website. The registration fee for each team is EUR 50,--. All payments must be free of charge to the recipient, i. e., entrants must ensure that they pay all bank charges of the remitting bank and those of the receiving bank:

Raiffeisenbank Graz-Strassgang
account number: 33.446.6
bank number: 38.439
international codes:
IBAN: AT80 3843 9000 0033 4466
BIC: RZSTAT2G439
Make payable to: “ring.award.11“

All candidates who are accepted as competitors will receive confirmation of their acceptance by e-mail. Registration and submission deadline: 22 July 2010 (date of postmark)

Competition arrangements

The competition subject is Johann Strauß' operetta »Die Fledermaus«.

The competition is in three stages.

Competition
stage 1

Each Ring Award team develops a complete general concept, with consideration of the musical text, for the staging of the whole operetta “Die Fledermaus” and produces
drawings for the set or sets, including figurines. Candidates submitting in the ring.award.off category also develop a complete general concept, including drawings and figurines, for the musico-theatrical performance on the basis of Strauß' “Die Fledermaus”, with a maximum duration of 45 minutes. The jury selects a maximum of nine Ring Award teams and a maximum of three ring.award.off teams to enter the second stage of the
competition. The decision will be taken in September 2010.

Submission deadline: 22 July 2010

Competition
stage 2 SEMIFINALS

At this stage the Ring Award teams devise detailed drafts for staging the first act of Strauß' “Die Fledermaus” and produce models for the requisite set or sets with figurines.
Candidates of the ring.award.off category equally produce a detailed concept for the complete musicotheatrical performance.

The work of the teams is presented to the juries and a public audience at an official meeting. Presentation time for each team is a maximum of 20 minutes. These presentations should use conventional methods (models 1 : 20) and optionally may use additional electronic means.

On the day (Friday) before the official presentations in the semifinals rehearsals will be held to inform the Ring Award Jury about the technical skills of the competing directors. These rehearsals (each of not more than one hour's length) will be devoted to the so-called “watch duet” from Act 2 of “Die Fledermaus”. The sequence of teams for these rehearsals will be determined by lot on the previous evening (Thursday). Simultaneously (on Friday) the respective designers will have to discuss the feasibility of their conceptions with a representative of the technical staff of BÜHNEN GRAZ. The evaluations of the rehearsals and discussions are integral parts of the total evaluation established by the
jury after the official presentations (Saturday).

The Ring Award Jury decides on a maximum of four teams to enter the third stage of the competition. Each semifinals team receives a recognition fee of EUR 2.000,-- for participating in the semifinals. The fee covers all costs for travel and accommodation.
At the semifinals an Audience Prize will be awarded.

Discussion Forum

On the evening before the semifinals, on 13 January 2011, a Discussion Forum will be held at the Graz Next Liberty Theatre.

Timetable semifinals

The projects for the second stage of the competition must be submitted by 5 January 2011.
The public presentation of the projects takes place on 14 and 15 January 2011 at the “Montagehalle” of Graz Opera House.

Competition
stage 3 FINALS

It is the task for the final Ring Award teams to prepare within 7 days (14 – 22 June 2011) a performance of the first act of Strauß' “Die Fledermaus” with the singers and musical  accompaniment in the appropriate set or sets.
In accordance with the aims of the competition, the musical accompaniment will be by piano. The finals teams are required to hand in to the competition organisers their particular arrangements of the piano score which form the basis of their performances.
In the ring.award.off category, equally a musico-theatrical performance is prepared with  the singers in the appropriate set (or space configuration), with a maximum duration
of 45 minutes. Contestants may freely choose the musical accompaniment and other artistic forms of presentation.

At the finals (24 – 26 June 2011) the versions of the first act and the musico-theatrical performances based on Strauß' “Die Fledermaus” will be performed before a public
audience and the juries. Each finals team will receive a recognition fee of EUR 5.500,-- for participating in the finals. The fee covers all costs for travel and accommodation.
All teams work to the same budget, which may not in any circumstances be exceeded. All Ring Award and all ring.award.off teams, respectively, will have the same stage facilities at their disposal. For ring.award.off a special venue is provided (presumably the “Dom im Berg”).

Timetable finals

The final set designs will have to be delivered by the end of March 2011.
For ring.award.off presentations the dramaturgical and musical arrangements (with a maximum duration of 45 minutes) will have to be sent to both the organisers and the allotted team of singers by 5 May 2011 (date of postmark).
The same applies – with a deadline of 26 May 2011 – for the piano score arrangements of the Ring Award teams.

14 - 22 June 2011: rehearsals with the singers

24 - 26 June 2011: finals
for Ring Award teams at the Schauspielhaus Graz
for ring.award.off teams presumably at the “Dom im Berg”

The finals teams consecutively present their versions of the first act and, respectively, the musico-theatrical performance based on Strauß' “Die Fledermaus” to the juries and a public audience. The order of presentations is decided by the Ring Award Jury.