Registration is now open for one of the most important events of Hungarian theatre, the National Theatre Festival, which will take place in Debrecen between June 15–21, 2026. The 160-year-old Csokonai National Theatre, as host, welcomes all those who wish to present their new productions to audiences both from Hungary and abroad, as well as to professionals.
The aim of the festival is to bring together theatre companies from across the Carpathian Basin for a week, providing space for professional dialogue, encounters, and inspiring cultural exchange. Applications are open to repertory-based independent companies as well as repertory theatres with permanent venues. Each theatre may submit one main stage and one studio production, with no genre restrictions. The organizers are seeking productions that premiered between February 1, 2025, and February 28, 2026. The application deadline is October 31, 2025.
The history of the National Theatre Festival goes back to 1982, with traditions inspired by regional festivals of the 1950s. The event was initially held in Budapest, but from 1992 several cities across Hungary hosted the competition program. From the turn of the millennium, Pécs (POSZT) became the venue, but in 2024 the festival was revived in its classic form, rotating between regional cities as a major celebration of local theatre culture.
In recent years, the Csokonai National Theatre has celebrated numerous successes at the festival: in 2024 in Kaposvár, Andrea Tokai won Best Actress for her performance in Szilárd Borbély’s The Dispossessed, and in 2025 the production The Puppeteer brought multiple awards to the company: Kinga Újhelyi won Best Supporting Actress, while Anikó Németh received the Best Costume Designer award.
More information about the 2026 National Theatre Festival is available on the Csokonai National Theatre’s website.
