{"id":8304,"date":"2026-03-12T09:19:59","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T06:19:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/galataperform.com\/our-history\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T13:55:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T10:55:31","slug":"our-history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/galataperform.com\/en\/our-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Our History"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\tOur History\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t \n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Our History<\/a><\/h6>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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LAB<\/a><\/h6>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Ye\u015fim \u00d6zsoy<\/a><\/h6>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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And Other Things<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The Ve Di\u011fer \u015eeyler Collective (And Other Things) was founded, taking its name from Ye\u015fim \u00d6zsoy\u2019s performance text The Red Apple and Other Things. From the beginning, the collective embraced a theatre practice that was interdisciplinary, performative, and closely connected to space. It came together with a shared focus on new texts, new technologies, and cross-disciplinary collaboration.<\/p>

Their first production, \u201cOyun Alaturka\u201d, was developed from Ye\u015fim \u00d6zsoy\u2019s thesis and final project at Northwestern University. The play premiered in New York at Producer\u2019s Theatre under the title Play alla Turca. In Istanbul, it was staged for a short period at Ortak\u00f6y Afife Jale Stage, with a different direction and design.<\/p>

Before GalataPerform moved into its venue on B\u00fcy\u00fck Hendek Street, the collective\u2014founded in 2002 under the leadership of Ye\u015fim \u00d6zsoy\u2014pushed its engagement with space further through its second production, \u201cEv Kakofonik Bir Oyun\u201d (House: A Cacophonic Play).<\/p>

The performance took place not on a stage but inside an apartment in Asmal\u0131 Mescit, on the upper floor of a building opposite Babylon Music Club, within a space the artist Selda Asal referred to as the Apartment Project.<\/p>

The space, designed by Ba\u015fak \u00d6zdo\u011fan as an installation, allowed actors to perform among the audience, outside the apartment, and in the street. Each performance welcomed only 15 audience members as \u201cguests.\u201d<\/p>

Although it was not the first site-specific work of its time, the piece attracted significant attention as a theatrical experience taking place inside an apartment.<\/p>

Working with young actors from St\u00fcdyo Oyuncular\u0131\u2014including Sanem \u00d6ge, Sedat Kalkavan, Ceyda A\u015far, Alev C\u0131nbarc\u0131, and Batur Belirdi\u2014the team created a collaborative production space around the plays written and directed by Ye\u015fim \u00d6zsoy, with shared production responsibilities.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Within a 25-square-meter apartment, the relationship formed with an audience of fifteen at each performance intertwined environmental theatre with installation art. House: A Cacophonic Play not only offered its audience an unconventional viewing experience but also attracted invitations to numerous international festivals thanks to its distinctive design combining theatre and installation. <\/p>

The production was presented at Hebbel Theatre in Berlin as part of the Now Festival, and later at Robert Wilson Raum in Wiesbaden within the European Biennial of New Plays selection.<\/p>

After the Ve Di\u011fer \u015eeyler Collective moved into a space in Galata and named it GalataPerform, the play also became the first production staged at GalataPerform.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Established in 2003 on B\u00fcy\u00fck Hendek Street, the venue initially functioned as a rehearsal space and later as a performance venue. Within a short time, it evolved into an artist-run interdisciplinary performance space.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Located on the second floor of a historic building at No. 21 B\u00fcy\u00fck Hendek Street, stretching toward Galata Tower, GalataPerform quickly became an independent and internationally connected art space.<\/p>

Between 2004 and 2012, the Visibility Project (G\u00f6r\u00fcn\u00fcrl\u00fck Projesi) created an experimental platform that incorporated the street and the neighborhood into performance. With performances staged in shops, an unleavened bread bakery, abandoned buildings, streets, and caf\u00e9s, GalataPerform redefined the very notion of the \u201cstage.\u201d <\/p>

Over eight years, the project emphasized GalataPerform\u2019s relationship with the local community, tradespeople, and cultural spaces in the area. Under the artistic direction of Ye\u015fim \u00d6zsoy and in collaboration with performance artist Deniz Ayg\u00fcn, the project continued to grow. Each season began with a mapping of the neighborhood itself. The slogan of the project in 2011 was:
\u201cStep Off the Stage!\u201d
This slogan signaled not only a spatial shift but also a conceptual one. <\/p>

In 2004, with the confidence of having a 40\u201350 square meter rehearsal space, the Ve Di\u011fer \u015eeyler Collective participated in the International Istanbul Theatre Festival (IKSV) with the production \u201cAksak \u0130stanbul Hik\u00e2yeleri\u201d (Limping Tales from Istanbul). The play earned Ye\u015fim \u00d6zsoy the Afife Theatre Award \u2013 Cevat Fehmi Ba\u015fkut Prize for the Best Playwright of a New Turkish Play Staged That Year.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Launched within GalataPerform in 2006, the New Text New Theatre Project became one of the first comprehensive and sustainable initiatives in Turkey dedicated to supporting contemporary playwriting.<\/p>

Kurucu ekibinde Mark Levitas, Ceren Ercan, Dilek Altunta\u015f ve Ye\u015fim \u00d6zsoy\u2019un yer ald\u0131\u011f\u0131 projenin \u00e7\u0131k\u0131\u015f sorusu basit ama radikaldi: T\u00fcrkiye\u2019ye ait, g\u00fcnceli yakalayan, d\u00fcnya ile ileti\u015fim kurabilen yeni bir tiyatro dili m\u00fcmk\u00fcn m\u00fc?<\/p>

Over time, Okan Urun joined the founding team and became one of the key coordinators of the project. This period marked a phase in which the New Text New Theatre Project gained greater momentum and expanded significantly. <\/p>

The project developed around four main pillars:<\/p>

  • Play translations and readings<\/li>
  • Workshops and talks<\/li>
  • International festivals<\/li>
  • Publishing and a digital archive<\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    During the 2010 European Capital of Culture Istanbul programme, plays by six playwrights from six different countries were translated. The writers were invited to Istanbul, where workshops and staged readings were organized. Around the project, a dedicated audience began to form\u2014one that followed contemporary playwriting within an international context. <\/p>

    This process contributed to the development of a play-reading culture in Turkey and helped cultivate a new audience for theatre.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    As this audience grew, the project also expanded, and in 2012 the New Text New Theatre Festivals were launched alongside the regular workshop programme. The project and the festival evolved into a platform where texts emerging from the workshops could meet the professional theatre field. <\/p>

    With themes determined each year \u2014 such as Disaster, Borders, Body and the City, Animal, Happiness, among others \u2014 the festival opened up not only new texts but also new ways of thinking for discussion. The theme of the first festival, held in 2012, was \u201cDisaster,\u201d proposed by Enzo Cormann, who had been invited that year to give a masterclass. The festival took place at Kadir Has University. <\/p>

    Within the festival programme, four short plays were presented as readings, while two short plays were staged as productions. In addition, French director Emmanuel Daumas directed a full-length play as part of the programme. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    Over time, the workshop programmes evolved into a more comprehensive and continuous structure. Educational and workshop programmes were developed in Playwriting, Advanced Writing, Directing, Dramaturgy, and Technical Design. <\/p>

    During this period, many emerging writers wrote their first plays within the framework of the New Text Festival, presented them as readings, and later brought their works to the stage.<\/p>

    A significant milestone for the international visibility of New Text New Theatre came in 2011, when Ahmet Sami \u00d6zbudak\u2019s play \u0130z (Stain) received an award at the Heidelberger St\u00fcckemarkt.<\/p>

    In 2016, a project realized by Ahmet Sami \u00d6zbudak as part of the festival in an abandoned building in Balat gradually evolved into a permanent structure: The Monologues Museum. Conceived as a museum-like experience of eight short plays, the project developed a distinctive model that engages with space while opening up a new production field for writers, and it continues its life as a long-term project. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    Ahmet Sami \u00d6zbudak\u2019s play; \u0130z (Stain) stood out with a video installation featuring eight live cameras integrated into the GalataPerform space, alongside a site-specific \u201chome\u201d installation in Tarlaba\u015f\u0131. It was followed by \u015eenay Tanr\u0131vermi\u015f\u2019s play Dil (Language), staged at GalataPerform and directed by Ye\u015fim \u00d6zsoy. <\/p>

    Alongside works by emerging playwrights such as Ay\u015f\u0131l Ak\u015fehirli (Kabuk), \u00d6znur Yalg\u0131n (When in Rome), Serdar Kurt (Ay I\u015f\u0131\u011f\u0131nda G\u00f6kku\u015fa\u011f\u0131), and Can \u00d6zden (Ailemizin En G\u00fczel S\u0131rr\u0131), plays by invited international writers including Artur Palyga and Michal Walczak also entered the GalataPerform repertoire.<\/p>

    In 2018, Y\u00fcz Y\u0131l\u0131n Evi (House of Hundred), developed in collaboration with Ferdi \u00c7etin, Ye\u015fim \u00d6zsoy, and Maxim Gorki Theatre, became the GalataPerform production that toured internationally the most. The production received particular attention during its performances at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where it was featured in publications such as The Guardian and The Scottish Times. <\/p>

    From the same period onward, Ferdi \u00c7etin, serving as Director of Workshops and International Projects, expanded the New Text New Theatre network with Nordic countries and helped bring additional partners from countries such as Hungary and Portugal into the programme. Ozan \u00d6mer Akg\u00fcl joined the team as one of the project\u2019s main instructors and as the editor of the festival. <\/p>

    During this period, when the workshop programme and publishing activities continued to develop, \u201cAbandoned Shores \/\/ Negative Photographs\u201d, created by Ferdi \u00c7etin for YeniPerform during the pandemic, was also added to the GalataPerform repertoire.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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    With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, GalataPerform left its physical venue in Galata but continued its artistic production without interruption. Building on the publishing dimension it had been strengthening since 2016, GalataPerform launched \u201cyenimetin.com\u201d, Turkey\u2019s first digital playwriting platform, with the support of the Goethe-Institut. <\/p>

    This initiative\u2014Turkey\u2019s first and only digital theatre platform\u2014marked the beginning of a new phase for digital theatre, e-book publishing, and international collaboration. yeni-perform.com played a particularly significant role in sustaining both the festival and the project during the pandemic, when theatres and performance venues were closed. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    Through its collaboration with Habitus Publishing, GalataPerform facilitated the translation of contemporary plays from Spain, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Portugal into Turkish, while plays by Turkish writers were published by Habitus.<\/p>

    Taking inspiration from institutions such as Royal Court Theatre, Traverse Theatre, and La Sala Beckett, GalataPerform developed a structure in Turkey that places playwriting at its core. Collaborations\u2014particularly with Nordic countries, the programme \u201cWriting on New Realities\u201d developed with A Turma Theatre in Portugal, and partnerships with various cultural centres\u2014helped the project gain visibility across Europe. <\/p>

    For GalataPerform, the visibility of women playwrights and the creation of space for their work has always been of particular importance. Many women writers who engaged with GalataPerform\u2019s distinctive workshop practice have gone on to create lasting contributions to contemporary theatre in Turkey. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    \n\t\t\t\t\t20 YEARS\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\t \n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    In 2023, GalataPerform celebrated its 20th anniversary, alongside the 12th edition of the New Text Festival.
    Since 2003, GalataPerform has continued its journey as an independent and international theatre platform: a space of production focused on new texts, an interdisciplinary performance venue, a structure that provides sustained support for playwriting, and a creative ecosystem that brings together both digital and physical modes of creation.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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    Our History Our History LAB Collaborations Ye\u015fim \u00d6zsoy And Other Things The Ve Di\u011fer \u015eeyler Collective (And Other Things) was founded, taking its name from Ye\u015fim \u00d6zsoy\u2019s performance text The Red Apple and Other Things. From the beginning, the collective embraced a theatre practice that was interdisciplinary, performative, and closely connected to space. It came […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-full-width.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-8304","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/galataperform.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/galataperform.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/galataperform.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/galataperform.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/galataperform.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8304"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/galataperform.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9374,"href":"http:\/\/galataperform.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8304\/revisions\/9374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/galataperform.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}