INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS
ENGLAND
The National Theatre in London initiated New Connections in 1993 by commissioning a number of plays for young theatre companies. These commissions were given to major British playwrights, both established names and writers making waves in reputed new writing theatres. Now, simply called Connections, the project involves over 220 ensembles bringing work to one of 23 regional festivals each year. The closing festival of each cycle is held at the National and features one outstanding production of each of the ten commissioned plays.
http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/connections
NORWAY
Det Norske Teatret in Oslo has hosted Den Unge Scenen, the Norwegian Connections project since2004. Festivals are presented every second year. Twelve regional festivals will be held in 2013 featuring close to 90 participating companies.
FINLAND
Nuori Näyttämö or The Young Stage produced a pilot Connections project in 2013 with festivals and performances in 2015. The Project was successful and the organization is now in the process of commissioning four new plays and scheduling festivals to take place in 2018. Nuori Näyttämö 2018 will conclude in a national festival co-inciding with Finlands main Theatre festival, Tampere 2018.
http://www.nuorinayttamo.info/en/
PORTUGAL
Culturgest in Lisbon organizes PANOS, a Connections project that has taken place every year since 2006. The festival usually takes place in May and young companies present both new original works by Portuguese playwrights and translations of plays from the National Theatre Connections canon.