Veles, 1 October 2022 (MIA) — The National Opera and Ballet's “The Young Ladies of Avignon: A Ballet in Nine Paintings" will close the 19th Stobi International Festival of Classical Drama at the Jordan Hadzhi Konstantinov Dzhinot theater in Veles. The ballet, inspired by Pablo Picasso’s 1907 “Les Demoiselles d'Avignon“ and choreographed by Olga Pango to music written by Kaliopi Bukle, will follow an awards ceremony honoring the Stobi 2022 festival's best play, best female performance, best male performance, and best theater direction. The official competition includes the play that opened the festival on Sept. 17 – the Belgrade Drama Theater production of “Antigone” by Sophocles, directed by Slovenian theater director Diego De Brea. Other plays competing for the awards are "Iphigenia" by Euripides, a coproduction of three Montenegro theaters directed by Zoran Rakočević; a Plovdiv, Bulgaria, production of “Odysseus” written by Alexander Sekulov based on Homer and directed by Dijana Dobreva; a Nish, Serbia, production of “One Oedipus” written by Portuguese playwright Armando Nasimento Rosa and directed by Jug Djordjevic; and “Pandora's Jar: the Daughter's Legacy” by Ryszard Nieoczym and Media Artes. According to Stobi programming director Sasho Dimoski, this year's festival of classical drama raised its reputation as a serious theater art and communication platform to an even higher level. mr/