The Imatra Art Award 2021 for the IRTI theater

Imatra's welfare board has awarded IRTI theater with the 2021 art award for long-term and significant work with amateur theater in Imatra.

As a basis for awarding the award, the board took into account, above all, how theater activities continued and developed during the corona period. IRTI theater introduced new operating methods with remote theater and the hybrid model.

The prize amount is €3.

The award was received by the founder of the IRTI theater Jorma Piispanen today, Saturday 20.11.2021, at Imatra Art Week's Lystiluantai event in Kulttuuritalo Virra.

We asked Jorma about his feelings about the award and the theater.

What kind of thoughts does the award evoke in you?

— Many thanks for the award! It's incredibly great that our work is also taken into account in the city. Through Irti Theater, many young people from Imatra have also found work in the industry.

—The theater will be 30 years old next year. There will be some celebrations, but they will be taken care of by the current theater managers under the leadership of Lauri Haltsonen.

—At the time, I took a theater director's course in Mikkeli Paukkula, and on August 29.8.1992, XNUMX, we started the rehearsals of the Irti Teatteri group at the old ITY building. At the very beginning, about twenty young people came to practice. I was certainly much more nervous about the first exercises than the children who came there. But that's where it started!

What's up with IRTI Theater at the moment?

-I am fine! The groups rehearse at Aseman Theater and some of the groups also rehearse in the hall of the Old Lyceum.

—We currently have six groups: Toddlers, Almonds, Green Peppers, Peppers, Adults and the Imatra syndrome improvisation group. In total, close to a hundred enthusiasts.

What do you hope for the amateur theater of Imatra in the future?

—We are looking for a new space, where we could better practice indoor theater. At Aseman Theater, the space sometimes gets cramped and the space is also otherwise used as a party venue, which also limits our use. It's a shame that the old space in the former ITY building can no longer be used. There we had good facilities with stands and there is a lot of nostalgia and e.g. the theater's own ghost, whose steps can sometimes be heard in the building. A blonde woman has also been seen following the exercises there. But when there was a new space, the children and young people would have a place that could be called a second home like the old space.

What about retirement days?

—I did my paid work at Ovako and I have already retired from it, but Irti Teatteri is still part of everyday life. The time passes very nicely with the children of the theater and my own grandchildren! I still go to watch the rehearsals of the theater groups from time to time and I like to act as a janitor and take care of running things, although for the most part the younger people are already running the theater's operations. It would still be nice to direct a play myself.

—Every year I have directed two to three plays in these 30 years. Now the young people have continued directing work at Irti Theatre. Lauri Haltsonen is running the theater at the moment and it's great that he has also stayed here in Imatra to work with amateur theater.

—There is an attraction and many theatergoers who were involved here as children have come back to Imatra to visit us in plays as directors. Children and young people give me a lot of energy. They gave me the nickname Jomppak, which has stuck with me.

For more information:

Head of the Culture and Learning Center Sarianna Purtilo, sarianna. purtiloimatra.fi (sarianna[dot]purtilo[at]imatra[dot]fi), tel. 020 617 5401