VENICE — What if David, the biblical hero who defeats Goliath, were a gay teenager with a taste for vogueing? The Italian director Giovanni Ortoleva makes the case for reinvention in “Saul,” a new play presented at the Venice Theater Biennale — but the character is also a metaphor for the entire festival, which concludes on Sunday.

While Venice has had a Theater Biennale since 1934, it still feels like a David to the Art Biennale’s Goliath. Misleadingly, the juggernaut contemporary art exhibition is regularly referred to as “the Venice Biennale,” but this city is actually awash with Biennales. Theater is a yearly fixture along with dance and music, while the art and architecture events happen every other year. Yet the performing arts’ presence remains more discreet.

It may be a blessing in disguise. This year’s lineup was blissfully free of the same old star directors who headline many international theater festivals. Antonio Latella, who has been at the event’s helm since 2017, appears more interested in theater-makers who fly below the radar. His first edition featured only female directors, and, in keeping with this year’s theme, “Dramaturgies,” the Golden Lion award for lifetime achievement went to a dramaturge, Jens Hillje, the co- director of Berlin’s Maxim Gorki Theater.

At the two-week Biennale, a sample of Mr. Latella’s finds proved invigorating. Not only does he go for unpredictable, diverse, boldly structured projects, but he takes the time to introduce artists, frequently programming two productions by the same director or company. This proved particularly beneficial for the Rotterdam-based collective Club Gewalt, whose nutty brand of musical theater swings wildly between opera, punk and pop references from one project to the next.