PROGRAMMES REALISED IN 2002
ISSUING THE PUBLICATION CROATIAN DRAMA 8 ON THE OCCASION OF WORLD THEATRE DAY
The publication Croatian Drama 8 grew out of a bulletin into an informative publication, unique in our cultural milieu. It is the sole Croatian publication meant for the promotion of Croatian theatre abroad. The content of this publication includes basic information on new plays, play summaries, playwright biographies as well as their contact addresses.
In the eight issues published to date, over 80 authors were presented with 254 plays. Furthermore, the bulletin brings useful information on Croatian theatre during 2001: a list of theatres and festivals, a review of the theatre season, a list of published theatre books and a review of activities of the Croatian Centre of ITI. Hrvoje Ivankovic, theatre critic and theatrologist, wrote on Croatian theatre in 2001 in one of the foreword texts.
The publication is issued in Croatian and English and the entire circulation is distributed free of charge throughout Croatia and worldwide. The content of the publication is also transferred to the Croatian Centre of ITI's Web site. Thanks to this publication, Croatian writers are now systematically represented on the Internet for the first time.
AUSTRIAN DRAMA AND THEATRE DAYS
Zagreb, April 22-26, 2002
Co-organisers: Austrian Cultural Forum in Zagreb
Co-organisers: KulturKontakt, Vienna
The intention of this programme was to introduce the theatre and dramatic works of other countries to the Croatian cultural public.
The programme was successfully initiated with Scottish Drama Week and continued with Antonin Artaud Days and Welsh Drama and Theatre Week.
Austrian Drama and Theatre Days opened at ITD Theatre in Zagreb with the public reading of Werner Schwab's play People Annihilation or My Liver is Pointless , translated by Sead Muhamedagic and directed by Nina Kleflin. The actors that were involved included: Slavica Jukic, Ljubica Jovic, Damir Šaban, Jelena Veljaca, Renata Sabljak and Daria Lorenci.
The second day, April 23, was dedicated to the public listening of Wolfgang Bauer's radio play Dream Jockey produced by the Croatian Radio Drama Programme and directed by Rene Maurin. The listening took place at ITD Theatre once again.
This was followed by the presentation of the Anthology of New Austrian Plays, the 26 th book published in the Mansions Series (Biblioteka Mansioni), the drama editions series of the Croatian Centre of ITI. Along with the editor of the book and translator of the selected plays, Sead Muhamedagic, theatrologist Giga Gracan, university professor and Germanist Dragutin Horvat, the editor of the entire Mansions Series, Željka Turcinovic, also took part in the presentation.
On Wednesday, April 24, the lecture Recent Popular Theatre of Croats from Gradišce by Nikola Bencsics from Željezno, took place at the Austrian Cultural Forum.
The following day, a Round Table discussion on the subject of Austrian Plays from the Perspective of Theatre Practice was held at the same location. The participants in the discussion included Juliane Alton, theatre producer, Petra Ratzmanner, theatre critic, Johanna Tomek, actress and owner of a Vienna theatre, and Sead Muhamedagic. The discussion was moderated by Radovan Grahovac, a Croatian theatre director temporarily residing in Vienna.
The last day of the manifestation was dedicated to the lecture From the Old Wolf to Paradise by playwright and poet Ana Schoretits, at the Austrian Cultural Forum.
Austrian Drama and Theatre Days had a significant response by the Croatian public. Some of the plays from the Anthology were included in the repertoires of Croatian theatres as well as in the programme of Croatian Radio. Following the publication of this book, Sead Muhamedagic received the prestigious Austrian State Award for his translating work, while in Austria, Juliane Alton and Radovan Grahovac started on the publication of the Anthology of Contemporary Croatian Drama in German. Johanna Tomek participated in the work of the International Drama Colony in Motovun in July 2002 and, during that time, agreed to host the staged reading of one contemporary Croatian play at her theatre in Vienna.
INTERNATIONAL DRAMA COLONY,
MOTOVUN 2002
From Text to Performance
July 7-14, 2002
Launched in 1999, the International Drama Colony is one of the most attractive programmes of the Croatian Centre of ITI. The goal of this programme is to validate foreign and domestic dramatic texts in the form of staged readings.
The Croatian side presents young and not yet affirmed playwrights, providing them with a chance to work on the production of their text with professional actors and directors and to explore the possibilities of staging the text.
Foreign guests of the Colony present their recent dramatic production with a chosen piece. Staged readings are site-specific as the stagings take place outside, at picturesque locations in the medieval Istrian town of Motovun. The “performances” have no set design, props or costumes and the actors read from the texts in their hands.
The basis of cooperation between Croatia and foreign countries is reciprocity; and thanks to this Colony, our contemporary writers and their plays have already been presented in the USA, Czech Republic, Slovakia, India and Mexico.
The Colony has also established itself as a highly useful programme through which the Croatian Centre of ITI collaborates with national ITI branches and the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb.
The realized interaction of domestic and foreign playwrights in the Colony builds bridges of theatrical cooperation; and through the form of work-in-progress, young playwrights have the chance to experience the metamorphosis of a literary work into a theatrical piece.
In its fourth year of existence, three texts have had their staged readings at the Colony:
• Dora Delbianco: Conductor (Croatia)
Directed by: Želimir Mesaric
Actors: Jadranka Đokic, Dijana Vidušin, Amar Bukvic and Borko Peric
• Akos Nemeth: Julia and Her Lieutenant (Hungary)
Directed by: Attila Beres
Translated by: Ištvan Filakovic
Actors: Hana Hegedušic, Antonija Stanišic, Saša Buneta, Sven Šestak, Goran Malus, Danijel Radecic, Ivan Glowatzky
• Medardo Trevino: In the Heart of the Womb (Mexico)
Directed by: Medardo Trevino
Translated by: Ivana Loncar
Actors: Ljubica Jovic, Ankica Dobric, Đenita Imamovic, Romina Vitasovic, Ozren Grabaric, Vinko Kraljevic, Toni Gojanovic.
Guests of the Colony were Johanna Tomek (Austria) and Fernando Mier y Tier (Mexico).
5 th THEATRE FORUM: REPERTOIRE POLICY
OF CROATIAN THEATRES
Rijeka, October 11-12, 2002
The programme of this meeting was a continuation of the programme of the Theatre Forum of the Croatian Centre of ITI in which we strived to delve into current and significant theatrical themes in a public manner and with the participation of relevant theatre professionals.
Following the Forum Theatre Critique and Theatre Publishing , this time we opted to tackle a subject which deals with our theatre reality and requires an open exchange of opinions, discussions and the definition of problems. Although this Forum was primarily intended for domestic theatre professionals, there were a few participants from abroad (including Slovenia and Italy). Such a concept is the desire of the Croatian Centre of ITI to make its activities as transparent as possible to domestic theatre professionals.
Poor repertoire policy of domestic theatres is often mentioned in critical reviews and discussions as one of the important generators of the crisis of Croatian theatre. Certain theatres are reproached for their repertoire inconsistency, indolence and lack of inventiveness. Yet, the true reasons for such a situation have rarely been tackled so far in open and well-argued expert debates.
This is why the Croatian Centre of ITI and the Croatian National Theatre Ivan pl. Zajc in Rijeka organised these discussions where a wide circle of theatre practitioners and theoreticians (managers and theatre owners, dramaturges, directors, playwrights, theatrologists, critics…) made an effort to grasp the problem from various points of view, taking into consideration a whole range of circumstances which influence the repertoire policy of domestic theatres.
The two-day Round Table discussion consisted of subjects that were interesting and informative, including papers which dealt with the problematic issues of repertoire, such as: Analysis of Repertoires in Our Theatres in the Last Ten Years; Repertoire Groundedness and Profile; Repertoire Experiences and Models in Slovenia and Italy; The Influence of Audience on the Creation of Repertoire; The Influence of Social-Transition Circumstances; The Influence of Financial Means; The Influence of Owners; Creation of Repertoire According to the Actors; What is the Role of Directors in the Creation of Repertoires?; Are Theatre Festivals Stimulating for the Creation of Repertoire; Domestic Drama and Playwrights on the Repertoire; Recent World Drama on Theatre Repertoires , etc.
There were 25 participants at the meeting, among them Lada Martinac Kralj, Lada Kaštelan, Boris B. Hrovat, Sandro Damiani, Želimir Oreškovic, Vjeran Zuppa, Miro Gavran, Joško Juvancic, Niko Pavlovic, Ozren Prohic, Vitomira Loncar, Francesco Tei, Primož Bebler, Ivica Restovic, Marija Leko, Marijana Fumic, Borislav Vjucic, Vili Matula, Željko Vukmirica, Darko Gašparovic, Zlatko Sviben, Željka Turcinovic...
The meeting took place in the Concert Hall of the Croatian National Theatre Ivan pl. Zajc and the discussions were moderated by theatre director Zlatko Sviben.
MEMBERS' TRAVELS TO
INTERNATIONAL MEETINGS
International meetings of theatrologists and theatre professionals as well as scholarly programmes related to performing arts held within the frame of theatre festivals are special and particular occasions. For this reason, the participation of Croatian theatre professionals is considered as highly important. Such gatherings are a direct chance to present Croatian theatre and drama in the world. Here we bring the list of the most important meetings in which our members took part.
KUWAIT, May 25-28, 2002
EXCOM Meeting
Participant: Željka Turcinovic
ATHENS, GREECE, 29 th ITI World Congress
Participants: Željka Turcinovic (as President of the Croatian Centre of ITI-UNESCO and member of IDC), Sanja Nikcevic (member of EXCOM and Communication Committee), Jasen Boko (member of the Playwrights' Forum) and Suzana Nikolic (representative of the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb).
PHILADELPHIA, USA, November 14-17, 2002
Annual ASTR Congress
Participant: Sanja Nikcevic
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY, November 21-25, 2002
Actual Moment of Hungarian Theatre
Participant: Željka Turcinovic
Detailed reports from these travels are available at the Centre's Office.
MAGAZINE ACTIVITIES
MOVEMENT 1 , Magazine for Dance Art
( KRETANJA 1 , casopis za plesnu umjetnost)
The magazine was initiated by the Dance Committee of the Croatian Centre of ITI with the aim of filling the gap produced by a lack of thematic, critical and informative writing on dance art in Croatia and abroad.
The first issue introduced the magazine's concept, defined by permanent and occasional sections such as: Movements on the Croatian Dance Scene, Alongside Contemporary Dance Week and Eurokaz, Discussions, Theory, Dance and Other Arts, Cultural Management, Remembering, Reading and Info .
Members of the magazine's Editorial Board are: Iva Nerina Sibila (Editor-in-Chief), Maja Đurinovic, Nataša Govedic, Katja Šimunic and Željka Turcinovic. Design Director is Neven Kovacic.
Texts in the first issue were written by: Nikolina Pristaš, Maja Đurinovic, Iva Nerina Sibila, Una Bauer, Carol Brown, Emina Viš- nic, Mila Culjak, Ivana Slunjski, Vera Maletic, Anna Aalten, Katja Šimunic, Claire Liagre, Sanja Lovrencic, Mirna Žagar, Andreja Jelicic, Jelena Mihelcic and Lidija Zoldoš.
The magazine was first presented to the public on March 19, 2003 at the Mamut (Mammoth) Scene of the Gavella Drama Theatre and was promoted by dr. Vjeran Zuppa and the Editorial Board. A full house with numerous members of the dance guild as well as dance lovers proved that there was an immense interest in the magazine. For the Editorial Board, this was a significant and binding fact that gave them the impetus to continue with their work, in spite of financial difficulties.