The Women & The Playwrites
MACEDONIA - THE STORY OF BILJANA
By Blagica Sekulovska
Through the story of Biljana, we get to follow the struggle for equality in Macedonia – one woman’s life. Through her public fight for reproductive rights, marriage rights and more, she is boldly facing patriarchy head on.
Blagica Sekulovska, Skopje, is a graduate of the department of Dramaturgy and Scriptwriting at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Skopje. She is the author of the plays Love or Friendship (2004), and Loveless (2010) and co-author of the play Provocation (2003). She worked as dramaturge and assistant dramaturge in several theatre productions in Skopje. She was also mentor and dramaturge in the projects “You have the right to know" (2003, Theatre Youth of Macedonia) and "Bridges of culture" (2005, European Development Agency. In 2012 Macedonian National Theatre awarded her play Loveless and the same play will be staged at year 2015, by the Drama Theatre, Skopje.
CROATIA - WHISTLE BLOWER
By Vedrana Klepica
2 constitution breaches, 3 law violations, 8 years of court, 5 different judges and a shitload of problems that can't be expressed in numbers. Is a trial verdict a victory if the perpetrator’s penalty is negligible?
''Whistleblower'' focuses on events connected to the work of Croatian journalist Helena Puljiz from 2004 until 2015, and what happened when she was contacted by the Croatian Counter Intelligence Agency, requesting her to take part in gathering damaging information regarding political actors in the government. She refused, and this is her story.
Vedrana Klepica, Zagreb was born in Kutina, 1986. She’s a playwright. She studied Playwriting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Zagreb. Six of her plays were staged in Croatia, Australia, Great Britain and Germany. She participated as an author in several playwriting festivals 'Neue Stucke aus Europa' and 'Theater Konstanz Authors Laboratry' in Germany, and the National Theater studio in London, Women Playwrights International Conference in Sweden, World Interplay Festival in Australia and Turkey. She worked as a journalist in theatre portal Teatar.hr, in the business weekly Lider, magazine Vijenac, and in several theatre productions and festivals. In 2013 she debuted as a director of her own play ‘Tragična smrt ekonomskog analitičara’. In 2012, together with producer Petra Glad, she took over leading the cultural organization KUFER, from directors Franka Perković and Dora Ruždjak Podolski.
SERBIA - WHEN I CAME TO BEZDAN
By Olga Dimitrijevic
A laid off worker, an advertising professional longing to leave the urban grind, and a woman stemming from generations of farmers, meet in the village of Bezdan where they form an unlikely alliance and a cooperative. Poetic and poignant, the voices of three women from the village of Bezdan are weaved together, as in real life their lives have been knitted together with the village and its inhabitants.
Olga Dimitrijević, Belgrade, was born in 1984, is (still) a Yugoslavian playwright and dramaturge. With the Dramaturgy diploma at Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, her film and theatre reviews were running through Vreme, Teatron, Yellow Cab, Popboks and few other magazines. She participated in many international workshops, seminars and conferences dealing with arts, theory and gender studies (Women Playwrights International, Stockholm 2012; Facing the Present: Transition in Post-Yugoslavia – The Artists' View, Graz 2013; Gavrilo Princip 14|14: Art mocking History, Berlin, Humboldt University 2014, etc). She defended her MA theses “The body of the Female Folk Singer: Constructions of National Identities in Serbia after 2000” at Gender Studies at Central European University, Budapest, in 2009. Her play Boarding School was staged in Dadov Theater in Belgrade. The play Workers Die Singing won Heartefact Fund contest for the best contemporary socially engaged play in the Serbian language. It was staged in Bitef Theater (coproduction of Heartefact and Bitef) in 2011. The Folk’s Play had its premiere in October 2012. Other notable projects include cabaret Behind the Mirror, depicting lives of transgender sex workers in Serbia (2012), and co-editing of the book "Between Us: Untold Stories of Gay and Lesbian Lives", a research on history of homosexuality in Serbia (2014). Lecturer at alternative academic program Women’s Studies at Faculty of Political Science, Belgrade. Winner of Sterijino Pozorje prize for best contemporary play.
MONTENEGRO - LJILJANA RAICEVIC AND THE CASE OF S.Č.
By Nataša Nelević
In 2002 when, “by doing her job”, she backed “S.Č”, a woman who accused Montenegrin top government officials of monstrous sex abuse and trafficking – experienced activist Ljiljana Raičević found herself, together with her associates, in the midst of political scandal, under terrifying pressure and prey to political interests. The reactions to the case of “S.Č”, plunged Ljiljana into self reflection; what is the meaning of activism, the struggle for truth and justice, and ultimately what is the purpose of suffering and sacrifice without which the battle for justice is not possible.
Nataša Nelević, Podgorica, is playwright, theatrologist, theater critic and member of the NGO NOVA Feminist Culture Centre. Graduated from Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade - Department of General Literature and Literary Theory. Published theatre critic and theatrical texts in the daily newspapers Victory, Day, The Voice of Montenegrins, weeklies Polis, and Monitor, journals Gesture, MMart, Sarajevo Notebooks. Sterija award for theatre critics (2003). For the play Egg she was awarded for best contemporary national play by the Montenegrin National Theatre (2011). She edited the book "Drama transit - Anthology plays in Montenegro 1994-2005" (New Books, 2008), and she also editor of the book "Women's voices in the performing arts of the Western Balkans 1990-2010", "Women in Montenegro from 1790 to 1915 - historical reader", "Media construction of gender - the Montenegrin experience of transition". Initiator and participant of many local and regional projects that affirm female performing and other artistic practices.
KOSOVO - NO TITLE
By Vesa Qena
Late 90’ies. Vesa's homeland is at war. She's trying to understand war by comparing the growing pain of her eight-year old body with the pain of a woman who has lost her whole family in the war.
Vesa Qena, Pristina, was born in Mitrovica, 1991. She is a playwright and cofounder of the Pristina based women-only collective Haveit which performs/protests against injustice, moralistic rule and discrimination. She is also coordinator of the film program of Skena Up - International Theater and Film Student Festival (Pristina). In 2011 she collaborated as a writer with Multimedia Center (Pristina) in a play about Josip Broz Tito. In 2012, her play "Ata do të vijnë" was produced by Multimedia Center. In 2012, her play "To hell with Tito" was performed in Banja Luka, collaboration between Nevid Teatar (Banja Luka), Qendra Multimedia (Pristina) and The Center for Drama Arts (Skopje). With Haveit she has performed in public spaces and festivals in Pristina, Skopje, Tirana and recently in Stockholm at Stockholms Lans Museum.
BOSNIA HERCEGOVINA - SELF-SACRIFICED
By Tanja Šljivar
The play "Self-sacrificed" deals with birth practices in public hospitals in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which very often include violence, corruption and mistreatment. "Self-sacrificed" channels the voice of Vesna Lepir, a woman who publicly chose to speak out. In her story the contradictions and paradoxes of patriarchy in Bosnian society is displayed exactly in the moment when the female body is in labour in all its devastating pain and hilarious absurdity.
Tanja Šljivar, Banja Luka, holds both BA and MA degree in dramaturgy at Faculty of drama arts in Belgrade, Serbia. Author of How much is Pate?, Scratching or How my grandmother killed herself and We are the ones our parents warned us of, which were publicly read and produced in professional theaters in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia. Author of short stories, radio plays, screenplays for short films and theatre theory texts, she won several awards for her playwriting. Her plays have been translated in English, German, Macedonian and French. She is currently attending MA course in applied theater science in Giessen, Germany.