The Bosnian National Theatre Zenica (BNP) was extremely active in many fields last year, and a total of 288 programs were held in our region – said Miroljub Mijatović, director of the BNP, in an interview with Fena.
For their audience, he added, they also prepared nine premiere performances – for adults “Medea”, “Marlene Dietrich – five counts of the indictment”, “What is a man without a mustache”, “Acid”, “From the closest distance”, “Lemons, lemons, lemons, lemons, lemons” and “Hasanaginica”, while the plays “I have to tell you something”, “Red Riding Hood and the Good Wolf” premiered for children and young people.
– Some of these productions were created at BNP, and some are co-production projects with significant theater companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as significant theater, international festivals such as MESS and Mittelfest Cividale. Cooperation with Creative Europe has been initiated, where our theater is the leader of the “Sexual Theater” project, and partners are companies from Montenegro, France and Portugal. It has also been performed throughout the Zenica-Doboj Canton, as well as throughout BiH and the region. We organized and successfully realized the XXIII Festival of Bosnian and Herzegovina Drama – emphasized Mijatović.
As part of the publishing activity, the book “Three Dramas – Premieres” was printed, the promotion of which is expected at the beginning of this year.
– The Children’s, Youth and Puppet Stage (DOL) participated in several important regional festivals. Cooperation with all cities and municipalities of the ZDK is at an enviable level and we can safely say that it is unique in the Federation of BiH. In addition to the performances of our production, the audience had the opportunity to see fifteen performances by guest ensembles. We also hosted exhibitions, forums, film screenings, crews that filmed in our areas, and political promotions – emphasized Mijatović.
The New Year’s concert of classical music, performed by the Zenica Chamber and Symphony Orchestra, is traditionally one of the last programs at the Zenica BNP, but the end of the year was also marked by the premiere performance of the play “Hasanaginica”, which was produced with partner theaters and cultural institutions as part of the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the first recording of the ballad “Hasanaginica”.
– Two years ago, in cooperation with the Chamber Symphony Orchestra and the Primary and Secondary Music School in Zenica, we introduced the practice of organizing classical music concerts once a month as part of our concert season. It turned out that this was something that the City of Zenica was missing. Last year, we organized 12 such concerts, and we will continue the same practice in the future. The play “Hasanaginica” is a project that marked the 250th anniversary of the first printed edition of this ballad and brought together several theater companies from Bosnia and Herzegovina. In this way, BNP Zenica staged a play for the fifth time based on various templates that treat this significant work, thus once again confirming its desire to stage domestic dramatic texts – said Mijatović.
The BNP building was partially renovated last year, and the company’s acting ensemble, which is one of the youngest in BiH, is being supplemented by the engagement of external collaborators.
– Last year, the repair of leaks on the flat roof surfaces was completed, financed by the City of Zenica, the Government of the Canton of Zenica and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We have promises that in the coming period, the floor on the Main Stage, which has about 600 square meters, as well as the toilets in the audience area should also be repaired. By applying to various public calls, we managed to secure money for the preparation of documentation, bills of quantities and estimates for warming the building, as well as the purchase of equipment that will enable us to have more modern and better equipment to improve the artistic possibilities for our productions. Our acting ensemble has 20 actresses and actors and five permanent external collaborators – actors. It is currently impossible to increase the number of the acting ensemble, because the budget for part of the salaries provides for the number that is currently filled – says Mijatović.
However, by engaging in various projects, they try to retain young actresses and actors, because, he says, they are very important for planning projects and repertoire at a time when the ensemble mainly belongs to the middle and older generation.
– BNP Zenica is among the few institutions in ZDK that can be proud of having provided and are providing an opportunity to young people who have completed cultural studies at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Zenica, and who are doing an internship with us.
Currently, based on the competition of the Federal Employment Agency, three young people are engaged in internships with us, assigned to the production and marketing departments. We hope that in the coming months, especially when adopting the budget at all levels, the government will recognize our importance and help us to keep up with the salaries of employees in theaters in other cantons – said Mijatović.
The year behind us is significant for BNP Zenica, he emphasizes, due to the large number of performances and the return of the audience to the level they had before the coronavirus pandemic, which began in the spring of 2020.
– The year ahead is also significant in that it marks the 75th anniversary of the beginning of professional theatre life in Zenica. On this occasion, we have planned several significant projects, and we are starting preparations for some of them already in January. These include preparations for a play with the working title “Mala” based on the plays of three BiH authors – Emina Omerović, Emina Kovačević-Podgorčević and Nedžma Čizmo, and directed by Lajla Kaikčija. The play “Žive” is also in preparation, as part of the Creative Europe project and directed by Júlio Cerdeiro, a guest from Portugal. Both premieres are scheduled for the end of February – he announced in an interview with Fena Mijatović.
Source: federalna.ba
