54th Week of Slovenian Drama

The Selector of the 54th Week of Slovenian Drama

Alja Predan <em>Photo: Damjan Švarc</em>
Alja Predan Photo: Damjan Švarc

Alja Predan, a dramaturg, translator, editor and theatre researcher has been, among other things, the artistic director of the SNT Nova Gorica, a dramaturg at the Ljubljana City Theatre and Celje City Theatre, the head of the theatre and contemporary dance programme in Cankarjev dom, and the director of the Maribor Theatre Festival (2009–2019). She was the editor of the Knjižnica MGL (Ljubljana City Theatre Library, which published 30 books on the theory and history of drama and theatre during her tenure) and the founder and editor of the Contemporary European Drama series.

As a dramaturg, she has collaborated on more than fifty productions in all Slovenian theatres, as well as abroad. She has translated around sixty plays of contemporary British, American, Serbian, Croatian and Polish drama. She has been a member or president of numerous juries at theatre festivals in Slovenia and internationally, including the festival New Drama in Bratislava, Sterijino pozorje in Novi sad, Bitef in Belgrade, Marulić Days in Split, the Divine Comedy festival in Krakow and BE festival in Birmingham. She was also the selector of the Week of Slovenian Drama in Kranj, a curator for the Slovenian Focus at the 7th Contemporary Drama Festival in Budapest, and the Slovenian focus at the 6th New Drama Festival in Bratislava.

She has received several awards for her work, among them the Grün-Filipič Award, the lifetime achievement award from the Slovenian Association of Dramatic Artists, the Glazer Award and the Vladimir Kralj Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Jury for the Slavko Grum Award and the Young Playwright Award

Rok Andres <em>Photo: Peter Uhan</em>
Rok Andres Photo: Peter Uhan
Jakob Ribič <em>Photo: Personal archive</em>
Jakob Ribič Photo: Personal archive
Miriam Kičiňová <em>Photo: Personal archive</em>
Miriam Kičiňová Photo: Personal archive

Rok Andres graduated from the department of dramaturgy at the UL AGRFT and then worked as an assistant and a young researcher at the University of Nova Gorica, where he also earned his PhD. His dramaturgical work includes working on productions in Slovenian theatre institutions and co-creating different festivals, including his work in expert juries. His bibliography is over eighty units and includes academic research and editorial work. His main research focus is drama and the reception of foreign drama in the Slovenian theatre system. In the years 2020 and 2021, he was the selector for the Week of Slovenian Drama, and the first editor-in-chief for the web-portal Kritika (SLOGI). He is the artistic director of the Šentjakob Theatre in Ljubljana, and is currently employed as a dramaturg at the SNT Drama Ljubljana.

Jakob Ribič is a young researcher at the UL AGRFT. Between 2015 and 2019, he was a member of the editing board of the academy’s journal Adept and, between 2018 and 2022, he co-authored – together with Varja Hrvatin and Maša Radi Buh – the weekly radio programme Teritorij teatra (for Radio Študent). Since 2022, he has been the co-editor of the web portal Neodvisni. He publishes articles in professional and academic journals (Problemi, The Brecht Yearbook, Amfiteater, Maska …), theatre programmes and collections of papers (Drama, tekst, pisava 2, Govor in prostor). He has been a jury member or a selector at different festivals and competitions (Odprto polje kulture, Transgeneracije, Rdeča nit, International One-Minute Play Contest). He received the UL AGRFT Student Prešeren Award for his bachelor’s thesis (2018) and for his master’s thesis (2020).

Miriam Kičiňová has been the artistic director of the Slovak National Theatre Drama in Bratislava since January 2021 but worked there as a dramaturg and a language consultant since 2011. She studied theatre dramaturgy and theory at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, where she earned her PhD in 2019. As a part of the Erasmus exchange programme, she studied at the UL AGRFT in 2008. She has worked as a critic for several newspapers and collaborated with the majority of the Slovak theatres, where she created over 40 productions as a dramaturg. She is a part-time lecturer at the academy in Bratislava, where she teaches the analysis of drama texts.

The Jury for the Šeligo Award, the Week of Slovenian Drama Best Actress and Best Actor Awards and the Special Jury Award

Pia Brezavšček <em>Photo: Personal archive</em>
Pia Brezavšček Photo: Personal archive
Mirna Rustemović <em>Photo: Personal archive</em>
Mirna Rustemović Photo: Personal archive
Karpo Godina <em>Photo: Personal archive</em>
Karpo Godina Photo: Personal archive

Pia Brezavšček is the editor of Maska journal for contemporary performing arts. As a cultural worker, she has several roles – as editor, author, critic, moderator, theatre researcher and dramaturg. She is a philosopher and an art historian, a doctoral candidate at the UL Faculty of Arts. She co-founded the web portal Neodvisni, specialised in criticism of independent stage productions, and edited it until 2022. Between 2017 and 2020, she was the president of the Contemporary Dance Association Slovenia. She teaches the course Dance, politics, sociology at the Academy of Dance at the Alma Mater Europea. As a dramaturg, she has collaborated on projects by Bara Kolenc and Magdalena Reiter and often works with Saška Rakef.

Mirna Rustemović holds a degree in dramaturgy from the Academy of Dramatic Art, University of Zagreb in Croatia. She is an occasional playwright and has worked as a dramaturg in Zagreb Youth Theatre ZKM, HNK Zagreb, Sisak City Theatre, Trešnja City Theatre, HNK Varaždin, Zagreb Dance Centre, Theatre &td., Mini teater and the Dubrovnik Summer Festival. She is the resident dramaturg at the Croatian National Theatre HNK Zagreb.

Aleš Jan is a theatre and radio director and professor emeritus at the UL Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television. He has been active as a director on Slovenian stages and radio since 1965. His body of work consists of over 600 radio plays of all genres, 60 plays for various audio media and over 50 theatre and opera pieces. In addition to his artistic and educational work, he has lectured at professional meetings at home and abroad and published articles in Slovenian and international professional journals. He has also served as an EBU (European Broadcasting Union) coordinator for radio drama and as a member or president of international juries and bodies. He has won over thirty-five awards at international radio and theatre festivals for his directing, among them, PRIX RAI in Italy, PRIX OIRT in Warsaw, a Polish artists’ association award, an award for directing in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a Borštnik Diploma, IRIB in Iran, Mediamixx in Bulgaria. He is also a recipient of a Borštnik Golden Badge. His radio directing has earned him the highest Slovenian cultural accolades – the Prešeren Fund Award, the Župančič Award, the City of Ljubljana Award, and the Polde Bibič Award presented by the Slovenian Association of Dramatic Artists.


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