?AKOVEC, 10 – 25 OCTOBER 2015
ASSITEJ Croatia includes 23 professional theatres for children and youth. These are public institutions, town theatres, cultural centres, private theatres and artistic organisations.
Each year, and this year for the 18th time, ASSITEJ Croatia organises a national meeting of professional theatres for children and youth in ?akovec, bringing together the best of Croatian theatres, artists, critics and guests from the region and the world, for the purpose of exchanging knowledge and experiences in theatres for children and youth.
Since the programme is limited and the number of annual productions is high, in recent years, the selector has chosen the ten best productions of the last year for the festival. This year’s selector was theatre director Renata Carola Gatica. The plays were assessed by an expert panel consisting of theatre director Anica Tomi?, theatre critic Igor Ruži?, and theatre director Nikola Zaviši?.
A round table was also held on the topic of evaluation criteria and assessing the quality of plays for children and youth.
As part of the festival, the international programmed entitled Croatia World Collaboration was held for the fourth year in a row, aimed at enriching the festival programme with international guests and colleagues.
In recent years, ASSITEJ Croatia has been an active participant in the formation and work of the regional network of ASSITEJ centres, EUROPA 8+. At this festival, an exhibit of puppets from the Tandarica Theatre from Romania was held, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of that prestigious theatre.
Within the EUROPA 8+ network, ASSITEJ Croatia hosted young producers from theatres for children and youth from the network countries. Two representatives each from Italy, Hungary and Croatia, and one from Serbia participated on multiple days of the festival. The idea was to host young theatre artists, to enable them to watch the Croatian annual productions of theatres for children and youth, and to foster mutual dialogue, aimed towards developing a framework for joint future projects.
The producers participated in several round tables, presented the theatres from their countries, festivals for children and youth, and the artistic tendencies of their theatres.
The festival ended with the awards ceremony:
- Award for best overall play went to the play “Bremenski svira?i” (Town Musicians of Bremen) by the Pinklec Theatre, ?akovec.
- Best direction went to Radovan Ruždjak, Aleksandra Naumov and Damir Klameni? for the play “Neispri?ana bajka” (Untold Fairy Tale) by the Scena Gorica Theatre, Velika Gorica.
- Best dramatic script was awarded to Olja Lozica for the play “Darmarzemska” (Hubble-Bubble Land) by the Split Puppet Theatre.
- Best set design was awarded to Igor Vasiljev for the play “Darmarzemska” (Hubble-Bubble Land) by the Split Puppet Theatre.
- Best score was awarded to Glazbeni laboratorij FOO-RA for the play “Neispri?ana bajka” (Untold Fairy Tale) by the Scena Gorica Theatre, Velika Gorica.
- Best performances:
- Best actresses (two equal awards): Aleksandra Naumov for her role in the play “Neispri?ana bajka” (Untold Fairy Tale) by the Scena Gorica Theatre, Velika Gorica and Andrea Majica for her role in the play “Darmarzemska” (Hubble-Bubble Land) by the Split Puppet Theatre.
Best actors (two equal awards): Damir Klemeni? for his role in the play “Neispri?ana bajka” (Untold Fairy Tale) by the Scena Gorica Theatre, Velika Gorica and Petar Cvirin for his role in the play “Kraljevi? i prosjak” (The Prince and the Pauper) by the Žar Ptica
