Selector's Introduction

The great interest for this year's festival shown by numerous theatres appeal, clearly demonstrates that Pozorište Zvezdarište, after years of continued rise, succeeded in establishing the authentic dialogue with little theatres. Evidently, The Festival Pozorište Zvezdarište for these theatres represents the inevitable challenge and opportunity to confirm their own creative potentials.

Pozorište Zvezdarište, not only by the drama selections and carefully elected jury, but also with international theatrical program selection and deliberately organized round table meetings shows its maturity. We are striving to recognize any step forward related to the form, to valorize the interaction between domestic and European children’s theatres, whether it is about the mainstream or pack off scene, providing conditions for top-quality competition. It seems that these are the basic factors responsible for the pleasant vibes among theatre troops.

What especially pleased festival’s selector and organizer is the considerable number of regional theatres registrations. They are the proof of increasing interest for our festival and at the same time the important chance for this Zvezdara’s Municipality child to grow and develop through further conceptualization.

Application forms for this year’s festival sent the theatres from Beograd, Zrenjanin, Niš, Subotica, Novi Sad, Zemun, Sombor, Pančevo, Kruševac, Aleksinac, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Slavonski Brod, Zenica, Kranj…
The quality of this year’s offered performances was good, maybe the best since the very beginning of festival. The fact that makes us happy is the greater and greater number of musicals in Serbian theatres, continuous and diligent work on theatres’ production, along with financial investment, which is indispensable for high-class results. The positive thing is the great number of the assistants and experts in every aspect of the play, who with equal professionalism approach to the children’s and adult’s theatre. Finally, another satisfying fact is the great interest for the children’s theatre among young actors that can be decisively important for their prospect career.

On the other hand, the fact that worries us is the critic and media’s disinterest for children’s theatre along with lack of motivation among educators to bring children to watch theatre performances.
However, these problems go beyond the festival’s authorities but still obligate us to consider them.

Željko Hubač, playwright