SELECTOR’S INTRODUCTION
LET’S SHINE TO THE STARS!
38 theaters, from seven countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, Hungary, Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro), with 43 plays from 27 cities (Bugojno, Budapest, Belgrade, Bjelovar, Zagreb, Zrenjanin, Jagodina, Karlovac, Kragujevac, Kruševac, Lazarevac, Laktaši, Leće, Ljubljana, Maribor, Mostar, Niš, Novi Sad, Podgorica, Priština, Rijeka, Sarajevo, Slavonski Brod, Smederevo, Split, Subotica, Ugljevik) applied for participation at the 9th Theatre Festival "Pozorište Zvezdarište“. Some will rightly ask, how is it possible to single out only one-fourth of the whole and say "this is a whole". Strict aesthetic standards in the hands of your, letćs say, fair selector, went through all plays and with a lot of personal childlike questions selected the official competition program of the 9th festival "Pozorište Zvezdarište“, and even though the budget was provided for 12, included 14 plays! Well, may the best win!
“In the year of light and rabbit, having in mind this year's mascot of "Pozorište Zvezdarište“ the Firefly, whose spiral flight towards the stars reminds us that everyone needs to find at least one little firefly in himself whose light will be shared with others, I selected the plays. Their common denominator is that the epilogue even in a most complicated, most wonderful, and scariest story brings the light inside. For example, “The Emperor's Nightingale“: The Emperor, alienated from his own people, in all his arrogance, wants one day to lock the song of the nightingale between four imperial walls. In China, the cradle of fairy tales, true confucian conception of life is valid, that the inner light of spiritual values is the most powerful force, and each time, when our personal fireflies fly out of, they do not not illuminate only us, but all around us, including the near-sighted king. In the play, “Anna and Mia” we see a painful agony of the heroine trying to survive the internal conflict between the forces of light and dark as a result of the disease of anorexia and bulimia. ood Zloćko and Prince Rogue”, even though their fate assigned them the role of bad guys, by their will, the light in themselves, they become good guys. What to say about the defeated evil in “Hansel and Gretel” (Janko and Metka) or in “The Witches” by Roald Dahl ... Who is the one who will not believe in Mozart’s music of light, or in the strength of the clumsy dragon? “Matilda”, and “Lady and the Tramp”, through play, radiating fireflies around themselves, lead us to happy ending, just like the plays: “Our Emperor Has a Horse’s Tooth”, “Plastic Gardens”, “Cow on the Moon”, “As if I Had Come from Another Planet”. Last year I praised the actors for children, as well as the fact that in children's plays you can discover a magnificent world of pure acting. This time, I admire the vitality of children's theater which, despite financial hardship, economic crisis, lack of attention by cultural community, creates works worthy of respect of toughest critics and aesthetes. "Pozorište Zvezdarište“, 9th theater festival for children and with children, especially with children, promises you an experience full of light, laughter, anguish, love, care, warm hugs if you feel winter in your soul and, finally, spending time with little stars of your childhood. We’ll give each other fireflies and their brightness. We may learn something, for sure, we will learn, if nothing else, at least to be better. Remember, each time, when our own personal fireflies fly out of us, they do not illuminate only us, but all around us. May the Light in us win! .