The 13th Hartefakt competition for an engaged dramatic text has been published. Staša Bajac, whose text This will be different, is one of the previously awarded ones, points out that apart from the writer and the theater, engagement also requires the viewer "to depart for a moment from the attitude or mood in which he entered the theater hall and open himself to something new perspective, be it ideological or stylistic"
The Hartefakt Foundation has just announced the 13th regional competition for the best contemporary engaging dramatic text, the only one of its kind in our country, and one of the rare competitions for dramatic texts in general.
Staša Bajac, whose dramatic text is This one will be different won the 5th Hartefakt competition and became a highly sought-after performance of "Atelier 212", tells "Vreme" that "our theaters do not have open competitions for texts by domestic writers. Even if you are dealing with a benign topic, the doors of those institutions are largely closed, even for us who are performed authors. And then when they are revealed, it is disastrous for the work to enter into the calculations of how your work will be interpreted in the current political climate or management structure of that theater. Writing requires complete freedom, freed not only from self-censorship, but also from thinking about whether anyone will like it at all."
The position of engaging in "engaged" art is specific, says Staša Bajac, "because you are not writing a propaganda leaflet or a manifesto, but creating a work." When it is supreme, it also provokes through its form, through language, the choice of topic. Therefore, this engagement is also required from the viewer - to step aside for a moment from the attitude or mood in which he entered the theater hall and open up to some new perspective, whether it is ideological or stylistic."
The first readers of that text are the members of the jury, points out Staša Bajac, and "it is necessary that they are broad-minded, educated people whose judgment you trust." I went to the competition three times, but every year when the competition is announced, it's like a symbolic moment for me when I think about whether I have something to offer to that theater space."
And theater is "a living thing, it changes with social trends, with the people who create it, and you, as an author, are in the specific position of someone who responds to those trends, but also creates them. It also carries a dose of responsibility, especially in our easily combustible environment."
Staša Bajac calls the question of whether it makes sense to write engaged texts in a society whose culture has a minor position and influence, "defeatism that is easy to fall into" and believes that "these are delusions that we tell ourselves when we know that we are not doing enough or when we are on the verge of doing something problematic. When I summarize all this, it is clear how valuable it is to have a competition that makes room for all these intentions, ideas and doubts."
So far, more than a thousand new, never-before-published dramas have been submitted as part of Hartefakt's competition.
Prize-winning texts of Hartefakt's competition, and even some recommended ones, become performances of local theaters. Text by Staša Bajac This one will be different is part of "Atelje 212", it was directed by Đurđa Tešić, and the play stars Tamara Dragićević/Tijana Marković, Ana Mandić and Milica Janevski. The premiere was in 2019. Apart from this, the repertoire of "Atelier 212" also includes a play This one will be the same directed by Ivan Vuković.
The performance of "Balkan Spy" was canceled tonight just before the meeting of the Student List at Slavija - due to the indisposition of the actors! "I am not indisposed," says the director of the play, Tatjana Mandić Rigonat
The members of the legendary German avant-garde rock group "Faust" recorded four exciting solo albums and released them on the same day. The exceptionality of this event is contained in the fact that the group has not existed for a long time, but all four founders, after a long break, worked together again, extending the duration of their visionary work deep into the XXI century.
Denis Peričić, Babel, Bruno, Beria; Disput, Zagreb, 2026.
Abel Ferrara, Scene: A Memoir; Simon & Shoemaker, 2025.
There is, literally, no difference between the one who claims it is day in the middle of the night, or the one who claims to be a giraffe, from the claims we read on billboards: that Vučić is working to unify Serbs and that Serbia is doing better and better day by day.
The pre-election arrests due to the alleged "overthrow of the state" testify to the regime's panic. The bad news for them is - they can't arrest the whole people who decided to defend themselves from progressive beatings and election theft
The ring that tightens around Ćaciland Student list is getting narrower. Because there are more and more spoiled people who see the false prophet for what he is: a street obscener who is fighting Serbia
The archive of the weekly Vreme includes all our digital editions, since the very beginning of our work. All issues can be downloaded in PDF format, by purchasing the digital edition, or you can read all available texts from the selected issue.
See all
