East West Theatre Company
Encyclopedia
East West Theatre Company (Bosnian: East West Centar) was established in 2005 in Sarajevo
, Bosnia and Herzegovina
. It is a non-for-profit cultural institution which produces performing arts programs and music events. It also organizes touring shows, discussions, forums, master-classes and workshops. Its partners and collaborators are usually international artists who, in the past, encompassed more than twenty different countries and four continents.
Haris Pašović
, Director of the East West Theatre Company is an internationally acclaimed multiple awarded theatre and film director who has been of a leading cultural and public figure in the Balkans for decades. His achievements include: co-founding of the Directing Department at the Performing Arts Academy in Sarajevo; managing the International Theatre and Film Festival MES during the siege of Sarajevo (during which he produced a production of Waiting for Godot
directed by Susan Sontag
); founding of the Sarajevo Film Festival "Beyond the End of the World" during the siege of Sarajevo; founding of the East West Theatre Company in Sarajevo.
The East West Theatre Company's repertoire consists of the following shows: W. Shakespeare's Hamlet
; Faust
based on Marlowe; N. Williams' Class Enemy (2007-), Michael Frayn's Copenhagen
; Maurice Ravel's Boléro
; Ibsen's A Doll's House
; H.C.Andersen's Ugly Duckling; H. Pašović's Football, Football; a documentary film Dreamers and Europe Today based on Miroslav Krleža
's essay.
William Shakespeare's Hamlet (produced in 2005; directed by Haris Pašović)was performed in several countries with great acclaim. It was one of the largest regional co-productions in the past twenty-five years and it involved artists from eight countries. It was set in the context of the Ottoman Empire. British Reuters, CNN
as well as many other media outlets reported about the production. Amar Selimović, as Hamlet, was awarded the Best Young Actor Award at the International Theatre Festival MES Sarajevo.
Faust (produced in 2006, directed by Haris Pašović) opened the MES Festival Sarajevo 2006 and in only two days it attracted (for Bosnia and Herzegovina) record breaking 2,000 spectators. Based on Christopher Marlowe's masterpiece, this production was set in the near future and it examined the impact of the rapid development of technology on contemporary life.
As the first Balkan company ever, the East West Theatre Company took a part with a great acclaim at the Edinburgh International Festival 2008 with Nigel Williams’ play Class Enemy (produced in 2007; adapted and directed by Haris Pašović). It is a play about juvenile violence and disillusioned youth adapted to Bosnian circumstances. The Times, Financial Times
, The Guardian, The Herald, The Independent, The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday, BBC, BBC World Service and many other British media reported extensively about the East West Theatre Company. Class Enemy has been pronounced as the Best Contemporary Show at the International Festival Kontakt, Toruń, Poland, and as The Best Play of the Year in Singapore's leading newspaper Strait Times and the leading theatre portal The Flying Inkpot.
In 2008, East West Theatre Company toured with Class Enemy in Scotland in the small cities such as Cumbernauld, Rutherglen, and Stirling. With this play, East West Theatre Company toured in more than thirty Bosnia and Herzegovina towns. Most of the tour towns have not hosted a single theatre production for several decades prior to the arrival of the East West Theater Company's "Class Enemy".
In 2010, East West Theatre Company was invited to create an international theatre and dance production FOOTBALL, FOOTBALL that was written and directed by Haris Pašović
, and produced in cooperation with Napoli Teatro Festival, Singapore Arts Festival, Les Ballet C de la B, legendary contemporary dance company and Flota Institute from Slovenia. Since the opening in May 2010, the show has been performed fifteen times on three continents (Europe, Asia and Africa). The artists coming from four continents (Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia) and seven countries (Italy, Slovenia, Singapore, Burkina Faso, Bosnia and Herzegovina, China and Australia) got together in this unique piece, the biggest about the football ever produced.
Reuters
, British Guardian, Channel News Asia, CNN Mexico, China Daily, India Times, Daily News Pakistan, ABC News and media in Italy, Spain, Australia, Singapore and Indonesia wrote extensively about the show.
Football, Football was a highlight of the National Arts Festival in South Africa that was taking place during the FIFA World Cup 2010. During the Napoli Teatro Festival Italia the East West Theatre Company organised a workshop presenting the story of football to 300 kids coming from deprived areas of the region of Campania.
WShakespeare's Hamlet
directed by Thomas Osteremeir played in the Olympic Hall Zetra for more than 2,500 spectators, Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman
directed by Luk Perceval and F. Richter Under Ice in the National Theatre for more than 1,300 spectators.
In 2007 and 2008, East West organized events in the National Theatre Sarajevo celebrating April 6 – The Liberation Day of the City of Sarajevo.
In February 2011 East West Theatre Company co-produced a show called Europe Today. Their co-producer was the largest Slovenian theatre – Slovenian National Theatre, Maribor and European Cultural Capital 2012 Maribor. The show was written by Miroslav Krleža
and directed by Haris Pašović with some of the finest artists in the region: Miki Manojlović
, an actor; Edward Clug, a contemporary dancer and choreographer and the industrial, neoclassical band Laibach
. The dramaturge of the production was the Zagreb Youth Theatre director, Dubravka Vrgoč. Financial Times gave it excellent reviews rated it with four stars.
In the past three years East West Theatre Company has organized master classes and workshops with some of the Europe's leading directors, producers and choreographers such as Thomas Ostermeier (artistic director of Schaubuhne), Luk Perceval (artistic director of Thalía Theatre Hamburg), Tobias Veit (chief producer of Schaubuhne), James Morrison (producer of Guthrie Theatre Minneapolis), Mark Russel (director of Under the Radar Festival New York), Steve Kirkham and Madelaine Brennan (choreographer from Mathew Bourne's New Adventures), Larisa Lipovac and Tamara Curić (directors of Contemporary Dance Center TALA, Zagreb). Haris Pašović, artistic director held workshops for Scottish theatre and film directors in Edinburgh and master classes for professionals in Belfast, Singapore, Zagreb and Subotica.
East West Theatre Company won the 2009 Golden Wreath for Contribution to Theatre at the International Theatre Festival MES Sarajevo.
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
. It is a non-for-profit cultural institution which produces performing arts programs and music events. It also organizes touring shows, discussions, forums, master-classes and workshops. Its partners and collaborators are usually international artists who, in the past, encompassed more than twenty different countries and four continents.
Mission and leadership
Mission of the East West Theatre Company Sarajevo is to raise awareness of the importance of multiculturalism in the Balkan region and around the world. It strives to serve as a platform for artists coming from different backgrounds as well as to produce the works of art of the highest standard. Their programmes and policies are based on equality and tend to promote diversity in terms of ethnicity, race, religion, gender and sexual orientation.Haris Pašović
Haris Pašovic
Haris Pašović is a Bosnian theatre and film director. Over the course of his wide-ranging career, he has also worked as a playwright, choreographer, performer, and designer. He is best known for his productions of Wedekind’s “Spring Awakening” and numerous collaborations with other artists,...
, Director of the East West Theatre Company is an internationally acclaimed multiple awarded theatre and film director who has been of a leading cultural and public figure in the Balkans for decades. His achievements include: co-founding of the Directing Department at the Performing Arts Academy in Sarajevo; managing the International Theatre and Film Festival MES during the siege of Sarajevo (during which he produced a production of Waiting for Godot
Waiting for Godot
Waiting for Godot is an absurdist play by Samuel Beckett, in which two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, wait endlessly and in vain for someone named Godot to arrive. Godot's absence, as well as numerous other aspects of the play, have led to many different interpretations since the play's...
directed by Susan Sontag
Susan Sontag
Susan Sontag was an American author, literary theorist, feminist and political activist whose works include On Photography and Against Interpretation.-Life:...
); founding of the Sarajevo Film Festival "Beyond the End of the World" during the siege of Sarajevo; founding of the East West Theatre Company in Sarajevo.
History and repertoire
The East West Theatre Company has been performing extensively in the Balkan region and around the world (including the Edinburgh International Festival; Napoli Teatro Festival Italia, National Arts Festival of South Africa; Singapore Arts Festival; International Theatre Festival Poland as well as the festivals in St. Petersburg, Sibiu, Ljubljana, Belgrade, Zagreb, and many others).The East West Theatre Company's repertoire consists of the following shows: W. Shakespeare's Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
; Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
based on Marlowe; N. Williams' Class Enemy (2007-), Michael Frayn's Copenhagen
Copenhagen (play)
Copenhagen is a play by Michael Frayn, based around an event that occurred in Copenhagen in 1941, a meeting between the physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg. It debuted in London in 1998...
; Maurice Ravel's Boléro
Boléro
Boléro is a one-movement orchestral piece by Maurice Ravel . Originally composed as a ballet commissioned by Russian ballerina Ida Rubinstein, the piece, which premiered in 1928, is Ravel's most famous musical composition....
; Ibsen's A Doll's House
A Doll's House
A Doll's House is a three-act play in prose by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premièred at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879, having been published earlier that month....
; H.C.Andersen's Ugly Duckling; H. Pašović's Football, Football; a documentary film Dreamers and Europe Today based on Miroslav Krleža
Miroslav Krleža
Miroslav Krleža was a leading Croatian and Yugoslav writer and the dominant figure in cultural life of both Yugoslav states, the Kingdom and the Republic . He has often been proclaimed the greatest Croatian writer of the 20th century.-Biography:Miroslav Krleža was born in Zagreb, modern-day...
's essay.
William Shakespeare's Hamlet (produced in 2005; directed by Haris Pašović)was performed in several countries with great acclaim. It was one of the largest regional co-productions in the past twenty-five years and it involved artists from eight countries. It was set in the context of the Ottoman Empire. British Reuters, CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
as well as many other media outlets reported about the production. Amar Selimović, as Hamlet, was awarded the Best Young Actor Award at the International Theatre Festival MES Sarajevo.
Faust (produced in 2006, directed by Haris Pašović) opened the MES Festival Sarajevo 2006 and in only two days it attracted (for Bosnia and Herzegovina) record breaking 2,000 spectators. Based on Christopher Marlowe's masterpiece, this production was set in the near future and it examined the impact of the rapid development of technology on contemporary life.
As the first Balkan company ever, the East West Theatre Company took a part with a great acclaim at the Edinburgh International Festival 2008 with Nigel Williams’ play Class Enemy (produced in 2007; adapted and directed by Haris Pašović). It is a play about juvenile violence and disillusioned youth adapted to Bosnian circumstances. The Times, Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
, The Guardian, The Herald, The Independent, The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday, BBC, BBC World Service and many other British media reported extensively about the East West Theatre Company. Class Enemy has been pronounced as the Best Contemporary Show at the International Festival Kontakt, Toruń, Poland, and as The Best Play of the Year in Singapore's leading newspaper Strait Times and the leading theatre portal The Flying Inkpot.
In 2008, East West Theatre Company toured with Class Enemy in Scotland in the small cities such as Cumbernauld, Rutherglen, and Stirling. With this play, East West Theatre Company toured in more than thirty Bosnia and Herzegovina towns. Most of the tour towns have not hosted a single theatre production for several decades prior to the arrival of the East West Theater Company's "Class Enemy".
In 2010, East West Theatre Company was invited to create an international theatre and dance production FOOTBALL, FOOTBALL that was written and directed by Haris Pašović
Haris Pašovic
Haris Pašović is a Bosnian theatre and film director. Over the course of his wide-ranging career, he has also worked as a playwright, choreographer, performer, and designer. He is best known for his productions of Wedekind’s “Spring Awakening” and numerous collaborations with other artists,...
, and produced in cooperation with Napoli Teatro Festival, Singapore Arts Festival, Les Ballet C de la B, legendary contemporary dance company and Flota Institute from Slovenia. Since the opening in May 2010, the show has been performed fifteen times on three continents (Europe, Asia and Africa). The artists coming from four continents (Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia) and seven countries (Italy, Slovenia, Singapore, Burkina Faso, Bosnia and Herzegovina, China and Australia) got together in this unique piece, the biggest about the football ever produced.
Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
, British Guardian, Channel News Asia, CNN Mexico, China Daily, India Times, Daily News Pakistan, ABC News and media in Italy, Spain, Australia, Singapore and Indonesia wrote extensively about the show.
Football, Football was a highlight of the National Arts Festival in South Africa that was taking place during the FIFA World Cup 2010. During the Napoli Teatro Festival Italia the East West Theatre Company organised a workshop presenting the story of football to 300 kids coming from deprived areas of the region of Campania.
Activities
In February 2009, the East West Theatre Company hosted one of the highest-profile theatre companies in Europe, Schaubühne Berlin, as a central part of the project East West Fest – Berlin in Sarajevo. This was one of the events in Europe that marked the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Schaubühne Theatre presented themselves to local audience with three of their most important productions:WShakespeare's Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
directed by Thomas Osteremeir played in the Olympic Hall Zetra for more than 2,500 spectators, Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman
Death of a Salesman
Death of a Salesman is a 1949 play written by American playwright Arthur Miller. It was the recipient of the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play. Premiered at the Morosco Theatre in February 1949, the original production ran for a total of 742 performances.-Plot :Willy Loman...
directed by Luk Perceval and F. Richter Under Ice in the National Theatre for more than 1,300 spectators.
In 2007 and 2008, East West organized events in the National Theatre Sarajevo celebrating April 6 – The Liberation Day of the City of Sarajevo.
In February 2011 East West Theatre Company co-produced a show called Europe Today. Their co-producer was the largest Slovenian theatre – Slovenian National Theatre, Maribor and European Cultural Capital 2012 Maribor. The show was written by Miroslav Krleža
Miroslav Krleža
Miroslav Krleža was a leading Croatian and Yugoslav writer and the dominant figure in cultural life of both Yugoslav states, the Kingdom and the Republic . He has often been proclaimed the greatest Croatian writer of the 20th century.-Biography:Miroslav Krleža was born in Zagreb, modern-day...
and directed by Haris Pašović with some of the finest artists in the region: Miki Manojlović
Miki Manojlovic
Predrag "Miki" Manojlović is a Serbian actor, famous for his starring roles in some of the most important films of former Yugoslav cinema. Since the early 1990s, he successfully branched out into movies made outside the Balkans, meaning that he's currently active in productions all over Europe...
, an actor; Edward Clug, a contemporary dancer and choreographer and the industrial, neoclassical band Laibach
Laibach
Laibach can refer to one of the following:* German name for Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia* Laibach , Slovenian industrial musical group** Laibach , the title of the debut album by the band with this name...
. The dramaturge of the production was the Zagreb Youth Theatre director, Dubravka Vrgoč. Financial Times gave it excellent reviews rated it with four stars.
In the past three years East West Theatre Company has organized master classes and workshops with some of the Europe's leading directors, producers and choreographers such as Thomas Ostermeier (artistic director of Schaubuhne), Luk Perceval (artistic director of Thalía Theatre Hamburg), Tobias Veit (chief producer of Schaubuhne), James Morrison (producer of Guthrie Theatre Minneapolis), Mark Russel (director of Under the Radar Festival New York), Steve Kirkham and Madelaine Brennan (choreographer from Mathew Bourne's New Adventures), Larisa Lipovac and Tamara Curić (directors of Contemporary Dance Center TALA, Zagreb). Haris Pašović, artistic director held workshops for Scottish theatre and film directors in Edinburgh and master classes for professionals in Belfast, Singapore, Zagreb and Subotica.
Partners
East West Theatre Company has collaborated with many partners, such as British Council, MOTT Foundation, Open Society Fond, Goethe Institut, LOTTO Foundation Berlin, Schaubuhne Berlin, US Embassy, UK Embassy, Norway Embassy, French Embassy, NATO, EUFOR, OSCE, the Council of City of Belgrade, the City of Sarajevo, the City of Zagreb, the City of Ljubljana, the Ministry of Culture of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Canton Sarajevo, the Ministry of Civil Affairs of BiH. We also collaborated with some of the most prestigious world festivals, such as Edinburgh International Festival, Singapore Arts Festival, Napoli Teatro Festival Italy, International Theatre Festival Kontakt (Poland), Sibiu International Festival (Romania), EX Ponto (Slovenia), Sterijino Pozorje (Novi Sad), International Theatre Festival MES Sarajevo, International Theatre Festival Ohrid Summer (Macedonia) and Yugoslav Drama Theatre in Belgrade, Kosztolany Theatre in Subotica, Mladinsko Gledališče in Lubljana, Zagreb Youth Theatre, TALA Centre etc.East West Theatre Company won the 2009 Golden Wreath for Contribution to Theatre at the International Theatre Festival MES Sarajevo.