A Short History of Crying

"A Short History of Crying"
a stand-up tragedy by Sanja Mitrović

In her new work, A Short History of Crying, Sanja Mitrović questions the social and cultural mechanisms related to public display of emotions. Contrasting personal statements with iconic scenes of crying in contemporary culture, as well as presenting the material from a research trip through the Balkans and the Netherlands, this ‘stand-up tragedy’ examines how emotions are manifested in different situations, and why we express them publicly.

Credits:
Concept/text/direction/performance: Sanja Mitrović Dramaturgy: Felix Ritter, Marija Karaklajić Stage design concept: Laurent Liefooghe www.liefooghe.be Set design realization: Douwe Hibma Research/artistic advice: Vladimir Tupanjac Sound design:Evelien van den Broek, Vladimir Rakić Light design: Katinka Marac Video design: Janneke KupferCamera: Marko Stojmenov, Nadja Leuba Assistant director: Guilio D’Anna, Maya van den Heuvel-Arad English translation: Siniša Mitrović Dutch translation: Sarah van Lamsweerde Technicians: Paul Schimmel, Konstantin Leonenko Production: Anke Wirken


Co-production: Stand Up Tall Productions/Amsterdam,
hetveem theater /Amsterdam,
Center for Cultural Decontamination/Belgrade
A Short History Of Crying is financially supported by European Cultural Foundation, Fonds Podiumkunsten Nederland, Amsterdams Fond voor de Kunst, SNS REAAL Fonds, VSB Fonds
Avant-premiere:
19, 20 November 2010
Bits&Pieces Festival, Beursschouwburg, Brussels
Premiere:
24 November 2010 hetveem Theatre, Amsterdam

youtube trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwGgcylT2Dw

Further dates
13th of March 2011, festival Perforacije, La Mama Theatre, New York
www.lamama.org
16th of March 2011, DancEunion Festival, Southbank Center, London
www.southbankcenter.co.uk

Tour Dates

2011 - 13/14 January - Dutch Art Instituut workshop

2011 - March 13 at 20.00 - A Short History of Crying - Perforations Festival, New York, La Mama Theatre

2011 - March 16 at 19.45 - A Short History of Crying - DancEunion Festival, Southbank Center, London

2011 - May 9 at 22.00- Will You Ever Be Happy Again?, Centro Cultural Vila Flor, Guiramaes, Portugal www.ccvf.pt

2011 - May 11 at 21.30 - A Short History of Crying, Teatro Circo de Braga, Braga, Portugal www.theatrocirco.com

2011 - May 13 at 21.30 - Will You Ever Be Happy Again?, TNSJ Teatro Carlos Alberto,Porto, Portugal www.tnsj.pt

2011 - May 14 at 16.00- Will You Ever Be Happy Again?, TNSJ Teatro Carlos Alberto, Porto, Portugal www.tnsj.pt

2011 - May 14 at 21.30- A Short History of Crying, TNSJ Teatro Carlos Alberto,Porto, Portugal, www.tnsj.pt

2011 - May 19 at 19.00 - premiere Daydream House (together with Laurent Liefooghe), Huis aan de Werf Festival, Utrecht, Nederland www.huisaandewerf.nl

2011 May 20/24 at 19.00 - Daydream House, Huis aan de Werf Festival, Utrecht, Nederland www.huisaandewerf.nl

2011 - May 26 at 20.30 - Will You Ever Be Happy Again?, Huis aan de Werf Festival, Utrecht, Nederland www.huisaandewerf.nl

2011 - May 27/28 at 19.00 - Daydream Huis, Huis aan de Werf Festival, Utrecht, Nederland www.huisaandewerf.nl

Sanja Mitrovic wins the BNG Theatre Prize for The Best Director 2010

Sanja Mitrović wins BNG Theatre Prize 2010!

Stand Up Tall Productions is proud and happy to announce that theatre maker Sanja Mitrović has won the BNG Theatre Prize 2010!

BNG Nieuwe Theatre Director's Price 2010 is a prestigious prize worth 45.000 euros, for upcoming theatre directors and performers. Mirović got the prize for her play ‘Will You Ever Be Happy Again?' (www.willyoueverbehappyagain.wordpress.com). She directed it and played in it as well. This performance is co-prodcutions between Center for Cultural Decontamination, Belgrade, hetveem theatre, Amsterdam and Stichting Stand Up Tall Productions, Amsterdam. With the prize-money Sanja Mitrović will make a new performance next season. The jury chose Mitrović out of seven new makers that were part of Blind Date- new theatremakers on tour.


Blind Date is organized bij Theater Instituut Nederland and is made possible by Cultuurfonds van de Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten. The BNG Nieuwe Theatermakers Prize has been awarded on Wednesday 8 september in the Stadsschouwburg in Amsterdam.

http://www.theaterinstituut.nl/Theater-Instituut-Nederland/Theatersector/Nationaal/Talent-en-prijzen/BNG-Nieuwe-Theatermakers-Prijs/Sanja-Mitrovic-wint-BNG-Theaterprijs-2010
http://www.eurocult.org/news/153
www.tolhuistuin.nl

Nomination for BNG Nieuwe Theatermakers Prijs 2010

photo: Irfan Redzovic, Mess, 2009

Sanja Mitrovic is nominated for the BNG Nieuwe Theatermakers Prijs 2010 (the best new theatre maker) for the production "Will You Ever Be Happy Again?" www.theaterblinddate.nl

The docu-tale "Will You Ever Be Happy Again?" is selected for Blind Date Tour, serie voor Nieuwe Theatermakers, organized by Theater Instituut Nederland and The performance will be shown in 13 theatres in The Netherlands in April. More information you can find on: www.willyoueverbehappyagain.com. The critics and the review you can find under Categories section.

The performance is made in 2008, in Bitef Festival in Belgrade.The show was received with great enthusiasm and was triggering many discussions in almost every context where it has been shown - in the theatres and festivals in The Netherlands, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Switzerland, France and Belgium.


Stichting Stand Up Tall Productions

Research trip to Monte Negro and Bosnia

Inntensive trip to the South of Serbia, Monte Negro and Bosnia is finished. Many places, many people in such a short time. I am still under the impression of the area and the stories we heard, songs we learned and sang. We have a lot of hours of the material recorded, I am looking forward to start working on the editing.

The first studio rehearsals already started two days ago. A Short History Of Crying begins...

In the meantime, we play WYEBHA in the theatre Kikker, in Utrecht.

And 1: Songs in Mechelen.

January activities

The New Year started in a working spirit. Upcoming months will be very busy. I intensively started the research for the new performance and spent some inspiring time in Serbia. The studio rehearsals start in the beginning of February, in Amsterdam.

On 12th of January I will be, for the second time, the guest at "Why Theatre?" meeting organized by prof. Maaike Bleeker, Theatre Studies, University of Utrecht
(http://www.uu.nl/NL/faculteiten/geesteswetenschappen/Actueel/Agenda/Pages/20100104-WhyTheatre.aspx).

"1:Songs" by NB will be shown on 15th of January in Chasse theatre, Breda (www.chasse.nl)
and then on 19,20,21 in Frasacati, Amsterdam (www.theaterfrascati.nl).

After that, we travel to Brussels to KVS theatre for the special occassion: Borka Pavicevic, the director of our co-production house in Belgrade, Center for Cultural Decontamination, won the prize Routes Princess Margriet Award by European Cultural Foundation!

"Will You Ever Be Happy Again?" continues touring. It will be shown on 22nd in Huis van Borugondie in Maastricht (www.huisvanbourgondie.nl) and after that we play on 29th and 30th in Theatre Alibi, in Bastia, Corsica (www.theatrealibi.com).

Hope to see you on some of the upcoming shows!

Will You Ever Be Happy Again? in Leipzig

Will You Ever Be Happy Again?, after its premiere in 2008, performing in different European cities and different festivals and contexts and touring a lot in the last year, finally had its German premiere at Euro-scene festival in Leipzig in November 2009. The fact that the performance opens up a space for the discussion was confirmed during the public talks following the show both evenings. They were organized by the festival, both times moderated by dr. Martina Bako, the professor of theatre science at the University of Leipzig. The most of the people took very active (and passionate!)involvement in discussions and even after the official end we continued to talk endlessly, till the early morning hours, in the festival café.

Just a couple of days before the 20-year anniversary of the Berlin wall fall we were sitting with our East German audience discussing issues of identity, recent history, it’s personal and official ’versions’, etc. What other ideal set up could I imagine when the production started? Only a week before this we were in Sarajevo, another ’ideal’ surroundings for the issues brought by Will You Ever Be Happy Again?

Most of the people we met in a certain way chose to live in Leipzig after 1989... Why? Most of them agree that it’s offering new opportunities, motives and the active, intriguing position concerning the questions of history, politics and identity in general (German, European, global...). Realizing that the moment of German reunion cannot be considered simply as a step towards a ’bright future’ was one of the triggers which opened countless very complicated but interesting questions and my personal realization that the issue of German identity is much more complicated regarding it’s recent history put me in a situation to rethink my own thoughts, not only about the performance, but about the relations in-between collective, private, official and intimate, private ‘histories’, ‘identities’, ‘stereotypes’, etc.

For example - a man from the audience said: “I am happy that my children could be proud of German identity. I am happy that it is, at some extent, untied from the burden of history and that my children do feel as Germans, which I was not allowed to do or at least I would feel shame in the moments I was trying to think about it.” Interesting enough, the question of German identity brought very different answers and opinions, in relation to different generations of people in the audience.
During the interview for the MDR TV show Artour I was asked what could be the 100% Serbian. I tried to reply with the opposite question - what could be the 100% German? Both interviewer and me left the room with unreturned questions instead of replies. Leipzig was perhaps the most obvious place in which was clear that the performance opens up only new questions more than offering answers. It was special to feel that it re-units people in trying to find the possible answers together and, my very personal opinion is that it only adds another dimension to the performance, or at least, that this layer of unanswered questions is a place for new thoughts, new dialogues, new exchanges of experience, personal or collective, intimate or, so called official. Even by making the small steps, theatre should be produced in relation to its historical and social, political and cultural context and it should try to reflect actuality and that is the theatre I am very much interested in.

Sanja Mitrović, Stichting Stand Up Tall Productions

More texts about WYEBHA? tour soon follows on: www.willyoueverbehappyagain.wordpress.com.