Sanja Nikčević

Sanja Nikčević (born 1960) is Croatian theatre critic, distinguished professor of theatre history at Drama Department Arts Academy of Osijek.[1] She is also a Head of Drama module at Doctoral program in literature at Faculty of Philosophy, University of Osijek (Osijek, Croatia). President of Croatian Critic's Association and Governing Board of Matica hrvatska.[2] Lives in Zagreb, Croatia.

Sanja Nikčević

Education and work

Born in Varaždin, at Faculty of Philosophy Zagreb obtained a BA (French language and comparative literature, 1984), MA (1993) and Ph.D. (1998) with topic on American drama. She worked as a journalist and theatre critic in Croatian daily newspaper Večernji list (1985–1993), was adviser for theatre in Croatian Ministry of culture (1996–1997) and freelancer.

Academic career

She was Fulbright scholar twice (CUNY 1995, mentor M. Carlson UCSB 2002, mentor W. D. King) and lectured at the University of California, Santa Barbara, United States in 2001. From 2003 she is employed at the English department (Faculty of Philosophy, Osijek), teaching courses on American and British drama, where she still works at Ph.D. literature program. From 2007 she is employed at the Arts Academy in Osijek (UAOS) where she is teaching courses on history of world drama and theatre.

Activities in international and national associations

She was founder and first president (1994 - 2000) of Croatian Center of ITI-UNESCO[3] where she organized numerous international events (seminars, drama colony, exchange writers and directors, presentation of theatre of other countries in Croatia and vice versa). From 2004 secretary, from 2010 president of a national theatre critics’ organization (HDKKT), from 2014 member of the Main/Governing board of Matica hrvatska. She has served as EXCOM board member for ITI Worldwide for two terms and is an active member of numerous international and American associations of scholars and critics (ASTR, ATHE, IFTR, AICT, and ATCA).

Editorial activities

At Croatian center of ITI she started and edited publication Croatian drama (the only publication on Croatian theatre in English) and Mansions. She was the editor of Mansions edition until 2004 and published more than thirty books. From 1998 - 2002 she was editor of Croatian mainstream theatre journal Theatre (Kazalište). She founded Ars Academica (serious of textbooks for Arts Academy) where she was editor from 2009–2013.

Publishing activities and field of interest

Her main topics of research are American drama, contemporary European drama, Croatian war drama and theatre criticism and history of theatre. She participated at more than hundred national, American, and international symposiums. She published more than hundred articles on European and American theatre in English were published in America (SSEP, PAJ), Hong Kong, Japan, Poland, Bosnia, Hungary, Slovakia, Macedonia and Slovenia in academic or theatre journals and academic edited volumes, forwards of books and so on. She is publishing theatre reviews in Croatian weekly cultural newspaper (Vijenac, Hrvatsko slovo). She published six books and edited six anthologies.

American drama

In Croatia she has edited Anthology of American Plays (1993) in two volumes and published three books on American drama: The Subversive American Drama or Sympathy for Losers]] (1994); Affirmative American Drama or Long Live the Puritans (2003) and Losers' Genius in Our Town (Zagreb, 2006). In these books she introduced new classification of American drama based on attitude of plays toward main American myth – American dream. Plays that show losers and failures of American dream she calls subversive (from Eugene O’Neill, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams through Edward Albee to David Mamet). The plays that show characters that can accept their position in life and make the most of it (mainly solve the problems and achieve American dream) she designated as affirmative American plays (from Thornton Wilder through comedies and melodrama to authors like Harling Steal Magnolias or Margaret Edson...).

Her book on imposing a trend of in-yer-face theatre all over Europe New European Drama or Great Deception, (Zagreb, 2005,) was attacked and praised simultaneously. It has been translated in Slovak (Nova Europska drama alebo vel'ky podvod, Bratislava, 2007) and Bulgarian (Нова европейска драма или голямата измама, Ruse, 2009), selected chapters were published in several languages – English (New Theater Quarterly, August 2005), Polish (Wszystko ma swoje skutki, Dialog 1/2005. str. 122-135.) and Hungarian (Csináljunk új európai drámát u Szinhaz, Hungary, July 2005) . Book become textbook in several universities and it was reviewed all over the word and included as one of rare non-english books as literature in official website of in-yer-face theatre by British critic Alex Siers (http://www.inyerface-theatre.com/archive30.html..). Book received prestigious Croatian Award (Petar Brečić, 2006). After five years (2009) second edition was published where she included not just additional chapter about destiny of new European drama in these five years but all the reactions on the book (attacks and praises).

Croatian drama

She has edited first anthology of Croatian plays published outside Croatia: Anthology of Contemporary Croatian Drama (Macedonia, 2002). Her book on Croatian drama What is Croatian drama to us? (Zagreb, 2008), is dealing with some less fashionable but very important writers (Tanja Radović, Miro Gavran), genres (comedies of Ivan Kušan or literarily cabaret of Borisa Senkera) and topics (disappearance of political drama after fall of comunism, religious plays during wartime etc.).

She offered new classification of Croatian drama ( U potrazi za glasom između emocije, politike i intertekstualnosti. Skica za studiju o četvrt stoljeća hrvatske drame based on attitude of the dram toward reality around author where she proves that this attitude has three points: politics, emotions and intertextuality. Some od decades are dominant in dealing with one point: sixties and seventies with politics as mean for destruction of individual (Ivan Kušan, Ivo Brešan, Dubravko J. Bužimski, Škrabe/Mujićić/Senker), eighties were dealing with emoitions and inner world of hero (Miro Gavran, Lada Kaštelan, Mate Matišić), authors of the nineties are in search in the intertextuality (Ivan Vidić, Asja Srnrc Todorović, Tomislav Zajec) while newest period is in the search of the voice between these three points.

Croatian war drama (on Homeland war)

Edited:

  1. Anthology of Croatian War Plays 1991-1995 (Zagreb, 2011) where she included 11 plays (Nino Škrabe: Dvije sestre, Davor Špišić: Dobrodošli u rat, Matko Sršen: Farsa od gvere, Katja Šimunić: Blueblanche, tango i rat, Milan Grgić: Sveti Roko na brdu, Lada Martinac/Snježana Sinovčižć: Živim, Goran Tribuson: Doviđenja u Nuštru, Zvonimir Zoričić: Tatarski biftek, Miroslav Mađer: Srijemski put, Zvonimir Majdak: Smrtonosni povratak, Miro Gavran: Deložacija).
  2. Anthology of Croatian War Comedies 1991-1997 (Vinkovci, 2013) where she included 8 comedies (Milica Lukšić: Lov na medvjeda tepišara, Tahir Mujičić/Boris Senker Bratorazvodna parnica, Lydia Scheuermann Hodak: Žurim, dolazi mi moja maserka, Zvonimir Zoričić: Tatarski biftek, Miro Gavran: Deložacija, Ivan Kušan: Tko je Sveti Stefan, Ljubomir Kerekeš: Povratak ratnika, Ivo Brešan: Utvare).
  3. Anthology of Croatian Post-War Plays 1996-2011 (Zagreb 2014) where she included 12 plays . Lydia Scheuermann Hodak Slike Marijine (1992./1996.), Pavao Pavličić Olga i Lina (1996.), Hrvoje Barbir Barba Telmah (1997.), Vlatko Perković Deus ex machina (1997.), Slobodan Šnajder Ines & Denise (1997.), Dubravko Mihanović Žaba (2004.), Gordana Ostović Parsifal (2005.), Tena Štivičić Fragile (2005.), Amir Bukvić Djeca sa CNN-A (2006.), Igor Hamer Jura, samo jučerašnja vijest (2007.), Lada Martinac Ko me to pokriva? (2009.), Miro Međimorec Vukovarski nokturno (2011.).

The anthologies and her theoretical work on the topic (Plays on Homeland War of one hundred titles from cabaret till allegory, published in journal Republika 7-8/2012. p. 67-91) are changing the usual believes that we do not have war plays form Homeland war or that these plays are not of a good quality. Her research showed that from 1990-2011more than hundred professional Croatian plays published or performed plays that are connected with topic either directly either through some character connected with war, either through allegory (speaking about some other war but with direct inspiration form Homeland war).

Analysis of a plays shows the completely different attitudes of war plays (written during 1990-1995 or 1997) and postwar plays (written after 1995. of 1997). War plays were affirmative and worm plays, melodramas and comedies helping audience to survive the crazy and illogical reality giving some hope and sense. Plays are showing possible solutions of conflicts, and even when hero dies (or get killed) at the end survives a warm and positive emotions above him (love, friendship, faiths, homeland love) that allows audience to feel, to go through very intensive and purifying catharsis. After-war plays are completely different. Although every plays had his author’s ideological and political position, in post-war plays about Homeland war this is very obvious. So called “left” authors consider former system as good and blame Croatia for what they call civil war. On the other side, so called “right” writers consider communism as the worst ideology ever, wished Croatian independence from Yugoslavia and Homeland war as result of Serbian aggression to Croatian territory. But both sides consider the society we live in as the failure without any solution or exit for a good and honest characters, without any catharsis at the end for the audience. The both sides try to understand reasons for that – “left” side thinks that guilt is on Croatian nationalists who destroyed communism and former Yugoslavia in the moment that things were good. The right side think that is to blame former communists who now mimicries in democratic political system and destroying our new society. Post war comedy is even darkest: it is grotesque that laughter at aberration of society but that laughter stays frozen at the end because aberration is for ever (Mate Matišić, Nina Mitrović...)

Theatre criticism

She edited a collection on essays in English Theatre Criticism Today (2002) as a result of three syposiums on theatre criticism that she organized in the Croatian centre of ITI (Pula 1998. i 1999, Zagreb 2000). She published first theoretical book on theatre criticism in Croatia: Theatre Criticism or Inevitable Companion (2012). where she compared two different attitudes toward theatre criticism (so called European and so called American) with new definition of the genre.

Awards

2013. Theatre Criticism or Inevitable Companion (2012) Award Antun Gustav Matoš Matica Hrvatska for best critical book

2006. New European Drama or Big Deception (2005)Award Petar Brečić for book on theatre

2000. The Order of Croatian Pleter by the President of the Republic Croatia for the promotion of the Croatian culture

1999. A Honorary citizen of Waterford, CT, USA.

Main Publications

Books (Croatian)
  1. Theatre Criticism or Inevitable Companion (2012, Award A.G. Matoš).
  2. What is Croatian Drama to Us?, Naklada Ljevak, Zagreb, 2008
  3. Losers' Genius in Our Town, Zagreb, Faculty of Philosophy, 2006
  4. New European Drama or Big Deception, Meandar, Zagreb, 2005 (translated: in English NTQ 83/2005, Slovak, 2007, Bulgarian 2009., Award Petar Brečić 2006., second edition Zagreb, 2009),
  5. Affirmative American Drama or Long Live the Puritans, Croatian center of ITI, Zagreb, 2003
  6. Subversive American Drama or Sympathy for Losers, CDM, Rijeka, 1994

Translations (other languages)
  1. "British Brutalism, the ‘New European Drama’, and the Role of the Director" NTQ (New Theater Quarterly), published by Cambridge University Press, 83/2005, p. 255-272
  2. "Csináljunk új európai drámát" (Let's make new European drama) Szinhaz, Hungary, July 2005 (translated from English by Keszthelyi Kinga)
  3. "Wszystko ma swoje skutki" (Everything has a consequences), Dialog (Poland) 1/2005. str. 122–135.

Articles published in English (selection)
  1. “Sanja Nikcevic: The Comeback of Political Drama in Croatia: Or How to Kill a President by Miro Gavran“ in Political Performances. Theory and Practice. IFTR/FIRT Political Performances Working Group. Haedicke, Susan C., Deirdre Heddon, Avraham Oz and E.J. Westlake (Eds) Amsterdam/New York, NY, 2009, IV, 379 pp. Pb: 978-90-420-2606-3
  2. “Croatian Theatre and the War 1992-1994” in Theatre and performance in Eastern Europe. The Changing Scene ed. Dennis Barnett and Arthur Skelton, The Scarecrow press, Plymouth, 2008.
  3. “How to Impose Violence as a Trend?“ u Theatre and Humanism in a World of Violence, (24 congress of the IACT), urednici Ian Herbert, Kalina Stefanova, St. Kliment Ohridski University Press, Sofia, 2009. 57–72.
  4. "Angles on the stage Religious Theatre in Croatia 1945-1989; 1999-1994; 1996-2002" in Europassion. Kirche-Konflikte-Menschenrechte. Rudolf Grulich zum 60. Geburstag, Gehard Hess Verlag bad Schussenried, 2006.
  5. “Actors Under Power” Theatre Year Book 2003 Theatre Abroad, ITI Japan Centre, Tokyo, 2003:160-167
  6. "Political Correctness, Identity, War and Lost Communication" in Lužina, Jelena ur. Balkan Theatre Sphere, Fakultet dramskih umjetnosti, Skopje, Maceodnia, 2003. p .89-95

Notes
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References
  1. Derk, Denis (1 October 2015). "Oliver Frljić uopće nije hrabar. On samo slijedi vladajući ateizam..." Večernji list (in Croatian). Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  2. "Uprava". Matica hrvatska (in Croatian). Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  3. "Sanja Nikčević". DRUŠTVO HRVATSKIH KNJIŽEVNIKA (in Croatian). Retrieved 11 June 2016.
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