INTERVIEW Stevan Koprivica: Manager for time, writer for time

The current director of the Podgorica City Theater for Vijesti summarizes his mandate and the situation in that theater whose eternal problem remains the building, and the strength is the actors and the entire team of employees

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Stevan Koprivica, Photo: Luka Zeković
Stevan Koprivica, Photo: Luka Zeković
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

I found a theater full of potential and energy that wanted better and more. I found a tenant's theater without a giro account, which is conceivable in the professional guidelines of the theater, and I leave it as such. Not the fault of the theater, nor the management. I found the theater with relative turbulence in personal and interpersonal relationships, as in every theater, the struggle of vanity, realistic and unrealistic creative ambitions, various influences "from the side", but all that would become ephemeral when entering a real production.

This is how the director of the City Theater Podgorica, playwright and screenwriter Stevan Koprivica, comments on his recently completed managerial mandate. Just before the end of the current theater season, and at the end of one of the most popular revue theater festivals - RUTA, Koprivica retired from Gradski, and longtime actress of that company Ivona Čović Jaćimović was appointed in his place, as acting director.

In an interview with Vijesti, Koprivica talks about the previous period as well as future plans, which he somewhat ties to the Gradsko pozorište, because, as he says, he was a part-time manager, a writer of the Zavazd, and he had collaborated with Gradski from before... His assumption of office was marked by general closure due to the corona virus pandemic, but also the innovation and struggle that distinguished the City Theater in that period as one of the leaders in the region when it comes to the struggle for art, content and audience.

Although he repeatedly announced the move into the building that the City Theater is waiting for, like Godot, it did not happen, and Koprivica says that "the announcements were based on empty hope and good wishes, and based on the information we received".

In addition, he says, he is proud of the actors as a whole who work in unimaginable conditions, he is proud of the organizational logistics and technique that deserve some order of theater heroes. ...

How would you summarize your mandate at the City Theatre, was everything that was planned accomplished and what would you single out in particular?

There is always a gap between what is desired and what is achieved. "What you dream and what happens to you". The fact is that the beginning of the mandate was marked by the corona and sealed theaters, which lasted too long to overcome the consequences of passiveness. We cuddled, played on the Internet, but that was neither making nor playing shows. The time that ate up lives and creative intentions. What would you do? After that, production started, which I am very proud of, with the regret that some planned projects were "lost in translation".

I am very proud of the quality of the production, which greatly exceeded the conditions under which we worked, and the poetic range achieved by some performances. The framework and ambitions of the "small city theater" have been overcome and the Gradsko has been placed in the first echelon of regional theaters. I will mention "The Taming of the Shrew" directed by Dejan Projkovski, which literally brought the audience to their feet at the Shakespeare Festival in Bitola and at the Fortress Fest in Čortanovci, and here when he plays, and unfortunately he doesn't play enough, they ask for more tickets. I will mention "Bez portfolio" directed by Branislav Mićunović, which won the award for the best play in the whole of the newspaper "Avaz" at the Korenić days in Sarajevo and was highly rated at the Festival in Užice, where the best plays of the region gather. The spectacular "Decameron", a dramatization of the cult and controversial work by Giovanni Bokač, again directed by Projkovski, won second place in the audience's vote at the Radmilović Days in Zaječar and won the award for visual identity. "I think we need to talk" directed by Danilo Marunović is the most watched play of the season, regularly on the ticket more, and its festival biography is yet to come.

Stevan Koprivica
Stevan Koprivicaphoto: Luka Zeković

What are you especially proud of and do you regret anything? Also, what is the state of the scene for children?

On the children's stage, he creates a small theatrical miracle of the puppet "Puss's Slipper" directed by Davor Dragojević, "20.000 miles under the sea" with over six hundred spectators at the Festival of the Cultural Capital of Europe in Novi Sad", "Tarzan the Lord of the Jungle", the theatrical puppet spectacle is already noted viewership records and has invitations to regional festivals. Jagoš Marković's renewed masterpiece "The Wizard of Oz", as if it was made yesterday, cannot be played enough, nor can his "Snow Queen", made two years ago. Mini comedy for children and adults "Three Pigs"... Is it a little? All these are just a few selected titles that brought back the adult and children's audience to the City Theatre.

I am also proud of the young actors who in this period linked their professional biography to Gradsko and who, as permanent members or under contract, carry the repertoire. Proud of the actors as a whole who work in unimaginable conditions because we don't have our own house. Proud of organizational logistics and technique that, as far as I'm concerned, deserves some order of theater heroes. And I regret? I regret the failures in the systematization that make it impossible for some people in the house to express their full potential, and some remain outside the house due to bureaucratic oversights and arbitrary bypasses and inert rewriting of past systematizations. I certainly bear part of the responsibility for that, sorry in vain. I regret that some projects were not realized for various reasons, maybe in some moments, carried away by creative energy, we failed to objectively look at reality and conditions.

Stevan Koprivica
Stevan Koprivicaphoto: Boris Pejović

What kind of situation did you find, and what kind remains for you?

I found a theater full of potential and energy that wanted better and more. I found a tenant's theater without a giro account, which is conceivable in the professional parameters of the theater, and I leave it as such. Not the fault of the theater, nor the management. I found the theater with relative turbulence in personal and interpersonal relationships, as in every theater, the struggle of vanity, realistic and unrealistic creative ambitions, various influences "from the side", but all that would become ephemeral when entering a real production. I found a theater that had regional breakthroughs and successes in the past: "Novel of Love", "Forever Yours", "Guardians of Your Honesty", "Gozocide"... and now it is an indispensable part of regional performances and festivals. The City Theater is a factory of theater products intended for Podgorica and Montenegrin audiences with relevant qualities to be seen with stronger and more organized theaters from the region.

Twice you confidently announced the building, i.e. moving in, which, unfortunately, did not happen. Is it some sort of dare of Gradski?

The announcements were based on empty hope and good wishes, based on the information we received. The city theater is the end user who did not ask, except consultatively and disrespectfully. It is my fault that I expressed the hope of an imminent move-in publicly. And believed, indeed. Until I set foot in "Skadar na Bojana". Faith and hope, two very dubious categories. Then I didn't announce anything anymore. I am cheering with all my might that the next administration and these hardworking and talented people step into that building and enrich it with play and talent and thus make up for these seven hungry years.

Stevan Koprivica
Stevan Koprivicaphoto: Luka Zeković

Given that you are a writer and screenwriter, do you plan to continue your work in that direction and how will it affect the City Theater specifically?

Part-time manager, lifelong writer, or until you find the talent or desire to write. My texts are played in Montenegro, Serbia, Croatia, there are also some series and preparations for a film. The situation from the previous question is a grateful comedy situation and the contours of the piece can already be seen. It may or may not be interesting to Gradsko, because there is already an interested producer.

However, it is not appropriate to talk about future plays in order not to spoil something, an old theater superstition. As far as the City Theater is concerned, it remains a part of my writer's biography that I am proud of, and one of my managerial ones that I am proud of, with some shades of bitterness.

Contest lost in translation

How do you comment on the situation that surfaced in the public relations between the Mayor of the Capital City, Olivera Injac, and the City Theater Council, and during the election of the new management?

The results of the contest were "lost in translation" despite the fact that the Council decided on all the legitimate coordinates of the contest.

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