50 Years of Drama from Bosnia & Herzegovina in Theater Festival of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Jajce: A Short History of Bosnian Theater Plays Through an Overview of Participation in the B&H Theater Festival in Jajce

The text reviews the presence of Bosnian drama and prose literature on professional theater stages in BiH through performances that participated in the Theater Festival of BiH in Jajce in the last 50 years. Through an overview of the participation of performances at one of the most important state festivals, the presence of BiH plays in professional theaters in Bosnia is analyzed in the mentioned period - the treatment of BiH dramas by theaters as well as perceptions of them by the professional audience.

PROFESSIONAL STAGE ART AS AN EXPRESSION OF NATIONAL, SPIRITUAL AND CULTURAL PROPERTIES OF THE UKRAINIAN DIASPORA

The section is devoted to the activities of professional theater artists of the diaspora in the second half of the 20th beginning of the 21st centuries. Diaspora artists aimed to preserve and increase their professional experience. Being far away from the homeland, they tried to live in the spiritual, cultural and national traditions of their people, involving participation of the young generation born outside the country. One of the most important tasks is to teach the Ukrainian literary language by means of the performing arts, to acquaint with the best examples of the spiritual and cultural heritage of Ukrainians, in particular in the field of speech, drama, music, and so on. The works of T. Shevchenko, I. Franko and Lesia Ukrainka are in the forefront of the repertoire of theaters (studios, circles). From the standpoint of ideological principles related to the consolidation of Ukrainians abroad, it should be considered as a program goal of creative activity. Poetry and prose of different genres with the collective and individual stage embodiment took on the varied forms of «poetic theater», «theatrical spectacle», «literary concert», «literary program», and «mono-theater». In addition, some reader performances (in diaspora periodicals – recitation) are part of «memory evenings», «anniversary evenings», «festive academies», etc. The genre of «melodeclamation» is also widespread among the diaspora environment.

Sweet Mystery

Rida Johnson Young (ca. 1869–1926) was one of the most prolific female playwrights of her time, as well as a lyricist and librettist in the musical theater. She wrote more than thirty full-length plays, operettas, and musical comedies, five hundred songs, and four novels. Despite her extensive output, no significant study of her work has been produced. This book examines her musical theater works with in-depth analyses of her librettos and lyrics, as well as her working relationships with other writers, performers, and producers, particularly Lee and J. J. Shubert. Using archival materials such as original typescripts, correspondence, and reviews, the book contextualizes Young’s work within the milieu of the early-twentieth-century professional theater and provides a window into the standard practices of writing and production of the era. The works examined are Naughty Marietta, Lady Luxury, The Red Petticoat, When Love Is Young, His Little Widows, Her Soldier Boy, Maytime, Sometime, Little Simplicity, and The Dream Girl.

al-`Ayni, Yusuf (1927–)

A playwright, actor, and director, Yusuf al-`Ayni was instrumental in the development of Iraqi theater from the 1950s through the 1970s. His three-decades-long career coincides with the advent and flourishing of a professional theater in Iraq, one primarily concerned with addressing political and social concerns. He emerged during a time of political turmoil under the British-supported monarchy and his tenure coincided with the establishment of the independent Iraqi state in 1958 and later the rise of the Baathists and Saddam Hussein. In the late 1960s, al-`Ayni initiated the movement within Iraq that combined classical Arabic forms with techniques from Western political theater, particularly those of Bertolt Brecht.