this is my truth, tell me yours

Hi,

I’m Jasna and I’d like to invite you to my play. It’s my first original play and I’m pretty excited about it.

The title of the play is this is my truth tell me yours, which is actually a quote of a quote, but the play has nothing to do with these original quotes, but is more about some of my own truths.

The thing is, I normally work as a writer and dramaturge, which I’ve been doing for almost 15 years, but, to be honest, I recently started feeling like I wanted to start doing something else because I feel like art is pretty fucked up and because art fucked me up a lot.

But then, I wrote this play, which deals with how art fucked me up, and I actually realized that it’s actually more of a love-hate relationship, and that I still feel pretty good about art. (Although it still annoys me often.)

Some other topics I deal with in the play are female orgasm, male masturbation, artistic responsibility and tinnitus. I also mention Konstrakta, Jan Fabre, Oliver Frljić, Xanax, SPID and Jesus.

Anyhow, I’d be glad if you came to the play. (Below is a slightly more official description that the producer asked me to write.)

See you,

jasna

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this is my truth, tell me yours is an original project of dramaturge and writer Jasna Žmak, which deals with her relationship with the artistic field, questioning her own and others’ authorial positions and the responsibility and anxiety these imply. Relying on her own personal experience from 2011 when, as an audience member at the play Mandićstroj directed by Bojan Jablanovac and featuring actor Marko Mandić, she got tinnitus and hyperacusis due to a theater pistol being shot within the play, Žmak uses this Žmakstroj to explore the ways in which art shapes the reality we live. Although seemingly unrelated, the themes of tinnitus and patriarchy become the central backbone of this play, which operates on the border between stand-up and a performance lecture. Taking the stage for the first time in the role of a performer, Žmak deals with issues of truth and representation, participation and responsibility, taking us through her own dramaturgical and sexual experiences while asking herself and the audience questions about the importance and meaning of artistic production in the age of wild capitalism.

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The project was developed as part of the PARL – Performance Art Research Ljubljana 2022 – program.

The project was carried out with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, the City Office for Culture, Intercity and International Cooperation and Civil Society of the City of Zagreb, the Kultura Nova Foundation, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and the City Municipality of Ljubljana.

The play uses fragments from the following works:

Borut Šeparović: documentary film “Potrošeni“, production: Montažstroj (2014)
Jasna Žmak & Petar Sarjanović: “Jasna Jasna Žmak to Petar Sarjanović Sep 26“, magazine Četveroruka, Ed. Sonja Pregrad & Marina Petković Liker (2017) Sonja Pregrad & Marina Petković Liker (2017.)

The play does not use fragments from the following work:

Ana Grbac & Nikola Podkrajac: radio documentary “Tinitus“, cycle “Oda-birano”, Ed. Iva Lovrec Štefanović, production: HRT (2017).

some references:

Marko Mandić: “Extract Mandić“, production: Via Negativa (2009)
Oliver Frljić & Borut Šeparović: “Zagreb noću“, production: Banana gerila & Montažstroj (2009)
Bojan Jablanovec: “MandićStroj“, production: Via Negativa (2011)
Borut Šeparović: “55+“, production: Montažstroj (2012)
Matija Ferlin: “Mi smo kraljevi a ne ljudi“, production: Croatian National Theater Zagreb & Kunstenfestivaldesarts (2015)
Ivana Müller: “O! Voice“, production: &TD, apap – Performing Europe (2015)
Olja Grubić: “Golo življenje“, production: Via Negativa (2019)
Paolo Magelli: “Ja sam ona koja nisam“, production: Zagreb Youth Theater (2021)