this is my truth, tell me yours

Female orgasm, male masturbation, artistic responsibility and tinnitus

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 performance 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.

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 MandićMachine directed by Bojan Jablanovac and featuring actor Marko Mandić, she got tinnitus and hyperacusis due to a theatre pistol being shot within the play, Žmak uses this ŽmakMachine 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.

Photo: Marcandrea

Photo: Marcandrea

Photo: Marcandrea

Photo: Marcandrea

Photo: Marcandrea

Photo: Marcandrea

Photo: Marcandrea

this is my truth, tell me yours

2023
Solo performance • 70 min

Concept and dramaturgy — Jasna Žmak
Performer — Jasna Jasna Žmak
Light design — Anton Modrušan
Movement consultant — Ana Kreitmeyer
Producer VN — Špela Trošt
Producer KunstTeatar — Romana Brajša
Producer City of Women —  Barbara Zonta
Production — Center for Dramatic Arts, Zagreb • Via Negativa, Ljubljana • City of Women, Ljubljana
Partners — KunstTeatar, Zagreb • Vox Feminae festival, Zagreb • En-Knap, Ljubljana

Thanks — Sanja Merćep, Zrinka Užbinec, mentorji in udeleženci PARL 2022, Ana Grbac, Nikola Podkrajac, Petar Sarjanović, Borut Šeparović, Vedrana Klepica, Barbara Matejčić, Katarina Pejović, Dunja Ribarić, Mirta Jambrović, Peščenica Centar kulture – Knap, Centar mladih “Ribnjak“, Ustvarjalni center Krušče, Marko Mandić

The project was developed as part of the PARL 2022 platform.

The project was supported by 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 of Ljubljana.

Award
Bitef 2024 Grand Prix, Belgrade