Kaca Celan

Kaca Celan (born August 5 1956 in Vojvodina, Serbia, FPR Yugoslavia) is a renowned and award-winning writer, director, theater and acting expert, professor and actress. She is internationally known for being awarded the first prize for the best German-language play from the Theatergemeinde Deutschland (the German Theater Authority) for her play “Heimatbuch” among other awards.

Biography

Childhood and Sarajevo Years

Celan grew up in an area dominated by five cultures and languages: Hungarian, German, Serbian, Czech and Ukrainian. It was the multicultural and multifaceted region of Vojvodina, which influenced and shaped her early childhood and high school years. She graduated from the scientific high school and its rigorous classical curriculum with straight A's as best student of her generation. After finishing her high school education, she chose the city of Sarajevo as her “home of choice.” Her studies in the Olympic metropolis included comparative literature, theater studies, and acting at the University of Philosophy in Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina). Following her studies, she founded the theater Teatar Amfiteatar, which she ran for seven years. Celan has also worked as a directing professor at the Academy for Scenic Arts, Sarajevo. Her awards have included Best Young Actress in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Yugoslavian award for Avant-garde Arts, and Best Director award at the Avant-garde Theater Festival in Montenegro. She has been the production director of the International Theater Festival in Kotor, Montenegro. As a theater academic she held stipendiums in Moscow and Vienna.

Slovenia and Germany

Prior to the occupation of Sarajevo, Celan moved to Ljubljana, Slovenia, where she worked as a writer and director for a year. With a stipendium from the German cultural department and the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung in hand, she moved to Germany in 1993. In the Böll-House she founded the theater, Theater TAS in Exile, and during its first project, “Project 3”, she toured well-known German theaters such as Munich’s “Kammerspiele” and Hamburg’s “Thaliatheater.” In 1999 she founded her acting school, the “Celan Theater School at Burgau Castle,” where her theater was based as well. In 1995 Celan won the first prize for the best German-language play from the Theatergemeinde Deutschland (the German Theater Authority) for her play “Heimatbuch.” That was followed by the International Award, Kristal Vilenice, for poetry in 1996. The next year the Cultural Minister of North-Rhine-Westphalia awarded her the prestigious prize in theater literature.

Her works

Celan’s plays have been performed on the German radio and in theaters. In addition to her own plays, such as "The Last Story", "Woyzeck From Sarajevo" (both translated into English) and "Struwwelpit & Co.", she has directed twenty plays by classical authors, including Anton Chekhov, William Shakespeare, Edward Albee, Franz Kafka, Sophocles, and Samuel Beckett, in her theater. Her works have been published in English, German and Serbo-Croatian. Celan has translated texts written by Sylvia Plath, Leonid Andrejev and Isak Samokovlija among others.

Bibliography

Drama

* The Death of Omer & Merima
* The Royal Marine
* The King’s Murderers
* Heimatbuch (Home Book)
* Commedia Goldoniana
* The Last Story (translated into English)
* Chekhov
* Woyzeck From Sarajevo (translated into English)
* Felix
* Cabaret International
* The Struwwelpit & Co. (in collaboration with Maria Fuß)
* Picollo Fratello Francesco

Other

* Woyzeck From Sarajevo (radio play)
* Clean Hands (book)

Awards

* Best Young Actress in Bosnia and Herzegovina
* Yugoslavian Award for Avant-garde Arts
* Best Director Award at the Avant-garde Theater Festival in Montenegro
* Dramatist Award of the Theatergemeinden (Theater Authorities) for the best German-language play for her play "Heimatbuch" ("Homeland Book"), 1995
* “Kristal Vilenice”, International Literature Award for Poetry, for her book "Me and You – Book of Love Poetry", 1996
* Artist Award of the Cultural Minister of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) in the field of Theater Literature, 1997

Personal life

Celan is married to journalist Senad Tanovic and resides in New York. She was quoted saying she belongs to the "church which worships Shakespeare as a literary God."

External links

* http://www.kacacelan.de
* http://www.kuenstlerinnenpreis.nrw.de/celan/celan.html