Stane Sever's Awards

This year, the Stane Sever Fund Award for acting in professional theatres goes to Iva Krajnc Bagola, a member of the ensemble of the Ljubljana City Theatre, and Jurij Zrnec, a member of the ensemble of the Slovenian National Theatre Drama Ljubljana.

This year's prizes were open to actors who played in premiere productions between 15 September 2021 and 15 September 2022. The winners were selected from among the nominated professional and amateur actors and drama students by an expert jury, composed of the chairwoman Nataša Barbara Gračner, the actress Silva Čušin, and the dramaturgs Tea Rogelj, Diana Koloini and Zala Dobovšek.

Iva Krajnc Bagola
The jury wrote she is a superb actress of the classical and contemporary repertoire, who has mastered a wide range of acting expressions and different theatrical genres. In the last two years, she has created a series of excellent and varied roles. "Varja in Češnjev vrt, Nikolina in Le zaljubiti se ne smemo, Šracia in Zimska poroka and Ženska in Izredne razmere are each original and convincing creations in their own right," the jury writes.

"Her acting is distinguished by her capacity for penetrating analysis, with which she masters the psychological depths and nuances of her character, as well as the genre, the mechanisms and structure of the whole, and her own place within it. In doing so, he shows a keen ear for contemporary theatrical expression, communicative and complex at the same time. She is thorough and clearly committed to her theatre work, which she pursues to the highest professional standards," the statement added.

Jurij Zrnec
The award-winning Juri Zrnec's extensive experience in burlesque and his wide range of talents for comic and satire are key factors that made him shine in The Great Dictator (Veliki diktator). He also impressed with his roles as the fanatical Sturmführer in the Nova rasa and as Clov in the performance Konec igre.
In the Veliki diktator, Zrnec, like Charlie Chaplin, split his acting into two roles. "Zrnec's extremely autonomous sense in creating ironic character profiles and his precise understanding of the laws of burlesque have given him a humorous, but also uncomfortable, and in any case necessarily ambivalent attitude towards (political) content. With his stage appearance, Zrnec enters the critical and harrowing historical period of the Second World War with full physical and mental presence, fully mastering the performance procedures of the dynamics of slowdowns, freezes, momentary leaps and twists," the jury believes.

Award for the acting creation of drama students Mina Švajger and Matevž Sluga
The jury awarded the Stane Sever Fund Award for Acting by a Drama Student to Mina Švajger and Matevž Sluga for their roles in the production of the third-year AGRFT play based on the plays by Tennessee Williams. In their justification, the jury highlighted the scene from Steklena menažerija, where Švajger played the role of Laura and Sluga played the role of Jim: "The result is an almost anthological scene of the emblematic presence of two actors who, with minimal resources, fused their characters to create a moving and cathartic scene."

This year the award for acting in Slovenian amateur theatre went to Nives Mikulin
Nives Mikulin, a member of Šentjakob Theatre Ljubljana, was awarded for her performance as Mati in August Strindberg's play Pelikan, which she constructed with sovereignty, subtlety and precision in diction. Mikulin has, according to the jury, repeatedly demonstrated a wide acting range, acting discipline and a sophisticated sense of context. She can also boast a Nutcracker for her role in Jesih's play Triko in 2016 and a special mention for her performance of a song in the original recycling of Feydeau's comedy Strasti, laži in maček v žaklju at this year's 60th Linhartovo srečanje.

 The Sever Awards remain one of the most prestigious theatre awards, alongside the Maribor Theater Festival and the almost simultaneously established Slovenian Drama Week in Kranj. They are awarded by the fund established in Škofja Loka in the year after the actor's death, and its work is supported by the municipality, the Slovenian Public Fund for Cultural Activities and donors. 

We would like to congratulate all the winners.