Moja Pjesma (My Song)

Bosnia and Herzegovina

2019

Telling Their Story

Moja Pjesma was a cabaret style performance for which the local Bosnian artists had the opportunity to to create a music theatre performance focusing on something important about themselves, their lives, their family, and their country. The performers curated a collection of contemporary music theatre songs to help them tell their story. Our partner for his project was the US Embassy Sarajevo.

Exploring the Individual

A deeply personal and effective tool in building collaboration in the Broadway Across Borders process is the use of journalling and interviewing to facilitate story sharing. We used these tools in both the Broadway Workshop in Banja Luka (2018) and in the devising of “Moja Pjesma.” Structured discussion and reflection, coupled with a positive and supportive environment leads to trust and honesty. This honesty fueled our theatrical development exercises in the workshops and became the very foundation of the “My Song” project. Honesty and openness helped the group solidify the story they wanted to tell and created a strong narrative which drove the cabaret style performance. This openness and willingness to share life experience is critical to both artistic growth and the breaking down social and cultural barriers.

The goal of Moja Pjesma was to empower individuals to collaborate artistically to tell honest stories that can shape the world around them. 

Pre-Production Workshop (May 2019)

Moja Pjesma was preceded by 2 three day masterclasses in Sarajevo and Banja Luka with a mix of past BiH Broadway veterans and new participants. The masterclasses, led by Ryan Nelson, focused on the very subject on “My Song” – how to tell stories through music.

The young artists participated in a variety of devising theatre exercises, were coached on song acting, and rehearsed songs and scenes from a variety of Broadway shows. Through these theatrical and musical activities, a new BiH “troupe” of artists was created for the project.

Entrepreneurship

One of our constant objectives is to encourage artistic entrepreneurship as a vehicle for social change. Moja Pjesma showed the artists that they could indeed create something meaningful and beautiful and that the act of creation is very important.

Our dream is that every international artist we work with finds the entrepreneurial spirit that is within them. We believe that this spirit can help them change the world.

The Program

Curated and developed by the Bosnian Artists

Performances

Moja Pjesma opened at the historic Kamerni Theatre 55 in Sarajevo on September 12, 2019 and toured throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina with performances in Mostar, Trebinje, and Prijedor.

Ryan Nelson accompanied the performance and was joined by Aki Fj (drums) and Azur Azur (bass).