Anica Tomić

Anica Tomić is a theatre director and Full Professor at the Academy of Arts and Culture in Osijek. She holds degrees in Comparative Literature and Croatian Studies from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, as well as in Theatre Directing and Radio Arts from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb.

She has been a scholarship recipient at the Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Amsterdam, Indiana University of Pennsylvania (Directing Department), and KulturKontakt Austria’s Writers in Residence program in Vienna. Anica is the founder of the amateur theatre collective Theatre de femmes, one of the most influential alternative theatre groups of the 1990s in Croatia, active from 1995 to 2003. She has directed numerous stage productions and original projects in theatres across Croatia and internationally, including Prešeren Theatre Kranj, Royal Theatre Zetski dom, EPK Maribor, EPK Novi Sad, Slovenian People’s Theatre Celje, National Theatre Sombor, Schauspielhaus Graz, Deutsches Theater Berlin, and the Innsbruck National Theatre, among others. Her work also includes directing large-scale cultural events such as Open City Day, White Nights, and Festival of Light. Anica is a member of several professional committees and, since 2021, a member of the ETC – European Theatre Convention Women Directors Networking Group. Alongside contemporary reinterpretations of classical works, which she often rewrites and recontextualizes, she develops original projects closely connected to socially marginalized individuals and groups, as well as to the position of women in society. Her productions critically examine systems of repression imposed on marginalized communities and address issues rooted in deeply distorted socio-economic and political structures, including frustration, intolerance, fear, xenophobia, peer violence, and misogyny. She is also one of the co-founders of the #Spasime initiative, which brought the issue of domestic violence into the public discourse in Croatia.

Anica Tomić has received around thirty national and international awards for directing and best productions. Her current work includes “Nora oder Wie man das Herrenhaus kompostiert” by Sivan Ben Yishai at Deutsches Theater Berlin, “Figaro Gets Divorced” by Ödön von Horváth at the Tyrolean State Theatre in Innsbruck, and “Safe House”, which is currently part of the repertoire at Gavella Drama Theatre.