View source for EPI Centre

{{Article
| status       = 
| maintainer   = Katja Kosi
}}
{{Infobox
| name                = EPI Centre
| local name          = Zavod EPI center
| street              = Prisojna 1
| town                = SI-1000 Ljubljana
| telephone           = 386 (0) 1 544 4155
| contacts = {{Contact
| name                = Sebastjan Horvat
| role                = Artistic director
| email               = sebastijan.horvat@guest.arnes.si
}}{{Contact
| name                = Tamara Bračič
| role                = Producer
| email               = tamara_bracic@yahoo.com
}}
}}

{{Teaser|
The now defunct Elizabeth Project Ideas Centre ([[EPI Centre]]) was established in [[Established::1997]] by the theatre director [[Sebastijan Horvat]] and set designer [[Petra Veber]]. The group of renowned artists who worked within the framework of EPI Centre seeked new collaborators and new ideas related to innovative drama theatre, with a focus on the epic and the poetic, the image and the body, and philosophy. 

EPI Centre's last production was the theatre project ''Manifest K'' (2010), directed by Horvat, which set out to stage the Communist Manifesto, not as a political programme but as a formal score, thus opening doors to contemporary artistic procedures and effects.
}}

==Performances by Horvat==
The centre operated in line with the basic ideas of "performance first": minimalism, reduction, and the limiting of theatrical expression. Verbal and artistic languages were accorded equal status: every project deals with a literary model and a visual concept, which are created anew. The first performance was the eponymous ''Elizabeth Project'' [Elizabeth] (1997), and in 1998 EPI Centre produced its second show ''Ion'', which won an award at the [[Slovene Drama Week|Week of Slovenian Drama]] in Kranj. Horvat's productions ''Instruction'' [Inštrukcija] (1995), ''Ion'', Ionesco's ''Macbett'' [Makbet] (1999), and ''Sharpen Your Senses'' (2000) divided both critics as well as the Slovene public. 

In 2005, Horvat received the Montblanc Young Directors Project Award at the Salzburg Festival for his direction of [[Vladimir Bartol|Vladimir Bartol's]] ''Alamut''. Horvat has staged a number of works in recent years that make direct reference to communism and Brecht's radical theatre. Besides the stagings of ''A Passage to Jajce'' [Pot v Jajce] (2009), co-produced by [[Slovene National Theatre Drama Ljubljana]] and [[Slovene National Theatre Nova Gorica]], and [[Ivan Cankar|Ivan Cankar's]] ''For the People's Welfare'' [Za narodov blagor] (2008), produced by [[Slovene National Theatre Maribor]], the production that garnered the most attention was ''Ragged People (Pupils and Teachers)'' [Raztrganci (Učenci in učitelji)] (2007), the legendary play written by [[Matej Bor]] in 1943 between the battles he participated in as a member of the Slovene Partisan army, which underscored today's need for a didactic theatre and the importance of communicating with the viewer. 

==Other productions==
EPI Centre's past productions by other directors include: ''School Notebook'' [Šolski zvezek] (2003), directed by [[Ivana Djilas]]; ''Still Life'' [Tihožitje] (2004), conceived by the stage director [[Jernej Lorenci]]; and ''Oidipus'' [Ojdip] by [[Jaka Ivanc]]. In co-production with [[Dance Theatre Ljubljana]], EPI Centre has staged choreographies by [[Matjaž Farič]], [[Snježana Premuš]], [[Valentina Čabro]], and Ariella Vidach. EPI Centre's performances were often co-produced by [[Ptuj City Theatre]], [[Slovene National Theatre Maribor]], [[Slovene National Theatre Drama Ljubljana]], [[Mladinsko Theatre]], [[Glej Theatre]] and [[Dance Theatre Ljubljana]].

==Venues and festivals==
EPI Centre productions often premièred at [[Glej Theatre]] and [[Stara Elektrarna - Old Power Station|Old Power Station]] in Ljubljana and also appeared at numerous festivals, including the [[Mladi levi Festival]] and the [[Exodos International Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts]] in Ljubljana; Neighbouring Voices in Bulgaria; the New European Theatre Festival in Moscow; the Biennial Festival of Young Artists of Europe and the Mediterranean; the Four Days in Motion Festival in Prague; and Mittelfest in Cividale, Italy.

==See also==
* [[Glej Theatre]]
* [[Stara Elektrarna - Old Power Station]]

==External links==
* [http://www.bunker.si/eng/archives/431 Announcement of EPI Centre's première of ''Manifest K'' at Bunker website]


[[Category:Theatre]]
[[Category:Producers]]
[[Category:Theatre producers]]
[[Category:Theatre & Dance]]