Color of upbringing

A play about gender roles and gender stereotypes

Direction, lighting and sound design: Nora Krstulović

Dramaturgy: Nina Horvat 

Actors: Vid Ćosić and Petra Težak

Art design: Iva Milley 

Design: Ana Goja

Photos: Neven Petrović

Thank you to Tena Pick and members of Tirena Theatre drama studio.

We live in a world that “gives” us a package of rules, instructions, and expectations even before we are born. This package contains everything – how we should look, how we should act, how we should think, even what we should feel. It establishes in advance our position in society and dictates what we are allowed to do and what we are forbidden to do.

Why are women’s “packages” pink and men’s blue? How did colors become gender-determining factors in the first place? What happens when Blue and Pink decide they have had enough and want out?

“Color of upbringing” is a play for teens that explores gender roles and gender equality and problematizes harmful stereotypes about the male and female sexes.

The Office of the Ombudsperson for Gender Equality endorsed the play “Color of upbringing”:

“The play addresses the issue of gender stereotypes in an innovative and humorous way, it is aimed at the youth population, has an educational character and contains an educational dimension. Young people are encouraged to critically question stereotypical expectations placed on members of both sexes, and through a cultural-artistic approach it contributes to the prevention and suppression of gender stereotypes. As such, it can be described as educational content that promotes gender equality and is suitable for use in higher grades of primary schools and secondary schools.

In this sense, the Ombudsperson recommends that the play be used as a tool for implementing educational expectations within the framework of civic education in elementary and secondary schools, as “Stereotypes and Prejudices” is one of the key contents prescribed in the curriculum for the inter-subject of civic education in primary and secondary schools in the Republic of Croatia (OG 10/19).”

Opening night date: 21.10.2022