Biography
Born in Tuzla in 1967 and grew up in Zenica and Leskovac. As an electrical engineer and graduate student of the Faculty of Mathematics in Belgrade, he entered the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, where he graduated in 1996 at the Department of Dramaturgy.
His plays have premiered 51 times in professional theatres in Serbia (Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš, Leskovac, Šabac, Užice, Kruševac, Zrenjanin, Kikinda, Kosovska Mitrovica, Zaječar, Vranje, Lazarevac), in Bulgaria (Plovdiv, Vidin and Krdžali), Croatia (Zagreb), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Zenica, Sarajevo), Japan (Tokyo), the Russian Federation (Novorossiysk) with more than 1000 reruns.
Performances based on his plays have been selected for more than 50 domestic and foreign theatre festivals (Sterijino pozorje in Novi Sad, “New Drama” Festival in Saint Petersburg – program of young European authors, B&H Drama Festival in Zenica, Rijeka City Puppet Theatre Festival, Days of Comedy in Jagodina, JoakimFest in Kragujevac, Festival of Theatres of B&H Brčko, Festival of Professional Theatres of Vojvodina, Festival of Professional Theatres of Serbia “Joakim Vujić”, Kotor Festival of Theatre for Children, International Puppet Festival “Golden Sparkle” in Kragujevac, Children’s theatre festival “Zvezdarište Theatre”, Festival of Theatre Performances for Children “Festić”, Meetings of Serbian Puppet Theatres, Festival of Small Forms, Festival of Premieres, Nušić Days, etc.) and have won more than 70 awards. Performances based on his adaptations have also participated and won prizes at important festivals, including Festival “Theatre City“ in Budva, Split Summer Festival, “Risto Šiškov” festival of chamber theatre in Strumica, Montenegrin Theatre Biennale, International Theatre Festival in Beijing, etc.
For his dramatic texts, Željko Hubač has been awarded 11 times in the country and abroad (Award for the best dramatic text at the Festival of Professional Theatres of Serbia “Joakim Vujić” in 1994, “Branislav Nušić” Award of the Playwrights Association of Serbia in 1996 and 1998, Award for the best text at the Festival of Professional Puppet Theatres in Serbia 2002, Award for the best comedy text at Comedy Days 2004, Award for the best contemporary dramatic text at the Meetings of Theatres of B&H 2010, Award for the best text at the Children’s Festival of Professional Theatres of Serbia “Mali Joakim” and others). He won the Award of the National Theatre in Belgrade for artistic and work contribution in 2010 and the October Award of the city of Leskovac in 2016.
His plays have been translated into English, German, Russian, Bulgarian, Polish and Japanese. In 2012, he published the book of plays Bizarre, published by KIZ Altera and the Šabac Theatre. “Zoran Radmilović” from Zaječar published the book Dramas for Children in 2021, published by the Timočka Krajina Theatre.
As a dramaturge, he has worked in important theatres in Serbia and the region. Professionally, he is also engaged in theatre directing.
He is the author of a large number of realized television shows, four feature series, one TV drama and one feature film.
He wrote theatre criticism for the daily newspaper “Danas.” He published theatre essays in domestic and foreign magazines. He is a member of the Serbian sections of IATC (International Association of Theatre Critics and Theatrologists) and ITI (International Theatre Institute). He is a long-time journalist and columnist, the founder of the “Theatre Gazette”, serving as the editor-in-chief from 2008 to 2018. He is a member of IJAS.
He was the editor of the publication of the Museum of Theatre Arts of Serbia and the theatre magazine “Teatron”, the founder and Chief Editor of the Publishing Department of the National Theatre in Belgrade and the dramaturge of the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad. From 2014 to 2018, he was acting director of Drama at the National Theatre in Belgrade. He currently works as a dramaturge at the National Theatre in Belgrade.
Performed dramatic texts: Closer to the Sky (also played as Eighty-nine) , Closer to the Fire, Closer to the Earth¸ Lance (based on the novel Dorotej by Dobrilo Nenadić), Hajduks Are Among Us Again (performed both as Gorge and Once Upon a Time in the Balkans), Kidnapping and Resurrection of Juliana K (also performed as It’s the Neighbors’ Fault and as Ratko and Julijana), Kosovska…, Bizarre, Petar (co-author with Katarina Nikolić), The Berlin Wall, Čučuk Stana (a Serbian girl and a Greek girl), King Tvrtko (based on the novel Chronicles of the King Tvrtko by Jasmin Imamović) .
Plays for children: The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, The Emperor’s New Clothes in Wonderland, Magic Flute of Milan the Elf, Sleeping Beauty, The Spoiled Prince (performed as The Enchanted Kingdom and The Rogue Prince), The Boy and the Moon.
Unperformed dramatic texts: Judge (dramatization of the eponymous novel by Vuk Drašković), Vojvodina Elegy (dramatization of the novel Three Post-war Comrades by Đorđe Balašević), Memories (monodrama), I dreamed I woke up.