Ana Grigorović is a theatre director based in Belgrade, Serbia.
Ana earned her Bachelors’s and Masters’s degrees in Theatre and Radio Directing at the Faculty of Dramatic arts, where she is currently in her Ph.D. studies. Ana also acquired an additional Masters’ degree in Theory of Arts and Media at the Interdisciplinary studies of the University of Arts in Belgrade. During her studies, Ana directed numerous dramatic performances in youth theatres which got her numerous prizes – the prestigious City of Belgrade Annual Award for artistic accomplishment and „Hugo Klajn“ Award for the best student of Theatre Directing in her generation.
Ana Grigorović made her professional debut in 2012 with the show Five boys in „Duško Radović“ Theatre in Belgrade which was awarded the Special award for New Theatre Tendencies at TIBA Festival. Success followed with the show Fifty blows in Atelje 212 Theatre, which brought her regional acknowledgment and the Special award at International Small Scene Festival in Rijeka. Ana employed techniques of verbatim and documentary theatre with the idea that dramatic performances must be a dialogue with the problems and social reality. She continued working on provocative plays in numerous theatres: Petar and Plato’s Symposium in Bitef Theatre; Wolfgang Bauer’s Magic Afternoon in Atelje 212 Theatre; Lorca’s House of Bernarda Alba in National Theatre in Belgrade; Beckett’s Play in „Bora Stanković“ Theatre in Vranje; Pekić’s The Conception of an Interrogation Transcript and Jarry’s Ubu Roi in National Theatre in Pirot; Doug Haverty’s and Adryan Russ’s musical Inside Out in Terazije theatre.
In 2013, Ana started working as an opera director at the National Theatre in Belgrade. She directed awarded productions of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Binički’s At dawn (the first Serbian opera), and Mozart’s Bastien und Bastienne and Karolic’s Snow White and the seven dwarfs for younger audiences. These productions brought Ana Grigorović annual commendations for stage direction, while the production „Gianni Schicchi“ won the Annual Award for best performance in season 2016/17. In addition, Grigorović revived several productions in the National Theatre in Belgrade: Rossini’s Italiana in Algeri and Cenerentola, Puccini’s Il Tabarro, Verdi’s Rigoletto and Nabucco, Giordano’s Andrea Chénier, Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore and Lucia di Lamermoor, Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro and Bizet’s Carmen. As an assistant director at the National Theatre in Belgrade, Grigorović worked with many international directors on numerous productions: Puccini’s Manon Lescaut and Tosca, Konjović’s Koštana, Giordano’s Andrea Chénier, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Verdi’s Otello and La Forza di Destino, Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer. During the season 2021/22, she was a member of the artistic management at the Opera studio at the National Theatre in Belgrade.
In 2021, Ana founded her own opera production Opera Lab, committed to exploring opera classics in site-specific performances, making the genre more approachable to the local community. In cooperation with a local festival Rossi fest, Ana produced and directed performances of Bizet’s La tragèdie de Carmen, Puccini’s Il tabarro and Lidarti’s Ester.