Sanja Mitrović is born in Zrenjanin (Former Yugoslavia), currently based in Brussels (Belgium). She graduated in Japanese language and literature from the Belgrade University, and in Mime Studies from Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten. Mitrović works as theatre maker, performer, writer, and lecturer. She emigrated to the Netherlands in 2001. In 2009 she founded Stand Up Tall Productions, a theatre company dedicated to collaborative projects in the field of socially and politically engaged practices, whose artistic director she remains.
In recent years, Mitrović’s work has gained international recognition for an exploration of theatre’s relation to the social, political and cultural realities of our times. Her practice is located at the intersection of theatre, visual art, dance, and performance, and often involves work with different communities. Across projects in various formats and contexts, Mitrović has developed a documentary approach, responding to world events and performers’ own biographies. Rather then departing from a pre-mediated structure, the works result from a process of discussion and creative exchange between participants.
Mitrović has been a resident artist at Theater Gasthuis (2006-08) and Het Veem Theater (2008-2011), both in Amsterdam, as well as at Festival a/d Werf in Utrecht (2011-12). Her works have been commissioned, co-produced or presented at international festivals and venues, including Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels), Wiener Festwochen (Vienna), BITEF Festival (Belgrade), Theater Spektakel (Zürich), Tanzquartier (Vienna), SPRING Performing Arts Festival (Utrecht), European Capital of Culture (Portugal), Festival International Mettre en Scène (Rennes), La Comédie de Reims, and Teatro Nacional São João (Porto). They include A Short History of Crying (2010), accompanied by a comprehensive publication released in 2011, Crash Course Chit Chat (2012), SPEAK! (2013), Do You Still Love Me? (2015), and I Am Not Ashamed of My Communist Past (2016).
Over the course of her career Mitrovic has collaborated with and appeared in works by, among others, Milo Rau / International Institute for Political Murder, Phil Collins, Nicole Beutler, and Montažstroj.
Since 2013 Mitrovic lives in Brussels where she teaches drama and documentary theatre at the Royal Institute for Theatre, Cinema and Sound. Between 2017 and 2019 Mitrovic is Artist in Residence at the Centre Dramatique National in Orléans, France.