LAY THEATER PRODUCTIONS AND THEIR FUNCTIONS IN SLOVENIA.

There are numerous ways in which theatre performance can be appreciated and analyzed. In this paper the author outlines lay theatre open-air displays with an emphasis on the contemporary folk drama in Slovenia. Lay theatre, however, rarely appears in the scholarly literature because it falls between definitional and disciplinary boundaries. But, dealing with such displays can show us what »folk« production and performance can do and how they shape their expressive culture to suit their needs. In the last few decades we have witnessed different ways of performing heritage of various communities in Slovenia. So called "contemporary folk drama" appears mainly under the influence of economy, tourism and due to the celebration of local identity. Although, participants and authors of performances are in most cases non-professionals in this field, one can see the theatrical elements (like costumes, scripts, actors, audience) in these plays. Topics for such performance forms are taken from community's heritage, history, tradition and are accompanied by abiding to originality, creativity and authenticity. But the main question is when, where and especially why do people stage their tradition? By using examples from fieldwork (made in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 in Slovenia) the author will show the basic contemporary forms of such outdoor lay performances and discuss about functions that this performances have on communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]