News archive
                   

ENTHUSIASTIC APPLAUSE FOR „YOU AND I ARE WE“

15. December 2009.

At the end of a teenage theatre performance “You and I are We”, the audience exclaimed “bravo”, applauded for a long time and shed a few tears as secondary school students from Bujanovac and Presevo were leaving the stage of the “Dusko Radovic Little Theatre”. As it always happens, genuine effort, dedication and love paid off. The reward for all those that took part in this unique project and undertaking was huge. Two months of hard work, which, according to them, was wonderful and during which they associated with one another, resulted in a pop show on growing up in South Serbia. The text of the show was written by secondary-school students themselves, who used it for acting in Serbian, Albanian, Romany and English. Performers of the „You and I are We“play communicated with the audience all the time, as well as made it both laugh and silent. In the end, they won ovations. Sitting in the audience were actors/actresses, producers, stage designers and playwrights, and all of them, without    exception, commended what the Serbian, Albanian and Roma children from South Serbia had done over a short period of two months. At the beginning of the project, Dafina, Мilena, Еrsana, Мiljana, Nnesibe, Мilica, Мiroslav, Меntor, Бujar, Blerim, Ivan, Sadrija, Dejan and Abelant were members of three separate ethnic groups. In the end, they became an undivided troupe whose members fully respect diversity. What is more, all those who were in the „Dusko Radovic“Little Theatre that evening were overwhelmed with love that was pouring down from the stage. Love, on which everything is based on, and which is also a skill, as well as the moves and dialogues on the stage, were flawless, so that even great many professionals would be ashamed of them. Even though they came across acting for the first time, all the aforementioned things were achieved by children and their a bit older friends, who  carried out the whole project owing to the support of the Coordination Body for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja. We can’t help mentioning their names. The author of the project is Aleksandar Lazic, a workshop teacher and  producer, Milena Bogavac, a workshop teacher, a dramaturge  and producer, Tinja Dosen, a workshop teacher, stage designer and expert associate, Rahim Salihu, an organizer and a translator, Zoran Lazic, an executive producer, Dusan Arsenic, a stage designer, and Igor Markovic, a composer. This undertaking will be recorded as a documentary, which will be made and directed by Igor Tosic and Predrag Stankovic.
 
Also satisfied with the play were the Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic, Ministers Nebojsa Bradic and Milan Markovic, as well as representatives of the southern Serbian municipalities, the diplomatic corps, international organizations and foundations, national public enterprises, business and non-governmental organizations, who were all of the view that the project ought to go on and that they should all support further activities of the Coordination Body related to this and other projects,  as well as the projects focused on the young and on bringing them closer to one another, those on their education and on everything that would improve life in Bujanovac, Presevo and Medvedja.
 
Before the beginning of this unique play on multi-ethnicity, Nebojsa Bradic, Minister of Culture, among other things, said: “The young are capable of reminding the elderly of genuine values. The young are good and beautiful, since they believe in goodness and ideals. Youth is wonderful because that is when friendships that last forever are made and once-in- a- lifetime loves are born.”

MP Riza Halimi was pleased because the young conveyed with this play a powerful message to the grown-ups that great results can be jointly achieved.

Milan Markovic, Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government and President of the Coordination Body, pointed out that “better and more certain prospects should be provided to children. We shouldn’t allow children’s lives and destinies to become hostages of the developments that occurred ten or fourteen years ago.”

Fourteen students stayed in Belgrade for four days and said that those moments were the best ones in their lives. „I wished I could have stayed in Belgrade longer. I had a wonderful time here, everyone was cordial and kind to us, while Belgrade is more beautiful than it was in my imagination” said Dafina Aliju prior to her return to Bujanovac. “My dream to see “Marakana” came true and that’s why I’ll remember my visit to Belgrade for a long time” said Sadrija Raimovic. And for Milica Stosic, the “Some Like It Hot” play, which the students had watched at the “Terazije” Theatre, was an exceptional event in her life”.  

„The Coordination Body made efforts to satisfy all wishes of the young actors and actresses“said Zoran Lazic, the executive producer of the play, who replaced his birthplace Valjevo with Bujanovac for two months. The secondary-school students were guests of the Serbian parliament, while they also paid a visit to the Belgrade Arena, Bajrakli mosque, Saborna church and Kalemegdan Park. What will also make their stay in Belgrade impressed in their minds is the lunch they had with Minister Markovic, during which they celebrated with a birthday cake and candles two birthdays, those of Ersana Kadric and Miljana Nikolic.