FROM THE SOUTH TO THE NORTH OF THE COUNTRY

8. November 2010.

On Wednesday, October 27, 2010, the “You and I are We” Youth Center from Bujanovac performed the premiere of the “We are the Whole World” play at the National Theatre in Kikinda. The play was supported by the Provincial Secretariat for Culture of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, in cooperation with the Coordination Body of the Government of the Republic of Serbia for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja.

The concept of this musical and drama spectacle is based on sections of Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet”, which was additionally enhanced and enriched with experiences of Kikinda’s teenagers with different ethnic backgrounds, who perform the play in their mother tongues. The play in which the main roles are played by Kikinda’s secondary school students, deals with the ideas and attitudes of the young.

”My impressions of the play are strong. We worked hard on it for almost two months and put a lot of effort into it in order to make it as good as possible. Thanks to our persistence, we managed to have a good troupe from the very beginning until the end of the play. Prior to the first performance of the play, we had stage-fright, but once we started performing, it disappeared, which enabled us to “set the course of sailing”, which we maintained to the very end of the play. Of course, my overall impression is that this is only the beginning of a fascinating and a powerful story”, said Andrej Tot, one of the actors in the play.

”We are aware of the numerous new things that we learned while working on the play, whereas the audience watched what we could do the best and felt invited to enter our magical circle. Regardless of how difficult it sometimes was, the feeling of satisfaction after each rehearsal is unforgettable and priceless. I’m glad that we managed to establish a huge family of young people that share the same criteria, problems, happiness, sadness and the love of art”, said Srdjan Milosav, a participant in the play.

In addition to preparation of the play in Kikinda, the “You and I are We” Youth Center prepares the same play with secondary school students from Presevo and Bujanovac. Both plays are directed by Aleksandar Lazic.

”So far, we have visited seven cities. We make a game out of the theatre and we deal with true stories of the young. On December 14, 2010, the Albanian and Serbian secondary school children are going to perform a play in eight languages at the “Rasa Plaovic” stage. By working on this project, the participants in the play had a chance to learn the basic drama skills and abilities, as well as to familiarize themselves with the process of working on a play. By using the newly acquired skills and abilities, these young people speak about themselves, their lives, first loves, facebook, school, family, unfulfilled wishes, friendship and about their longing for a new world”, Mr. Lazic said.

”I’m pleased and happy”, Boco Ostojic said. “The work on this project has opened up new horizons and notions for me, since I know realize how important it is to have a good relationship with the others. I also realize that kindness and thoughtfulness result in changes for the better and in satisfaction. However, I mostly realized that life is a mass phenomenon.”

Citizens of Belgrade and Bujanovac will be able to watch the play “We are the Whole World” by the end of the year.