Press release - „YOU AND I ARE WE“IN KIKINDA, ZRENJANIN, SREMSKA MITROVICA, SID, SOMBOR AND LOZNICA

23. February 2010.

NOVI SAD – Followinga great success of a multiethnic play “You and I are We” in Bujanovac and Belgrade in December 2009, which is a teenage show on growing up in South Serbia, the Albanian, Serbian and Roma secondary-school students from Presevo and Bujanovac are going to perform the play in their own three languages, as well as in English, in Kikinda (February 25), Zrenjanin (February 26), Sremska Mitrovica (February 27), Sid (February 28) and Sombor (March 2). The play is going to open the 39^th. Vukov sabor in Loznica on May 19.

The tour of the “You and I are We” play in Vojvodina will be discussed at a press-conference, which is to be held at the Executive Committee of Vojvodina at 12 o’clock noon on Thursday, February 25. Participants in the said press-conference include Minister Milan Markovic, President of the Coordination Body, Bojan Pajtic, PhD, President of the Vojvodina Executive Council, as well as representatives of secondary-school students from the “You and I are We” troupe.

Nenad Djurdjevic, Director of the Office of the Coordination Body of the Government of the Republic of Serbia for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja said the following about the project: “The Coordination Body funded the “You and I are We’ multiethnic project, which resulted in a play with the same name as the project, which is the only play of the kind in Serbia. The Serbian, Albanian and Roma secondary-school students from Bujanovac and Presevo are the authors of text of the play and they also act in it. The project has, by far, exceeded our expectations in the sense that it encouraged the young to associate with one another regardless of their ethnic background, so that it has grown into a multiethnic troupe which, after having had a wonderful reception in Bujanovac and Belgrade, now continues performing the play throughout the country, including a guest performance in Slovenia. This might be the first time that the citizens of South Serbia are giving a lesson on tolerance and integrations to the entire country and the region”.

The premiere of the “You and I are We” play was held in Bujanovac on December 2, 2009. The play then launched a humanitarian activity “Theatre is Solidarity” at the “Dusko Radovic” theatre in Belgrade. The Belgrade premiere of the play was supported by the attendance of Mirko Cvetkovic, the Serbian Prime Minister, Nebojsa Bradic, Minister of Culture, Milan Markovic, President of the Coordination Body and Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, representatives of the southern Serbian municipalities, business companies and non-governmental organizations.

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Contact person: Nebojsa Andric, Coordination Body’s Office, Теl: 011/ 21 20 906; 011/ 21 20 907