How to get to the sea, taken from Stevan Koprivica's dramatization of Momo Kapor and Zuk Džumhur's novel "Green choja of Montenegro", is the motto of this year's 34th "Grad Teatar" festival, which will open on July 24 and last until August 22.
The exhibition "Contemporary Montenegrin Sculpture", as part of the Fund of Contemporary Montenegrin Art, opens the festival, without ceremonies and planned ceremonies, in light of the measures regarding the corona virus pandemic.
The director of JU "Grad Teatar" Milena Lubarda-Marojević said that when the epidemic took off in early March, they reduced the program to only programs from the region and continued to hope that they would be able to realize productions and premieres.
"We will not play with anyone's health, not ours, nor the health of the audience, nor the participants. We will never allow the 'City Theater' to take place despite the epidemic, but in accordance with the measures. This year, in a very special way, the 'City Theater' should have the function of a special valve for all of us. At this moment when we have few tourists, after a long time, we are making a festival that is intended more for our fellow citizens than for the guests of Budva. And that's how we conceived the program," she said at the press conference held on the stage between the churches.
According to her, the epidemic is developing so that new measures were adopted the night before last and according to them it was agreed that the programs that take place on the stage between the churches, which are musical and dramatic, will be postponed until August 1.
"Performances and concerts planned until August 1 will not be performed. We will open the festival on Friday in the area of the Church of Santa Maria, with an exceptional exhibition. Visitors will be allowed to enter in pairs. We will try to hold programs on Poets' Square because they do not carry an epidemiological risk, because they take place outdoors, it is possible to maintain distance and there is less audience, and we will certainly take care of all the prescribed measures. This whole calendar year is, to put it mildly, unusual, in this regard the festival will not open as expected. There won't be a big gathering, nor a welcome cocktail, we won't socialize that way, but I believe that art is necessary for all of us in our daily lives and that from 21 p.m. there is a valve that does not carry an epidemiological risk, but which will allow us to divert thoughts from everyday problems, we divert our thoughts from the epidemic", stressed Lubarda-Marojević.
The selector of the literary program, Svetlana Ivanović, announced that the literary program at Trg pjesnika will begin on July 25 with the guest appearance of Andrija Radulović. "We haven't given up on Poet's Square. It is so much easier to comply with the prescribed measures on Poets' Square. We will see that the chairs are far enough apart, the guests are loud enough to be heard. Creating that program in accordance with the current situation, we opted for guests from Montenegro, so we will once again give an overview of genre changes in literary production here in our country; after that, we will present a new poetry collection by Stanka Stanojević in cooperation with the National Library of Budva," Ivanović pointed out. Among other things, she said that on August 1, Stefan Bošković, the winner of this year's EU award for literature, will make a guest appearance, who will talk about his novel "Minister".
"After that, Nikola Nikolić, a young author, will talk about the novel 'Sirens for the Alarm'. We thought that in addition to that literary program, we would open the square, as we have done all these years, for conversations that are not exclusively about literature, but about all those interdisciplinary approaches that deal with text and artistic performance in general. We will have two interesting talks - the presentation of Janko Ljumović's significant theater study 'The world of artistic professions of drama and theatre', and we will also talk about the history of theater construction in Montenegro as part of a conversation about the architectural heritage of Josip Slade Šilović with architect Slobodan Boba Mitrović, Ivanović said.
The President of the "City of Theater" Council, Siniša Jelušić, pointed out that there was an ambition to make the 34th festival a respectable international event. Through the segment of the drama program, it is planned to show plays of Montenegrin production, smaller forms that can fit into the epidemiological standards. These are: "Rooms" by Ilija Đurović, directed by Mirko Radonjić of the drama studio "Prazan prostor" from Podgorica; "Bitch" based on the text of Arpad Shiling and Eva Zabežinski, directed by Arpad Shiling of the Royal Theater "Zetski dom" from Cetinje; "Persona" by Ingmar Bergman, adapted by Dragana Tripković, directed by Stevan Bodroža, created in cooperation with NGO ATAK, Podgorica, Center for Culture "Vojislav Bulatovic Strunjo", Bijelo Polje and KIC "Budo Tomović", Podgorica. A special cycle of this year's festival will consist of plays for children: "The Slipper's Cat" based on the story of the same name by Ela Peroci, dramatized and directed by Davor Dragojević, City Theater Podgorica, intended for ages 3+; "Little Red Riding Hood" based on the text of Luka Bojović, produced by "Youth Theater" Podgorica, intended for ages 5+ and "The King and the Beggar" based on Mark Twain's novel, directed by Zoran Rakočević and produced by the Nikšić Theater. As part of the music program, guitarist Danijel Cerović will perform, whose performance will also be a promotion of his new CD. In addition, guitarist Petar Dobričanin, double bassist Vasilije Gagović, and we will inform the audience about the guest appearances of other scheduled musicians in a timely manner in the period ahead.
This year's festival is scheduled to close with the play "The Use of Man" based on the novel by Aleksandr Tišma, a work that was adapted for the first time as a theater piece directed by Boris Liješević, co-produced by "Grad Teatra", Budva, "East - West Center", Sarajevo, "New Fortress Theater", Čortanovci and "Youth Theater", Sarajevo.
"Green Choya of Montenegro" for the next year
Milena Lubarda-Marojević said that there was great public interest in the announced production and premiere of the play "Green Choja Montenegro".
"With the co-producers from the City Theater in Podgorica and the Belgrade Drama Theater, we agreed and contracted to move the project to next year. At the end of this calendar year, if the conditions are met, he would start preparing and be ready for the next, 35th Grad Theater festival," she announced.
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