This year's Novi Sad Theatre Festival will have six supporting programs: two promotions of professional books, promotion of the new department of the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, promotion of a poetry collection, a Forum discussion about what young people would like to see in the theater, the Youth Theatre play "Crime and Punishment", and the Forum of Young Critics.
Promotion of books by Professor Livija Kroflin: "The Soul in the Object" and "Puppetry Wonders of the World"
The book and textbook "Puppetry Wonders of the World" is a follow-up to "The Soul in the Object" from 2020, which was awarded the Demeter Prize. While in the first book, the author found the core of puppetry in the depth and soul of the puppet, in "Puppetry Wonders of the World" it emerges from it and expands to spaces that become places of infinite miracles when meeting the puppet. The author managed to turn a large amount of representative puppet, theater and other material into an understandable and concise text that approaches the reader intimately, with personal anecdotes, interesting remarks and witty miniatures. With transforming that numerous information, views and attitudes into a superb literary experience, the text gets under the reader's skin.
Promotion of the Master's study of Puppetry, Academy of Arts in Novi Sad
In the year it celebrates its fiftieth birthday, the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad accredited a two-year master's degree program called Puppetry. The course books, content and method of teaching will be presented at the promotion. Those present will be able to talk to the professors who will be teaching at these master's studies, and the studies will be promoted by: Vesna Ždrnja, Vice Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of Novi Sad, Professor of Puppetry Saša Latinović, Teaching Assistant in Puppetry, actor Slobodan Ninković, and Professor Ivana Mijić Nemet, who will teach the following subjects: History of Puppetry, Literature for Children and Youth and Drama for Children and Youth.
Meeting with children's poet Duško Domanović and promotion of his book "Perfect Day"
Duško Domanović, a poet with a refined sense of the world in which everything important to the human soul is disappearing, will promote his exceptional children's book "Perfect Day" in front of the audience of the Novi Sad Theatre Festival. This Domanović's, a kind of poetic exercise room for smiling, addresses our will to participate in the game of meaning. The meeting between children and the poet will be an opportunity to ask questions about how to become a poet, how to write, where inspiration comes from, what is important to write well. Duško Domanović graduated from the Department of Philosophy at the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad. He also worked as a journalist, and instead of listing the titles of his excellent books and numerous awards he received, it is more important to point out that what he writes for children today should definitely have its place in future textbooks, as a way of giving his books new life. Along with the poems he writes for adults, his work will definitely be proof that even in this time, there were virtuous people, who saw well and heard well.
Performance "Crime and Punishment"/Youth Theatre, Novi Sad
What is crime today, is every crime followed by a punishment, is every perpetrator punished or are the victims only punished - by inaction? Why are some crimes relativized depending on the social and cultural frameworks or people’s stations there? These are just some of the questions that the team of the play "Crime and Punishment" of the Youth Theatre dealt with. The play, which was inspired by the novel by F. M. Dostoyevsky, is a puppet, interactive, monodrama for high school students, but also for fans of the Russian master of the written word, in which the author duo Mrdaković/Milković tried to grasp all the traces of Raskolnikov's "schemes" in modern society and find out if there is a moral transformation today, if there is repentance? The play was directed by Emilija Mrdaković based on the dramatization of Fyodor M. Dostoyevsky novel by Teodora Marković. Starring: Aleksandar Milković (Raskolnikov) and Dragana Ilić (Sonya - via video).
Forum "What are young people looking for in the theatre?"
In Serbia, on one hand, there is a theatre scene for children, as well as numerous theatre festivals for children. In certain repertoires, there is also quantitatively very rich production. On the other hand, there is also a diverse theatre scene for adults. What is missing is the link between these two scenes, and that is theatre for young people. And precisely in that - let's call it - bridge between plays for children and plays for adults, the theatre loses its audience. It is unfair to expect that someone who saw the last performance of "Little Red Riding Hood" or "Pinocchio" in their childhood returns to the theatre in 10 to 15 years to see Shakespeare, Nušić or a contemporary drama. For a whole decade, if not more, there is no age-appropriate content so how can we expect those young adults to come back to the theatre later. In the teenage years, affinities develop, habits are formed, and interests are chosen that are nurtured and maintained in the adult phase of life. It seems that the young, even if they want to, cannot develop an interest in the theatre, simply because most plays do not communicate with them. With such practice, the theatre loses its audience. Likewise, it is illogical to blame and criticize today's younger population for having "wrong values" and turning to potentially inappropriate content when different one is rarely offered to them, at least not in the theatre. Maybe some teenagers would love to go to the theatre, but it rarely speaks to them. Theatre has a healing, supportive function, it can make young people less lonely, dissuade them from the convictions that tend to occupy teenagers and young people, when they mostly feel a certain way and that this feeling is eternal and unchanging. The theatre needs the young and the young need the theatre. In order for this to happen, a forum was designed on the topic of what young people would like to see in the theatre, what they are interested in and what content would attract them to the theatre. Through an open communication with young people, theatre visitors, active members of various drama sections and acting workshops, we want to open a conversation on these topics so that creators of theatre for young people and interested representatives of the institutions can hear the voice of young people. Since its inception, Novi Sad Theatre Festival have fostered a dialogue between the authors of plays for children and young people and the audience. Forum is a logical continuation of that exchange and a deepening of the analysis of theatre for young people. The panel moderator is Divna Stojanov.
Forum of young critics
The accompanying program "Forum of young critics" was carefully designed with the idea of educating new generations about theatre. Attendees of the Drama Studio of the Youth Theatre, children of different ages, who are also regular viewers of the performances of the Youth Theatre, participate in this program. Actors and pedagogues who work with them teach them how to watch plays, how to read theatrical signs and symbols, but also to better understand human characters and recognize topics important for their future life. In the previous two years, children had the opportunity to meet the creators after watching the performances and ask them a variety of questions. Often, the children put the actors and authors of the plays in serious dilemmas with their questions. Divna Stojanov, the moderator of the Forum, says: I believe that when we are audience, we should be as good as possible, the best at it. In the long term, the Forum of young critics has taken a step towards the formation of new audience as well as nurturing them in general.