PLAVO theatre

On October 8th, 2025, at PLAVO Theatre, a presentation by the second studio group of PLAVO Theatre was held under the title “INITIATION”. This presentation-performance is the result of eleven months of work by the participants within the PLAVO Theatre Studio (October 2024 – September 2025).

Concept and direction: Dejan Stojković – actor, studio leader
Supervision: Nenad Čolić
Participants: Vesna Ilić, Svetlana Šmit, Marko Vukomanović, Miloš Milosavljević

The Inclusive Potential of Utopia

The new production of PLAVO Theatre was performed on May 5, June 7, 14 and 21, 2025 in Serbian spoken and Serbian Sign language, while the performance on October 3, 2025, was performed in spoken English and Serbian, as well as in international Signs, as part of the program Two Open Weeks of PLAVO Theatre 2025.

Follow the news about the next performances on our social networks!

Adapting, scenario and directing: Nenad Čolić

Performers: Vera Jovanović, Stojan Simić, Darko Nikolić, Marko Potkonjak

Assistant director: Marko Potkonjak

Executive manager: Dubravka Vujinović

Translation into international Signs: Vera Jovanović

Scenery and costume: Ivana Čolić

Design of visual material: Ivana Čolić

Artistic and technical associate: Dejan Stojković

Photography: Jelena Mitrović

Production: PLAVO Theatre – theatre laboratory 2025

Supported by Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia

Texts: Oscar Wilde – ‘Picture of Dorian Gray’ (novel), ‘Socialism and Human Soul’ (essey),

’De profundis’ (letters); Julian Beck – Questions; director’s personal texts

A map of the world that does not include Utopia, is not worth event glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which the Humanity is always landing. And when Humanity lands there, it looks out, and seeing a better country, sets sail! Progress is the realization of Utopias!

Oscar Wilde

We are very glad that Boris Čakširan, choreographer and theatre director and Pavle Pekić, actor and president of the Association of Drama Artists of Serbia, went with the PLAVO Theatre team on this journey and enriched the work of the focus groups with their experience in the field of theatre art and inclusion.

The event was realized in organization of Sao Luiz theatre, in cooperation with other partners of the project: the FEDAPAS organization from Spain, which is the project coordinator, the ATER foundation from Italy, the inclusive theater THEAMA from Greece, PLAVO Theatre from Serbia, the Sommerblut cultural festival from Germany and the EUTOPIA association from Italy.

More about the project We Want More! (link site https://weallneedtheatre.eu/ )

Concept and directing:  Maša Jelić

Assistant director: Marko Potkonjak

Supervision: Nenad Čolić

Participants: Marija Bogdanović,Đorđe Đorđević,Ivan Miletić,Andrijana Pajović,Aleksandar Stanković

The performance Barter by Studio 1 of PLAVO Theatre was created as a result of the second stage of the process called Flabbiness of spirit. The first phase ended with the performance Resetting, which represented a kind of attempt to reconnect with oneself, while this second phase should enable a deeper and more sincere connection with others, all in search of humanness.

Barter is at the same time a celebration, dedicated to the thirtieth anniversary, which PLAVO Theatre is celebrating this year.

Public Presentation of the Project “Ode to Diversity – Towards an Inclusive Society”

PLAVO Theatre – 23a Miloša Pocerca St., Belgrade / June 13 & 15, 2025, at 7:00 PM
Cultural Center “Klara and Rosa” – 15 Petefi Šandora St., Subotica / June 20, 2025, at 7:00 PM

In the days and months when our society is (hopefully) undergoing a profound systemic transformation, and as young people are taking matters into their own hands, it was inevitable that this creative process be dedicated to the theme of revolution—and to all those who, in universities, schools, on the streets, in movements and organizations, and in their workplaces, fight daily to create better and fairer living conditions and to ensure that the youth and intelligence of this country remain within it.

Throughout our work, we explored different aspects of the notion of revolution—its meaning, causes, the creative and destructive potential of rebellion, the necessity of violence, and the principles of nonviolent resistance.

Our title was inspired by the words of Albert Camus in The Rebel:
“Historical rebellion demands that instead of killing and dying for what we are not, we must live and let others live, for the sake of creating what we are.”

We thank Tamara, Nikolina, Anastasija, Milica, Aleksandar, Julija, and Ranko for their support. Due to broader social circumstances, they were unable to be physically present throughout the process, but we felt their presence in spirit.

The project aims to promote the social inclusion of young people with disabilities through their involvement in a collaborative creative process that fosters their mental health and well-being and promotes tolerance and empathy among their peers and the general public.

This is the fourth phase of Plavo Theatre’s innovative inclusion program for youth with disabilities, which started during the Covid pandemic, when this target group was particularly vulnerable to declining mental and physical well-being. Plavo Theatre will partner with the Academic Inclusive Association (AIA) and the Faculty of Special Education and Rehabilitation (FASPER) during the six-month implementation period. A series of workshops conducted by Plavo Theatre and AIA for youth with and without disabilities, aged 18-30, FASPER teachers and other professionals in special education and rehabilitation will culminate in a theatre play on human rights and discrimination, which will be performed in Belgrade and Uzice.

The project is being realized from January until the end of June 2025 with the support of the program Australian Aid.

within the framework of JUSTLAB project

https://justlab-online.eu/

The Archive of Knowledge is an online platform which presents the laboratory theatre production process undertaken during the creation of the play, The Passage, a key component of the international project, The Paradox of Justice – European Laboratory Theatre Co-production (JUSTLAB).

By sharing our collection of written and visual material from every phase – from inception to wrap-up – of production of The Passage, the Archive of Knowledge serves as a resource for other theatres in Europe and globally, including those working with deaf artists.

On the platform, you will find:

• A handbook, Strategy of Implementation of Methodologies, focusing on laboratory theatre

• A video collection which includes:
• Work-in-progress videos made by each partner
• Three documentary films:
  • Pre-creative Methodology of the Laboratory Theatre Process
  • Creative Methodology of the Laboratory Theatre Process
  • Paradox of Justice – Reflections on Anthropocentrism
• A filmed performance of The Passage
• The Artists Speak – a collection of writings, interviews, sketches, etc. made by individuals involved in the project which documents their reflections and experiences of the creative process.

Materials are available in English, Polish, German, and Serbian, while the three documentary films are interpreted into International Sign Language.

Although JUSTLAB project is coming to its conclusion, we are pleased that learning and sharing from our artistic process can carry on through the Archive of Knowledge platform.  

The Paradox of Justice – European Laboratory Theatre Co-production (JUSTLAB), is a project implemented under the Creative Europe program, and led by PLAVO Theatre, a theatre laboratory from Serbia, in partnership with Theaterlabor Bielefeld from Germany and the Grotowski Institute from Poland. Through knowledge sharing and transnational cooperation and collaboration, the project aimed at promoting values of laboratory theatre, and providing conditions for innovative laboratory practices to develop. It also aimed to increase accessibility and participation of disadvantaged groups to cultural events. The main activities included laboratory work to create a play, The Passage; testing methodologies with local audiences, particularly disadvantaged groups; performing The Passage in all three countries, with interpretation into Sign language and a live stream available; and creating the online Archive of Knowledge.

By triggering a critical reaction to various aspects of injustice in contemporary Europe in audience members, The Passage aimed to raise awareness, enhance dialogue and empathy, and promote societal resilience. More than 50 people participated in the production and performances, including theatre directors, a dramaturge, actors, stage and costume designers, videographers, photographers, interpreters, technicians, a web designer, communication professionals, managers, producers, organizers, and volunteers from the three partner countries. The co-production was performed in Wroclaw, Belgrade, and Bielefeld between February and June 2024, while the livestream has been watched by over 6,500 viewers thus far.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.

 

European Laboratory Theatre Co-production within the framework of JUSTLAB project (page of the project on this website)

 April 4, 2024, at 8 PM, Centre for Cultural Decontamination (CZKD), Birčaninova 21, Belgrade

 PLAVO Theatre – Theaterlabor Bielefeld – Grotowski Institute (Teatr ZAR)

 

When we think about justice, we think of some kind of balance. Whether it is human beings seeking a balance with nature and all creatures living on this planet, or the idea of justice in social and political life, or even the general desire for harmony. All of the above touch on one need: the courage to rebel, to change, to go through a passage.

 

All of us who are not satisfied with the world we live in and who long for a better one carry within themselves a feeling of a lack of justice. This disturbing momentum in our souls keeps calling for a rebellion. This rebellion, however, can never lead to victory. It is a rebellion that we cannot live with, but we cannot live without it. This paradox is what makes us human in a world where machines are overpowering the spirit and where there is less and less empathy. 

PLAVO Theatre – theatre laboratory
Directing and dramaturgy Nenad Čolić / Performers Masa Jelic, Dejan Stojković, Marko Potkonjak, Svetlana Ivanov / Costume designer Ivana Čolić / Project manager Dubravka Vujinović / Video and photography Jelena Mitrović, Nikola Mitrović, Anđela Đokić, Anđela Petrovski / Text Franc Kafka, Antonin Artaud, Anna Akhmatova / Music songs of Rosa Balistreri

Theaterlabor Bielefeld
Director Indira Heidemann / Dramaturge Ninke Overbeek / Performers Thomas Behrend, Stefanie Taubert, Alina Tinnefeld / Video and photography Jörn Josiek / Stage designer Ralf Bensel / Project administration: Ralph Würfel (nützlich + schön Kulturbüro) / Text inspired by Frederik Mathias Alexander, Donna Haraway, Richard Wagner

 Grotowski Institute – Teatr ZAR
Dramaturge and director Jarosław Fret / Performers Katya Egorova, Aleksandra Kugacz-Semerci, Mertcan Semerci, Monika Wachowicz / Lights Maciej Mądry / Project manager Jarosław Siejkowski

Photo by: Tobiasz Papuczys

The performance is accessible to deaf spectators through provided translation into Sign language.

Performance The Passage is created as part of the international Creative Europe co-financed project The Paradox of Justice – European Laboratory Theatre Co-production (JUSTLAB), led by PLAVO Theatre – theatre laboratory from Serbia with partner organizations Theaterlabor Bielefeld from Germany and the Grotowski Institute from Poland. The Projects’ main activities include laboratory work in performance creation, testing methodologies with local audiences, particularly disadvantaged groups, performing in 3 countries including a live stream online and interpretation into Sign language, and making an online Archive of Knowledge.

The Paradox of Justice – JUSTLAB

https://justlab-online.eu/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090769350231

https://www.instagram.com/justlab_theatre_coproduction/

 „Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or EACEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.”