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The performance The Deaf Dorian Gray – The Inclusive Potential of Utopia was presented on April 4 as part of the project Action for a More Inclusive Culture.

The performance was accessible to deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences through the equal use of spoken Serbian and Serbian Sign Language integrated into the acting roles, and to blind and visually impaired audiences through audio description.

For blind and visually impaired visitors, a tactile tour was organized prior to the performance, during which the audience had the opportunity to explore the theatre space, scenography, props, actors, and their costumes. After the performance, a discussion on the play and accessibility in theatre was held, with participation from the director and actors. The audience contributed with a range of insightful questions and comments. The discussion was interpreted into Serbian Sign Language, making it accessible to deaf participants.

The play was written and directed by Nenad Čolić. The cast includes Darko Nikolić, Stojan Simić, Vera Jovanović, and Marko Potkonjak. The assistant director was Marko Potkonjak, while Dejan Stojković served as artistic and technical associate. Scenography, costume design, and visual materials were created by Ivana Čolić. Sign language interpretation was provided by Vera Jovanović, and audio description by Violeta Vlaški and Boris Dončić.

The project is implemented within the program “EU Resource Centre for Civil Society in Serbia”, carried out by the Belgrade Open School in partnership with its partners, with the support of the European Union.

Photos from the performance “The Deaf Dorian Gray – The Inclusive Potential of Utopia”, taken during the show on April 4, 2026, at PLAVO Theatre – photographer: Dragan Mihajlović

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Conference “Inclusive Culture – A Culture of Inclusion” was held on April 3 at the European House in Belgrade

As part of the PLAVO Theatre project Action for a More Inclusive Culture, a conference titled Inclusive Culture – A Culture of Inclusion was held on April 3 at the European House in Belgrade. The conference focused on participation and accessibility of cultural programs for all citizens.

The conference was opened by Dubravka Vujinović from PLAVO Theatre and Jana Žarković on behalf of the European House, while Angelina Ivanović from the Belgrade Open School also addressed the participants.

Nemanja Krstić from the Center for Empirical Studies of Culture of Southeast Europe (CESK) in Niš presented the results of the research Needs and Barriers Related to Participation in Cultural Activities.

In the panel discussion How to Achieve a More Inclusive Culture, moderated by Dubravka Vujinović, the speakers included Nikola Radojlović, stand-up comedian; Darko Nikolić, actor and sign language performer (PLAVO Theatre / KUD of the Deaf Belgrade “Radivoj Popović”); Snežana Lazarević, Executive Director of the Mental Disability Rights Initiative of Serbia (MDRI-S); and Milan Janković, Executive Director of the Academic Inclusive Association, activist, and author.

The focus group Challenges in Attending, Participating in, and Organizing Accessible Cultural Activities was moderated by PLAVO Theatre actors Maša Jelić, Dejan Stojković, and Marko Potkonjak, with the assistance of Nemanja Krstić, Vesna Ilić, Nevena Prvulj, and Nikolina Stevanović. The focus group brought together colleagues from cultural institutions and independent cultural organizations, artists, representatives of organizations of persons with disabilities, as well as interested citizens, both with and without disabilities. The results of the focus group were subsequently presented and will be formulated as recommendations to be submitted to decision-makers.

Thanks to sign language interpreters Vera Jovanović and Desanka Žižić, the conference was accessible to deaf participants.

We would like to thank all conference participants, as well as the European House for their hospitality, and we look forward to seeing you on April 28 at the conference in Niš.

The project is implemented within the program “EU Resource Centre for Civil Society in Serbia”, carried out by the Belgrade Open School in partnership with its partners, with the support of the European Union.

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SURREALISTIC NEGATION – NEW PRODUCTION

On December 13 and 20, 2025, at 8:30 PM, PLAVO Theatre premiered its new production “SURREALISTIC NEGATION.”

Direction: Nenad Čolić / Assistant Director: Maša Jelić / Performers: Dejan Stojković, Marko Potkonjak / Set Design, Costume and Visual Design: Ivana Čolić / Executive Director: Dubravka Vujinović / Photography: Dragan Mihajlović / Text: Jerzy Grotowski: “As You Are, Whole”, F. M. Dostoevsky: “The Brothers Karamazov”, and the director’s original text

“If a character is of no use, then we discard it as something unnecessary, because we are searching for the profound character of our own life. And that character is not acted—it simply is. This is always a precious and exciting experience, because it is a process of freeing ourselves from ourselves and, at the same time, a process of discovering our striving and our need for another being within us, for an encounter with that other being—an encounter in which, in a way, we cease to be ‘us.’

This performance is an expression of PLAVO Theatre’s gratitude to Jerzy Grotowski, because his works have always been an inspiration in our work, and this performance is dedicated to all those who believe that Grotowski’s ideas may one day be of great importance for the survival of theatrical art.”

— Nenad Čolić, director of PLAVO Theatre

The performance was created within the project In Defense of the Margin of Society – 30 Years of PLAVO Theatre, with the support of the Culture for Democracy program implemented by the Hartefakt Foundation, with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

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Action for a more inclusive culture

The project Action for a more inclusive culture – public advocacy for greater accessibility of cultural content and greater participation of people with disabilities in the cultural life of the community contributes to the inclusion of people with disabilities through public advocacy for greater accessibility of cultural content to all citizens without distinction.

The project is being implemented from November 2025 to the end of June 2026 in cooperation between PLAVO theatre – theatre laboratory from Belgrade and Centre for Empirical Cultural Studies of South-East Europe(CESK) from Niš.

The project’s activities are:

  • implementation of research on the needs of people with disabilities for inclusion in society through cultural activities,
  • implementation of public inclusive actions in which people with and without disabilities participate and which are accessible to all citizens without distinction (theatre performances, other theatre programs, talks and conferences),
  • a public advocacy campaign.

The project is implemented as part of the project “EU Resource Center for Civil Society in Serbia”, which the Belgrade Open School implements in partnership with civil society organizations: Novi Sad School of Journalism, ENECA, Užice Center for Children’s Rights, New Planning Practice, Safe Paths, Young Farmers of Serbia and an international partner, the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. The project is supported by the European Union and will be implemented in the period from 2023 to 2026.

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The international program Two Open Weeks of PLAVO Theatre 2025

The international program Two Open Weeks of PLAVO Theatre 2025 was realised from September 27 – October 10, in Belgrade.

The main program took place from September 27 – October 3, and it consisted of two workshops designed in PLAVO Theatre laboratory – Complete Actor’s Training, led by Maša Jelić, actress and theatre pedagogue with over 20 years of working experience in contemporary theatre, and The World of Physical Actions – the Actor’s Creative Path, led by Dejan Stojković, and assisted by Marko Potkonjak, actors and theatre pedagogues with over 20 years of working experience in contemporary theatre. The participants had the opportunity to participate in the whole programme or in the workshop by their choice, as well as in other numerous events such a concert-performance Before the Law, an inclusive performance Deaf Dorian Gray – inclusive potential of utopia, video-presentations, discussions, which accompanied the main programme. 

It was our pleasure to work with young theatre actors, directors, performers, circus artists, musicians, coming from different (central)European countries with different theatrical experience and background, but with a strong will and a great enthusiasm to learn, share and develop in theatre and arts.

The program was supported by Central European Initiative.

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INITIATION

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).

The working process was inspired by the life and work of the renowned Nobel Prize laureate Hermann Hesse, as well as by his novel Siddhartha.

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

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Deaf Dorian Gray

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

“The essential theme of this play can be called a ‘meeting’, the meeting of two worlds, the world of the Deaf and the world of the hearing. Oscar Wilde and his works, ‘Socialism and the Human Soul’ and ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’, have become extraordinary narratives that have given that meeting a third dimension, the dimension of community. The artistic aspect of that togetherness has enabled the result that we have been seeking. And that result is an environment of equality, which in our opinion should be the goal of every inclusive project.”

Nenad Čolić, PLAVO Theatre

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

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WE WANT MORE – PLAVO IN LISBON

Creative Europe project We Want More! in which PLAVO Theatre is a partner, gathered from September 12-16, 2025 at the São Luiz theater in Lisbon, a wide group of artists from the European Union, Western Balkans, Turkey and Ukraine, who participated in the workshop Capacity Building for Inclusion of Theatre Artists.

Within the workshop, on September 15, a panel discussion took place, one of participants of which was Marko Potkonjak, actor of PLAVO Theatre, and artistic director of PLAVO for this project. Six smaller focus groups for altogether around 60 participants were held as well. The topic of both the panel and focus groups, was the importance of accessibility and representation of artists and collaborators from underprivileged groups in the performing arts.

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/ )

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BARTER

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.

We observe the world around us and it seems that humanness is rapidly disappearing. The battle between youth and soullessness is currently being fought in Serbia. Youth may win, or not, but those who enter middle age, experience deep powerlessness before the questions of the meaning and value of their own lives and choices. The only unquestionable value is in the community into which we willingly withdraw and in the mutual exchange of humanness.

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