European Laboratory Theatre Co-production within the framework of JUSTLAB project

 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.”

 

Dear friends of art,

Our existence as an independent theatre organization has always been a struggle in a country like Serbia, that does little to support culture out of the mainstream, with a population that can barely make ends meet. From the very beginning, we have been operating in survival mode, shifting from one space to another, like nomads. In the past, we were always able to find a way to patch up our finances, mainly by way of various national and international cultural grants.

However, two unfortunate events have brought us to a precipice.

1. We have been evicted from the space we had rented for the past decade, as the building we worked in with a host of other independent cultural groups was sold by the government to a private real estate developer.
2. COVID-19 has literally devastated the cultural scene in Serbia, as it has all over the world.

We found ourselves on the street, without any possibility to continue our work. Quitting was not an option, however, we were very lucky to find a beautiful, but run down house in downtown Belgrade, built at the end of the 19th century, perfect for initiating a new independent cultural community in Belgrade.

This is where we need your help. The house requires a lot of adaptation and renovation work, such as fixing the heating, plumbing, electricity and a new floor in one part of the house. We also need to secure resources such as additional theatrical lighting, audio equipment, seating, and curtains in order to be able to stage our performances.

Without these interventions, it is impossible for us to start our work and the clock is ticking. We are literally living on borrowed time and funds.

Dear friends, we invite you to help us create a new home for our theatre and a gathering place for independent culture, where you and all people who hold the arts close to heart are welcome.

To donate, please head over to our GoFundMe campaign page >>

International training program for performance artists and students

Program

• July 16, 20:00 I Play Electra performance by PLAVO Theatre
• July 17 – 21, 11:00 – 16:00 Tuning the Body. Awareness workshop led by Kamila Klamut, Teatr Zar/ The Grotowski Institute, Wroclaw, Poland
• July 21, 20:00 Doubts and Progress work demonstration by Kamila Klamut and Ewa Pasikowska, Poland
• July 23, 20:00 I Play Electra performance by PLAVO Theatre
• July 24 – 28, 11:00 – 17:00 From Myself towards Theatre workshop led by Nenad Čolić, PLAVO Theatre director
• July 26, 20:00 Sky Jewelled with Stars concert-demonstration, treasury of Serbian traditional songs, by PLAVO Theatre
• July 28, 16:00 Open Door presentaon of the participants’ work during the workshop From Myself towards Theatre open for public
• July 29, 20:00 Concert by PLAVO Theatre.

The program will be held in English

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Registration

Two Open Weeks 2017 Registration form

Thanks to the support of the donors who sustained the program, we will provide additional support (accommodation and travel costs) for participants coming from Central European countries: Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania,  Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine and Serbia.

Please contact us for information including additional support, fees, registration form or any practical information. E-mails: plavopozoriste@gmail.com, plavopozoriste@hotmail.com.

Note: The number of participants is limited. There is no a specific application deadline. After sending us registration form and getting a confirmation from us about their participation, interested participants should pay the fee to our bank account in order to book their place.

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Two Open Weeks of PLAVO Theatre is an international practical and theoretical program for people interested in work inside of a theatrical laboratory through specific methodology of PLAVO Theatre. Our aim is to share with participants the idea of theatre as a place of communication, a place of self-researching and a space of open mind where some important things about us and the world that surrounds us could be said.

The program will consist of series of events: theatre workshops, performances, presentations, demonstrations, concerts, meetings, video presentations. There will be two main programs, two workshops, and participants will have the possibility to participate in the whole program or in the workshop by their choice.

Beside PLAVO Theatre work and a workshop led by Nenad Colic, PLAVO Theatre director, as a special innovation of Two Open Weeks 2017, participants will have the opportunity to meet with the work of our guest-teacher from Poland, coming directly from the source of Grotowski tradition. It is Kamila Klamut, actress from Teatr Zar/ The Grotowski Institute, who will lead training session in the first week of the program, assisted by Ewa Pasikowska from Teatr Zar

The program is opened for professional and semi-professional actors, directors, other theatre artists, dancers, as well as theatre and dance students and other people who are interested in theatre or self-research using the theatrical tools. The program Two Open Weeks of PLAVO Theatre was created out of the need to bring closer laboratory theatre work to international and Serbian participants and to make theatrical laboratory a place of intercultural communication, theatrical exchange and development.

The program has been realized in Belgrade every summer since 2004 gathering participants from three continents.

Due to the support of the donors which sustained the program, this year there will be support provided (accommodation and travel costs) for participants coming from Central European region.