Dragana Čolić Biljanovski

HISTORIAL CONTINUITY AND THE TASK OF MODERNIZING THE ARTISTIC PRODUCTION AND ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGEMENT OF THE JOAKIM VUJIC THEATRE IN KRAGUJEVAC

Summary

This is the text of the opening speach delivered on February 28, 2002, at a meeting set up to discuss the problem related to the reorganization of the Joakim Vujic Theatre in Kragujevac. Intended as an introduction, the study surveys the historical continuity of theatrical productions in Kragujevac, from the year 1835 to the beginnings of the XXI century. The first part emphasizes the problems the theatre has had to deal with in the last ten years. The second part is the study of the growth of legal regulations through history, from 1835 to the present, and covers developments under all the changes of regimes that have taken place. The report also emphasizes the shortcomings of the drafts of the Law regulating theatres in Serbia drawn in the period from 1989 to 2001. The study raises the following question: How should the Joakim Vujic Theatre in Kragujevac, the oldest theatre in Serbia, be reorganized so that, in the period of transition and the era of globalization and multiculturalism, its repertory, and the work of its artists, administrators, and production managers, become compatible with the model European theatres?