Spasoje Ž. Milovanović

Spasoje Ž. Milovanović,
Master of Arts in Theatre Study
e-mail: spasojezmilovanovic@gmail.com

Spasoje Ž. Milovanović was born in Kruševac in 1971. He graduated in dramaturgy from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, where he also earned his M.A. in theatre study with the thesis Dramatic Works of Vojislav M. Jovanović Marambo. After completing doctoral studies at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, he received a doctoral thesis titled Time at the Beginning of XX Century Serbian Drama, 1900–1914.

Milovanović authored the following plays: Nana, dramatization of the novel with the same name by Emil Zola (Madlenianum), Grey Forest Manor (Workshop West Playwright Theatre, Edmonton, Canada), Last Pages (Atelje 212), Nineteen Fifteen – The Tragedy of a Nation (Kruševac National Theatre /National Theatre in Niš), Dust and Ashes (National Theatre Užice/Pulse Theatre – Lazarevac), The Mark of Cain, dramatization of the novel with the same name by Vladimir Kecmanović and Dejan Stojiljković (Šabac Theatre), Where is the Man by the Name of Gil (Teatron magazine), Sofia Stavrić or Death, or the Art of Survival –a comedy from a contemporary life in twelve rounds, interrupted by a knockout in the twelfth, (Contemporary Serbian Drama edition – this play entered the wider choice of BBC drama program for non-English speaking region); The Naked Seed (Radio Belgrade drama program).

Text Nineteen Fifteen – The Tragedy of a Nation received the award for dramatization at World Premiere Festival in 2013.

Plays for children: Sleeping Beauty (Bora Stanković Theatre Vranje), Aladdin, Semaformers, Puss in Boots, meta-utopian quotation; Fantastic Toy Store; Pinocchio (Kruševac Theatre), Long, Broad and Sharpsight; Sleeping Beauty (Užice National Theatre), Pinocchio; Santa Catches a Cold or Kandžalablezi Bu Blu (Puppet Theatre Niš), Life Story of King Kvazibas, Three Fat Germans, Modeling School, Santa Clause and a Monster; Santa Clause Loves children (Children’s Theatre Sock), Modeling School (National Theatre Pirot, Drama Group Edmonton), Who Do You Belong To, You Small Serbian Nation (Serbian-Canadian Cultural Society of Edmonton).

Pinocchio won the best text award at Zvezdarište in 2013.

He has dramatized the following plays: Constantine, The Bizarre, The Lady of the Camellias, A Lullaby for Vuk Unknown (National Theatre in Belgrade), Miles Gloriosus, Around the World, Behind the Bars, Do You Speak Australian?, Purple Island, Mace (Kruševac Theatre), Here and There (Belgrade Drama Theatre), Thumbelina (National Theatre in Užice), Svetozar (Serbian National Theatre).

He has directed the following plays: B. Nušić – A Suspicious Person, A Member of the Parliament, Volume Two, Authority, Our Children; Brecht/Havel – The Threepenny Opera, G. Stefanovski– Wild Meat, G. Feydeau– A’hunting We Will Go, Lj. Simović– The Travelling Troupe Šopalović, P. Shaffer– Black Comedy, А. Popović – Ljubinko and Desanka, Market Day, Coffee White, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Little Red Riding Hood; B. Nedić – Cabaret… Cabaret!; Milan Marković–Lookit Here…, Ivan Lalić – Hero of the Nation, M. Ševarlić – Love Conquers, Miro Gavran: Ice Cream, All About Women; J. Genet– The Maids, S. Bogdanović– Stanojlo Among Women, S. Ž. Milovanović – Sofia Stavrić or Death, Who Do You Belong To, You Small Serbian Nation, Modelling School, Santa Catches a Cold or Kandžalablezi Bu Blu; М. Camoletti – Boeing-Boeing.

Authorial projects: Kitsch Cabaret, No One is Nobody, Babylonian Laughter.

He has written a number of screenplays for music and entertaining programs for Serbian National Broadcasting Corporation, “Pink” Television, Radio and TV Station in Kruševac. He is the editor-in-chief of Pulse Television in Kruševac.
Milovanović is the author of the educational program Creating a Play for preschool and school teachers, an animator and director of the play The Art of Survival as a part of a broader action to integrate the wards of Youth Correctional Center Mladost in Kruševac into the local community in 2006/2007.

He is a selector of Joakim Vujić Festival of Professional Theatres;

He is a selector of Majske igre, Children’s Theatre Festival and Festival of Serbian Amateur Theatres (2003 – 2007).

A screenwriter for the 14th and 15th International Festival of Children’s Song Zlatna pahulja – Rožaje, Republic of Montenegro;

A screenwriter and director of a number of programs organized by the Educational Center in Kruševac, by the Association of French-Serbian Friendship Union and the French Cultural Center; Screenwriter and director of several programs organized by the Association of Citizens Romani Cikna, dealing with the improvement of the position of Roma population.
Theatre and social critic in journals and weekly magazines Radio Belgrade 3, Scena, TFT, LUDUS, Drama, Teatron, Literary Gazette, Bagdala, Pobeda, Grad, Putevi kulture. He also collaborated with the magazines in FYRO Macedonia (Slobo ljubve), and Bosnia and Herzegovina (Riječ.Riječ), Canada (Toronto News).
He authored the following collections of poetry: Shadows of Love and Other Poems, Wonderland or Peter, Don’t Do it for the Fourth Time and This is What I Wanted to Say (all published by the publishing house Arte). His poetry was translated into English, Dutch, Swedish, German, Macedonian, Bulgarian and Slovenian.

He won the Poet award in 2010 for the collection Shadow of Love and Other Poems.

He is the authorized court expert in drama art of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Serbia, as the only such in Serbia.

He is a permanent theatre critic of Radio Belgrade 3.

He is a member of the International Association of Theatre Critics and Theatrologists, of the presidency of the Association of Drama Writers of Serbia and the Association of Serbian Writers.

Editor of the edition New Century of Serbian Drama by the publishing house Arte from Belgrade.
As a guest theatrologist, he has participated in a number of festivals and scientific symposiums in Serbia and abroad: Sterijino pozorje, BITEF, Yugoslav Theatre Festival Without Translation in Užice, Joakim Vujić Festival of Serbian Professional Theatres, Festival of Professional Theatres in Vojvodina, Days of Comedy, Joakim InterFest, Borini dani, Acting Festival Days of Milivoje Živanović, Drama Festival in BiH (Brčko, BiH), Small Scenes Festival (Rijeka, Croatia), Days of Chernodrinski (Macedonia), Andrić Symposium (Graz, Austria), Nušić Symposium (Skopje, Macedonia), Symposium on Contemporary Theatre (Ljubljana, Slovenia), etc.

He has authored a theatrological study on Drama Work of Vojislav M. Jovanović – Marambo (Theatre Museum of Vojvodina, Novi Sad 2011), monographs Our City, Our Theatre, Our Story – Kruševac Theatre 2006/7 – 2016/17 (Kruševac Theatre, Kruševac 2017), Vlastimir Đuza Stojiljković – Theatre Epistles (Knjaževac-Serbian Theatre Joakim Vujić, Kragujevac 2015), Tomislav – Toma Trifunović – Life of Arts (Kruševac Theatre, Kruševac 2010), and a guide through manifestations of Cultural and Educational Community of Kruševac Everything is Ready, So Go Ahead (Criminal Correctional Institution Kruševac, Kruševac 2008).

Based on the opinion of full professor Petar Zec, Ph.D. and full Professor Vesna Jezerkić, Ph.D. and Professor Emeritus Svetozar Rapajić, Ph.D., he has been proposed and elected Assistant Professor for the course History of Drama and Theatre at the Faculty Arts of the University of Priština.
He is the founder and director of the Independent Theatre Group ‘Theatre, Attention!’ (2001 – 2006). He is the owner of the PR Management for the organization of theatre plays SŽM 971 (2014 – 2017) and TRD Creation Process (2015 – 2017, Canada).

Between 1999 and 2009, as editor-in-chief of the program – an expert associate of the Cultural and Educational Community of the City of Kruševac he organized and realized over six hundred actions and events of local, district and republic significance. He is one of the authors and founders of the events and manifestations: Festival of Kruševac School Theatre, Festival of Drama Amateur Works of Rasina District, Saborovanje in Lazarevac and Svetosavska nedelja.

Between 2009 and 2013 he worked in Kruševac theatre as a dramaturge.

Between 2013 and 2015 he worked as drama director of the National Theatre in Belgrade.

Between 2015 and 2017, he collaborated with theatres in Edmonton, Canada: Workshop West Playwright Theatre, Citadel Theatre, Drama Group Edmonton, Serbian-Canadian Cultural Society of Edmonton.

Currently, he is a manager of the National Theatre in Niš.

At the proposal of the Theatre of Alberta (Edmonton, Canada) he has been awarded the honorary title of the Ambassador of Theatre of Alberta. He is the winner of the national award Golden Badge of the Cultural and Educational Community of Serbia for outstanding contribution to Serbian culture.