“THEATER AT THE CROSSROADS” AS A SPACE OF AFFIRMATION OF FREEDOM

The National Theater in Nis has been considerably involved in the preparation of the second “Theater at the Crossroads”.

The festival offers the opportunity to express all aesthetic, cultural and other similarities and differences in their full capacity and without any restrictions. Therefore, we hope that the festival will be endlessly exciting and interesting. Judging by the first reactions – we are well on our way.

Patron of the second “Theater at the Crossroads” is the President of the Republic of Serbia, therefore, the Institution of the President, currently represented
by Aleksandar Vucic. The National Theater in Nis sincerely hopes that the 3rd as well as the 303rd “Theater at the Crossroads” will be held under the patronage of the President of the Republic of Serbia. Patronage (of events), as stated on the official web pages of every president of every state, is under State Protocol
and as such is an expression of understanding of the importance of an event for the benefit of the broadest community. We take the opportunity to once again thank the President of the Republic of Serbia for recognizing the “Theater at the Crossroads” as a festival that provides such an opportunity.

The National Theater in Nis is deeply convinced that theater, as an expressive and constructive consciousness of society, cannot and should not favor daily taste and politics, but that, given its cultural and enlightening mission, should raise the horizon of audience expectations to the highest aesthetic and ethical level. Theater is an expression of the civilizational achievement of a society and is accessible to all.

The doors of the National Theater in Nis and the “Theater at the Crossroads” festival are open to all ideas that contribute to connecting diversity, encourage reflection on respect for others, promote positive values and label the shortcomings of modern society, debate with the past and present, and with the aim to create a better future and lasting values of importance to our community and region. Therefore, the selection of the festival is based on performances that focus on issues of freedom, both inside and outside the theater space, and the Festival Panel further extends this discourse.

Each collaborator and guest of the National Theater in Nis and the “Theater at the Crossroads” festival has been invited for the purest artistic reasons. Political theater exists only within the limits of theatrical effect. All else is the theatricalization of society.
Welcome to the National Theater in Nis and to the festival “Theater at the Crossroads”.

General Manager of the National Theater in Nis and Director of the festival “Theater at the Crossroads”
Spasoje Z. Milovanovic

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