The opening – night of the play Nadpop Kojović, written and directed by Vida Ognjenović and co-produced by the “Theatre City’’ Budva and City Theatre Podgorica

-The opening- night of the play Nadpop Kojović, written and directed by Vida Ognjenović and co-produced by the “Theatre City’’ Budva and City Theatre Podgorica, to be held in the venue KIC “Budo Tomović’’ (Podgorica)-

The writer-director of the play Nadpop Kojović, Vida Ognjenović, had complete freedom while writing it. Having been commissioned by the ‘’Theatre City’’ to write about a prominent person from Budva, significant for its history and culture, as a part of the project for nurturing the cultural heritage the author chose Antun Kojović.Realizing that the conventions of the theatre nowadays are different and need to be taken into account, the author tailored the text so as to implement something that represents Budva’s cultural heritage into contemporary theatrical forms.

What is important to mention are Antun Kojović’s chronicles of Budva.These chronicles encompass the various periods that Budva went through during its history and without them many of the details significant for its history would be long lost by

now. In addition, Antun Kojović was of importance when it came to fostering the need for culture in his people and was a patron of the arts in his time.

When explaining the reasons for choosing to write about Antun Kojović, Vida Ognjenović,the writer-director of the play, says “He was  a sort of a mirror of his time because he was so close and dedicated to his town and country. However, he was also so different from it. These two qualities combined allow for the viewer to   get the general sense of the situation in the neighboring regions, all through the lens of   a mind not ordinary in any respect’’. Where all the before-mentioned fits into the story of contemporary theatrical forms is that “a men is represented as an inventor that eventually falls victim to that same inventions’’. “Art remains the only shelter from the banality and a myriad of problems that the society faces nowadays’’.

The play Nadpop Kojović, the co-production of the “Theatre City’’ Budva and City Theatre Podgorica, will be performed in Podgorica (venue KIC ’’Budo Tomović’’).The opening-night  of the play will be Monday the nineteenth of February and the first rerun is scheduled for the twentieth of February.

Along  with  Vida  Ognjenović, the  writer-director  of  the  play, other  members  of  the  creative  team  are: Vladislava  Cunnington (scenography), Marija  Papučevska (costimography), Damjan  Jov

ičin (music  for  the  play), Sonja  Vukićević (choreography)  and  the  cast  of  the  play  involves: Nebojša  Dugalić, Pavle  Popović, Mišo  Obradović, Pavle  Ilić, Davor  Dragojević, Danilo  Čelebić, Vukan  Pejović,  Ognjen  Sekulić, Branka Femić  Šćekić, Smiljana  Martinović, Lana  Dragović, Una  Lučić, Itana  Dragojević, Anđela  Radović.

This project was supported by the Tourist Organization of Budva, through the “Competition for the Valorization of National Heritage Projects” for 2022.

The play Nadpop Kojović will also premiere at the XXXVIII “Theatre City’’ festival on the fifth of July 2024.

The’’Theatre City’’ press-office