Establishment The National Theatre of Kosovo was founded in 1946 in
Prizren and it was the first professional theatre in
Kosovo after the
World War II. In the beginning it was called
People`s Provincial Theatre and it was placed in the “Partizan” sport center. This object had a very small stage and did not fulfill the basic requirements for a place which could be used as a theatre. The founders of the first professional theatre in Kosovo were Pavle Vugrinac, Milan and Cica Petrovic who gathered young talented actors willing to work for the theatre and named Shefqet Musliu as their general director. After the staff was completed with 14 art enthusiasts who delivered two premiers,
People`s Provincial Theatre was officially established on October 7, 1945. The first official show released by this theatre was called “The sugar ball” (
Albanian: Topi i sheqerit”) from the author Glishiq which was followed by 16 other successful premiers and two tours across Kosovo. In 1946, the theatre was moved to
Pristina, where there was a work interruption due to construction of a new theatre facility, meanwhile the young actors working for the theatre spread to search for a job in another active theatre. Two years later, the official rebirth of the theatre was announced by the Ministry of Education and Culture of
Serbia on May 1, 1949. Milutin Jansic was named general director and the first show to be performed in the new theatre facility in Pristina two years after the pause was “Most” directed by Dragutin Todic. In 1951 the
Law for People`s Provincial Theatre was declared and this made it possible for the theatre to be developed rapidly. There were many new actors who joined the theatre, but in the absence of professional directors, two of them (Abdurrahman Shala and
Muharrem Qena) were trained under the supervision of Dobrica Radenkovic and were turned into successful and famous theatre directors and stage managers. During the following years the theatre had very capable general directors such as Azem Shkreli and Ramiz Kelmendi, who developed theatre activity in
Kosovo and made the theatre a very important art institution. In the 90s follow the violent Serbian occupation measures in Kosovo, which affected theatrical activity as well. Right after the war, the name of this theatre was changed from
Peoples Provincial Theatre to
National Theatre of Kosovo.
National Theatre activity during and after the War of Kosovo From 1981 until the end of the
Kosovo War the theatre has worked under Serbian political pressure, therefore many
Albanian artists were dismissed and parallel educative home-theatres were created. Most of the dismissed artists continued their career in the parallel theatres and some of them today are part of the professional staff of the National Theatre. The National theatre organizes many events which make it possible to bring international shows on stage in
Pristina. Some of these very frequented events are: German Week, Frankofonian Week and Swiss Week.
Educating its personal staff In the absence of an accredited institution for the education of the new actors and staff members of the theatre, in the 50s the theatre's workers established a theatre studio where the new members could be educated and trained according to the needs of the theatre. This studio lasted for two years and 14 members were trained. This studio no longer exists since now there are professional institutions which do the same job. Later on, the actors and directors attended courses abroad and came back to share knowledge and experiences with other members. Thanks to the big efforts of its members, a couple of years later the National Theatre had its own artists, stage managers, costume and set designers and a qualified staff. An important role had the collaboration of the theatre with the Academy for Theatre and Movies of Serbia and Serbian radio and television. In 1970 was established the Drama Group which offered individual art education to many young art enthusiasts who gave big contributions to the National Theatre. Some of these people who later on became great artists were
Faruk Begolli,
Bekim Fehmiu, Ekrem Kryeziu, Qemajl Sokoli,
Enver Petrovci and many others. ==Influence of the National Theatre in the artistic life of Kosovo==