National Theatre of Kosovo

National Theatre of Kosovo

National Theatre, Pristina 2012
Address	Mother Theresa Square. No.21. 10000 Pristina Pristina Kosovo
Coordinates	42°39′48″N 21°09′52″E / 42.6632°N 21.1645°E / 42.6632; 21.1645
Type	Public Theatre
Construction
Opened	1946
Rebuilt	1949
Website
www.teatrikombetar.eu

The National Theatre of Kosovo (Albanian: Teatri Kombëtar; Serbian: Narodno pozorište / Народно позориште) was founded in 1946 in the city of Prizren, Kosovo. It is the highest ranked theatre institution in the country which has the largest number of productions. The National Theatre is the only public theatre in Kosovo and therefore it is financed by Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport. This theatre has produced more than 400 premieres which have been watched by more than 3 million spectators.

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. On 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. On 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.