Syndicate: Statement from the Association of Dramatic Artists of Serbia

[katarina@opennet.org]

Statement from the Association of  Dramatic Artists of Serbia on the
occasion of International Theatre Day, 27 March 1999 

In an international message on World Theatre Day, Mrs Vigdis
Finbogadottir outlines reasons for the survival of the theatre which, in
our modern civilised world, is faced with serious problems.
The same modern civilised world has placed all of us, our country and
our theatre in a situation which is irreconcilable with its own
proclaimed ethical standards. Therefore, we consider that our reasons
for the theatre to survive at this moment are far stronger.
Confronted with bombs, destroyed towns, lost lives, and the whole
aggressive attack upon human integrity, we are trying to justify the
very existence of the theatre and to go on living the only way we know-
by performing. Our own individual and personal reasons may be different.
On the one hand, it may represent an escape from the present awful
reality; on the other, the reason may lie in a clear, conscious and
critical stand  against the horrors which someone has decided to "stage"
in another country at the end of the twentieth century.
Fully aware that our decision cannot influence objective circumstances,
like air raid warnings, loss of electricity, a ban on public meetings
and other unpredictable events, we shall do all in our power to ensure
that the theatre goes on as long as is humanly possible. Therefore, the
Association of Dramatic Artists of Serbia calls upon its members to
continue to play in their theatres as far as is realistically possible
at this  very unreal time.
We do not have the right to ask others to join us, but in this way we
wish to inform our audiences that we shall continue to be when they can
always find us- an that is, on stage.
Let the theatre be our bomb shelter.

Presidency of the Association of the Dramatic Artists of Serbia
President: Tihomir Stanic