Theatre Nomads: The work of Slovenian directors on Yugoslav stages in the first half of the 20th century

Aldo Milohnić

In the anthology of Slovenian theatre artists, Rade Pregarc, Ferdo Delak and Bojan Stupica – active in the former Yugoslav space in the first half of the 20th century and partly in the first decades after World War II – have earned the affectionate label as "the famous trefoil of Slovenian avant-garde directors”. Along with theatre nomadism, they share a leftist orientation and versatility – they were also actors, stage designers (particularly Stupica and, to some extent, Pregarc), theatre managers, theatre educators; in addition, Delak and Pregarc were writers, translators and editors. Because of a restless spirit and the conviction that the only true art is that "for which you burn” (Stupica), they often came into disputes with theatre management, thus moving from city to city and, consequently, left a significant trace in many Yugoslav theatres.

Aldo Milohnić holds a PhD degree in the sociology of culture and teaches the history of theatre at the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television, University of Ljubljana (AGRFT UL). He is the editor of the book series Politics and has edited a number of collections of essays as well as special issues of performing arts journals. He is the co-author of several books and the author of Teorije sodobnega gledališča in performansa [Theories of Contemporary Theatre and Performance]. During the last twenty years he has collaborated with many national and international research projects on the history and theory of performing arts, the sociology of culture and cultural politics.