page_title: Theatres in Pristina
section_title: History of the theatre
hierarchical_section_title: Theatres in Pristina / National Theatre of Kosova / History of the theatre
caption_attribution_description: English: National Theatre of Kosova. A view of National Theatre of Kosova in Pristina.
context_page_description: Pristina has only 3 active theatres National Theatre of Kosova, ODA Theatre and DODONA Theatre. They give live performances every week. There are 21 well-known Kosovan actors employed. They are located in the heart of Pristina. National Theatre is placed in the middle downtown of the city, near the main government building. ODA Theatre is placed in the Youth Centre Building, and Dodona Theatre is placed in Vellusha district, which is near Ibrahim Rugova Square.
context_section_description: National Theater of Kosovo was founded in October, 1946 in Prizren. This was the first professional theatre in Kosovo after World War II. It was firstly named "The Regional Populist Theater" then the "Provincial Populist Theater" until 1999 when it was finally changed to "The National Theater of Kosovo". After a few months after the establishment, the theater was moved to Pristina, the capital city of Kosovo. The first performances of the theatre were mostly created by amateur artists and talented and enthusiastic idealists which were aided from professional artists from other theaters of ex-Yugoslavia. Until 1989 there were over 400 premiers with over 10,000 replays showed in the theatre which were followed by over 3.2 million spectators. The repertoire of this theater was built on texts of many national, global and former Yugoslavian dramatics. These theatre performances, which were presented in different festivals with national and international character in the former Yugoslavia, were praised highly by critics of the time and were honored with various artistic awards. 
  In 1967, the play "Erveheja" of director Muharrem Qena was honored with the Award for the Best Drama in the Yugoslavian Drama Festival "Sterijino Pozorje". In addition to performances in the Albanian language, there were also performances in the Serbian language, especially after 1981 when the theater was operating under heavy politic pressure from the Yugoslavian communist regime. 
  In 1990, the rigorous regime of Slobodan Milosevic placed the theatre under a violent administration by expelling the Albanian artists from the theater and putting it under totalitarian control. During this period, in a parallel university education system created against the totalitarian regime, many school-homes were created from the artistic ensemble, which were already part of this professional ensemble theatre. 
  After the war in 1999, there have been numerous national and international plays in the theatre. The theatre is of a national character, as such, it is funded by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports of the Republic of Kosovo.
caption: National Theatre of Kosovo
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