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About the Company A
The Belgrade Drama Company A was the first alternative troupe in Serbia, founded in 1961 in Belgrade. It is popularly known as the Company A, and sometimes as The Theatre of Rade Marković. It was organised on the principles of equality and mutual agreement between its members, which means there were neither organisational bodies nor managers, only two members who were authorised for signing documents. Everybody had the right to propose a project, and the member who suggested a programme would be in charge of it. The founding members were Rade Marković, actor; Olivera Marković, actress; Mića Tomić, actor; Voja Mirić, actor, and Brana Anđelić, stage manager. The Cultural Educational Association was in charge of its administrative-financial operations, and the funding was provided through it. However, due to a lack of funds and the fact that the members lost their enthusiasm to continue, the Company A ceased its operations in 1964. They used to prepare their shows in the Hall of Heroes within the Faculty of Philology. “The Front Cover Girl” by Puriša Đorđević, directed collectively, was their first production. The cast consisted of: Olivera Marković, Voja Mirić and Rade Marković, and it premiered on 26th March 1961. They took this play to the second Festival of Small and Experimental Theatres (1961) and won the award of the jury of experts, while Olivera Marković got the Best Actress Award. The play was performed about a hundred times mostly in alternative venues. The premiere of the “Dangerous Waters” by Slobodan Stojanović in February 1962 marked the finalisation of the second production of this group. It was directed collectively and the cast consisted of: Rade Marković, Olivera Marković, Voja Mirić, Mića Tomić, Pavle Minčić and Mića Uzelac. The play was prepared for about three months in the Academic Theatre of the University of Belgrade, while it premiered in the Hall of Heroes of the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade. It was performed about fifty times, including the one within the Festival of Small and Alternative Theatres, where it won the award of the jury of experts, while Rade Marković was given the Best Actor Award. Their third production, the collectively directed play “Premiere” by Miodrag Đurđević, premiered in February 1963 in the Zagreb Students’ Centre. The cast consisting of Rade Marković, Olivera Marković, Mića Tomić, Voja Mirić, Mića Uzelac and Brana Anđelić played it about twenty times. The last attempted project of this troupe was the production of a play based on a text “Lynch” by Slobodan Stojanović, but it never saw its premiere, as the group broke up. The troupe had a performance in the Old Square Mine (underground), as well as in the cultural centres and labourers’ universities in: Sombor, Subotica, Zrenjanin, Novi Sad, Pančevo, Zaječar, Negotin, Priština, Kosovska Mitrovica, Kraljevo, Čačak, Titovo Užice, Nova Varoš, Prijepolje, Pljevlja, Čajnič, Žabljak, Ivangrad, Titograd, Cetinje, Nikšić, Brčko, Sarajevo, Zenica, Slavonski Brod, Zagreb, Županja, Knin and other towns all over the country.