{{Short description|Theatre in Belgrade, Serbia}} {{Infobox venue | name = Atelje 212 | nickname = | native_name = Атеље 212 | native_name_lang = srp | fullname = | former_names = | logo_image = File:Atelje 212 logo.png | logo_caption = Official logo | image = atelje212.jpg | image_size = 250px | image_alt = | caption = Atelje 212 entrance, with Zoran Radmilović's statue in front | pushpin_map = | pushpin_mapsize = | pushpin_map_caption = | pushpin_label_position = | address = Svetogorska 21 | location = Belgrade, Serbia | coordinates = {{coord|44|48|51|N|20|28|05|E|type:landmark_region:SR|display=inline, title}} | type = Theatre | event = | broke_ground = | built = 1956 | opened = {{start date and age|1956|11|12|df=yes}} | renovated = 1992 | expanded = | closed = | demolished = | owner = City of Belgrade | operator = | surface = | scoreboard = | production = | cost = | architect = | builder = | project_manager = | structural_engineer = | services_engineer = | general_contractor = | main_contractors = | seating_type = | capacity = 386 {{small|(Main scene)}}<br>141 {{small|("Theatre in basement" scene)}} | suites = | record_attendance = | dimensions = | field_shape = | acreage = | volume = | tenants = | embedded = | website = {{url|http://www.atelje212.rs}} | public_transit = }} '''Atelje 212''' ({{lang-sr-Cyrl|Атеље 212}}) is a theatre located in Belgrade, Serbia.
Established in 1956 on the premises of the ''Borba'' building in front of 212 chairs, its opening play was the staging of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's ''Faust'' directed by Mira Trailović.
==History== Although the theater's official inauguration took place on 12 November 1956,<ref name="atelje212story">{{cite news |title=Atelje 212 – prekretnica u pozorišnom životu istočne Evrope |url=https://kultivisise.rs/atelje-212/ |accessdate=24 March 2019 |date=17 May 2018 |language=Serbian}}</ref> various plays had already been staged throughout 1956 by the same group of individuals. The most notable such staging was the summer 1956 semi-clandestine performance of Samuel Beckett's ''Waiting for Godot''—a play that had been banned in all Communist countries—in front of some forty people on a ramshackle makeshift stage in painter Mića Popović's private atelier.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxAyhhq5PKI Crveno i crno]</ref> The concealed performance came on the heels of a ''Godot'' staging in the Belgrade Drama Theatre (BDP)—that had been prepared by theater director Vasilije Popović with Ljuba Tadić, Rade Marković, Bata Paskaljević, Mića Tomić, and {{ill|Tatjana Lukjanova|sr}} among the cast—getting banned one year earlier. After the makeshift performance, later that year, the troupe grew into a theater that got its home in the ''Borba'' building. On 17 December 1956, at the theater's new location, ''Godot'' had a proper premiere, marking the very first performance of the controversial play to be open to the general public in post-World War II Eastern Europe.
Right from its inception, Atelje 212 became known for its avant-garde repertoire, staging playwrights such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Eugène Ionesco, Alfred Jarry, Murray Schisgal, Arthur Kopit, Jean Genet, etc.<ref name="atelje212story" />
Atelje 212's first theater managers were {{ill|Radoš Novaković|sr}} and Bojan Stupica. Initially, Mira Trailović performed the assistant manager duties before assuming the manager role herself.<ref name="atelje212story" /> After a few years as tenant in the ''Borba'' building, the theater moved to its new home—a building designed by Bojan Stupica on Lole Ribara Street. Over the years, the building went through several major renovations, including the addition of a retractable roof that gets opened in the summer months.
In addition to the box office revenue, Atelje 212 is financed through the City of Belgrade subsidies which, as of 2011, amount to ~€1 million.<ref name="belgrade-theaters-2011">{{cite news |last1=Ćirić |first1=Sonja |title=Pare i muzika |url=https://www.vreme.com/cms/view.php?id=979072 |accessdate=24 March 2019 |work=vreme.com |date=3 March 2011 |language=Serbian}}</ref> In 2016, the theater celebrated its 60th anniversary.<ref name="60anniversary">{{cite news |last1=Strugar |first1=Vukica |title=Branimir Brstina: Atelje 212 neprskana je jabuka |url=http://www.novosti.rs/vesti/kultura.71.html%3A634747-Branimir-Brstina-Atelje-212-neprskana-je-jabuka |accessdate=24 March 2019 |work=novosti.rs |date=13 November 2016 |language=Serbian}}</ref>
Atelje 212 is among the most visited theaters and most expensive in Belgrade.<ref name="theaters-serbia">{{cite web |title=POZORIŠNA PUBLIKA U SRBIJI |url=http://zaprokul.org.rs/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/pozorisna_publika.pdf |website=zaprokul.org.rs |publisher=ZAVOD ZA PROUČAVANJE KULTURNOG RAZVITKA |accessdate=24 March 2019 |language=Serbian |format=PDF |date=2010}}</ref> As of 2018, it has 34 permanent actors and actresses, and like in the past, actors from other Belgrade's theaters come to play.<ref name="atelje212story" />
==See also== * List of theatres in Serbia
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Atelje 212}} * {{official website|http://www.atelje212.rs}} * [http://www.beograd.rs/lat/gradska-vlast/2261-pozoriste-atelje-212/ Atelje 212] at beograd.rs
{{List of culture institutions in Belgrade}} {{Authority control}}
Category:1956 establishments in Yugoslavia Category:Theatres in Belgrade Category:Culture in Belgrade Category:Stari Grad, Belgrade