Bitef

EVENING DEDICATED TO MIRA TRAILOVIC September 18th, 2006,18:00, BITEF Theatre Participants: Jovan Cirilov, Olga Jevrić, Olga Milićević Nikolić, Nikita Milivojević, Vida Ognjenović, Ksenija Radulović, Feliks Pašić, Ružica Sokić PROMOTION OF THE BOOK LADY FROM THE WIDE WORLD Contributions to the biography of Mira Trailovic Author; Feliks Pašić

Milan Žmukić, Mira Trailovic, Jovan Qrilov (1967 - 1989)

Publisher: Museum of Theatre Arts of Serbia Belgrade, 2006 The first book about Mira Trailović, a director and, for many years, general manager of Atelje 212 and Bitef Theatre, one of the most notable personalities from our post-war culture, is based on the accounts given by dozens of people, the legacy of Mira Trailovic kept in the Museum of Theatre Arts of Serbia, and other archived documents. This lavishly furnished and - in the very spirit of Mira Trailovic - unusually designed edition (design: Ana Cvejić, New Moment) is the result of several years of research, in fact the collaboration between the author Feliks Pašić and the publisher, the Museum of Theatre Arts of Serbia. "A fighter like Don Quixote, a tigress with velvety claws, a theatre lioness, a diplomat, a businesswoman, decisive, an entrepreneur, witty, skillful, a perfectionist, big mamma, world lady, lady with a mask, the most businesslike woman

of Yugoslav theatre, a phenomenon. A French critic called her'bulldozer in a mink coat'.The metaphor could be taken both as a reproach and as praise. At any rate, she took it as a big compliment. Her close friend will notice that the nickname 'bulldozer in a mink coat' conveys a deep truth: her inclination toward the luxury of the bourgeois world, on one hand, and, on the other hand, enormous energy that makes her equal with a bulldozerfrom the Balkan fields. In the reminiscences of Ljubomir Simovic she is eruptive as a volcano. What he first saw as an expression of her chaotic nature, Dejan Mijač will, when he gets to know her better, compare to volcanic magma from which first the clouds slowly develop, and then, naturally, the crystals. Borislav MihajlovićMihiz, in his own spirit, gives this concise description;'She has an authentic charm of a world lady, working capacity of a porter, communication frequency of a night radio station, knowledge of an encyclopedia and natural persistence of a compressor. She speaks all major European languages, even those she doesn't know. She has a sense for risk of a gambler, very discreetly altered by the caution of a housewife.'" "... Mihiz remembers that she once told him that he should go to Novi Sad. She did that in such a commanding way that he didn't even try to resist. Only when he arrived in Novi Sad, he realized that he didn't know why he went there. He called her on the phone: 'Mira, what am I supposed to do here?' Her demands were usually maximal. At ten o'clock she orders office furniture to be bought, and at ten after ten she asks Lila, her secretary, what happened with the furniture. A playwright stopped by Atelje 212 to say hello, and half an hour later he left with a contract." "... When asked what he saw in Belgrade, where he was in 1971 as a guest of Atelje 212, Eugene lonesco answered;'! saw Mira Trailović isn't that enough?"' Excerpts from the book Lady From the Wide World, Feliks Pašić, 2006 "If she were alive, Mira Trailovic would be incomparably better negotiator with the international community than many of those who formally negotiate in the name of our country today..." Ksenija Radulović, director of the Museum of Theatre Arts of Serbia, at a book reading in March 2006