The miracle in Šargan

LЈUBOMIR SIMOVIĆ
A poet, playwright, essayist and member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Ljubomir Simović, was born in Užice on 2^nd December 1935. He finished elementary and secondary school in his hometown and then he moved to Belgrade and enrolled into the Faculty of Philology, where he graduated from the Department of Yugoslav Literature and Serbo-Croatian Language in 1962. As a student, he worked as an editor and editor in chief of the Vidici Magazine, a student literary magazine. He worked as an editor in the Radio Belgrade Programme of Culture. Simović wrote several poetry books, four plays, one novel – a chronicle, a book of essays on poets and playwrights, a book of essays on painters and sculptors, a dream diary, a diary kept during the aerial bombardment of Serbia in 1999, an account of his travel to China and four books of interviews, articles, essays, speeches and, practically, analyses and comments on everything that happened in the territory of Yugoslavia and Serbia at the end of the twentieth and beginning of the twenty-first century. All of his books present and, in a way even infuse, political, social, literary, theatrical and poetic themes. Simović became a correspondent member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts on 15 December 1988; since 27 October 1994, he has become a regular member. He is a member of the Managing Board of the Serbian PEN Centre (since 1998). Plays written by Simović: The Wife of Hassan-Aga, The Miracle in Šargan, The Šopalović Travelling Troupe and The Battle of Kosovo. Publications abroad: The Šopalović Travelling Troupe, published in renowned theatre magazines in Poland (The Dialogue), Romania (The Lumina) and Russia (The Theatre); two publications in French (1989, 1995) and a Korean issue (2001). The Miracle in Šargan was published in French language (2001). His most successful play abroad is The Šopalović Travelling Troupe; the play has been published in numerous languages: French, English, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Russian, Romanian, Breton, Korean, Slovenian, Macedonian, Spanish, Bulgarian and Ukrainian; the play has been staged in more than fifty theatres in France, also in Belgium, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Canada, Slovenia, Macedonia, South Korea and in the French Theatre in Casablanca, Morocco. In addition, The Miracle in Šargan has been performed in French since January 2003. Ljubomir Simović received numerous literary awards and recognitions. He also won numerous theatre awards, such as the Sterija Awards for Best Dramatic Text: The Wife of Hassan-Aga (1975), The Šopalović Travelling Troupe (1986) and The Miracle in Šargan (1993); and the Sterija Awards for Best Play: The Šopalović Travelling Troupe (Yugoslav Drama Theatre, directed by Dejan Mijač, 1986), The Miracle in Šargan (Serbian National Theatre, directed by Egon Savin, 1993), The Miracle in Šargan (Atelier 212 Theatre, directed by Dejan Mijač, 2002).

THE MIRACLE IN ŠARGAN ON NATIONAL AND FOREIGN STAGES
First performance: Big Stage of the Atelier 212 Theatre, Belgrade, 24 October 1975 (besides national tours, the production toured abroad and was performed in festivals in Munich, Persepolis in Iran, Mexico City, Caracas, in the Theatre of Nations Festival in Paris and the Theatre of Nations Festival in Sofia)
Kruševac Theatre, director Primož Bebler, 1976
Timočka Krajina Theatre, Zaječar, director Dušan Rodić, 1976
National Theatre Niš, director Ljuba Milošević, 1976
Slovene National Theatre, Maribor, translated by France Forstnerič; director Boja Soldatović, 1976
National Theatre “Sterija”, Vršac, director Dušan Rodić, 1977
Theatre “Joakim Vujić”, Kragujevac, director Petar Govedarović, 1977
National Theatre “Toša Jovanović”, Zrenjanin, director Dušan Rodić, 1979
National Theatre, Sombor, director Radoslav Zlatan Dorić, 1984
National Theatre “Ljubiša Jovanović”, Šabac, director Ljuba Milošević, 1988
National Theatre, Titovo Užice, director Boško Dimitrijević, 1989
National Theatre, Tuzla, director Slavenko Saletović, 1990
Serbian National Theatre, Novi Sad, director Egon Savin, 1992 (Best Performance Award in the Sterijino Pozorje Festival in 1993)
National Theatre, Paraćin, director Dušan Jovanović, 1997
National Theatre, Priština, the Serbian Drama, 29 December 1997
Theatre Prijedor, director Miodrag Maga Milanović, 1999
National Theatre of Republika Srpska, Banjaluka, director Dušan Petrović, 2001
Atelier 212, director Dejan Mijač, 2002 (Best Performance Award in the Sterijino Pozorje Festival in 2002)
Compagnie Moitie Raison-Moitie Folie / Theatre de Cavaillon, director Nathalie Chemelny, 2003 (Miracle au Chargan, translated by Jozo Uvodić and Claire Seleskovitch)
Les Baladins de Marly de Fourqueux, director Anne-Sophie Nedelec, 2003

EGON SAVIN
Egon Savin is a Professor of Stage Directing at the Faculty of Drama Arts in Belgrade. He staged numerous pieces in all the most significant theatres in former Yugoslavia and his productions toured Nancy, Paris, Warsaw, Tel Aviv, Vienna, New York, Chicago. He has been presented with numerous stage directing awards. Savin has had much success in all production models staged in the country, starting from productions that rounded up a group of young actors (co-conspirators) in 1970s, to productions in theatres of national importance such as the National Theatre in Belgrade, Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad, Montenegrin National Theatre in Podgorica, Macedonian National Theatre, Slovene National Theatre, Yugoslav Drama Theatre, Atelier 212 Theatre, Belgrade Drama Theatre, etc. He effectively directs plays by national and international classics, in which he uncovers tangible clues, thus revealing the essential power of theatre in our time and connecting the plays and their authors to our territory and time. Egon Savin has directed the following plays in the National Theatre: a comedy Cyrano de Bergerac by Rostand (premiere, 22 March 1991); Kir Janja (premiere, 25 December 1992) and The Upstart by Sterija (premiere, 18 January 1998); drama Demon by Isaac Bashevis Singer (premiere 15 March 2000); States of Shock by Sam Shepard (premiere, 26 October 2001) and Death and the Dervish after the novel by Meša Selimović (premiere, 27 December 2008), The Deceased by Nušić (premiere, 26 December 2009), The Misanthrope by Molière (premiere 19 May 2012).