Atelje 212

Атеље 212
Atelje 212
	Atelje 212, with Zoran Radmilović's statue in front
Address	Svetogorska 21; Belgrade; Serbia
Owner	City of Belgrade
Capacity	386 seats in the Main scene, and 141 in the ``Theatre in basement`` scene
Bauwesen
Opened	12. November 1956.
Rebuilt	1992
Years active	1956 -
Website
	http://www.atelje212.rs/

Atelje 212 (Serbian Cyrillic: Атеље 212) is a theatre in Belgrade, Serbia. It was officially founded on 12 November 1956 in the premises of the Borba building, in front of 212 chairs. The opening play was Faust, directed by Mira Trailović.

Although its official inauguration took place in November 1956, various plays were already staged by the same group of individuals who eventually founded Atelje 212. In mid-1956, this group performed Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, a play that had been banned in all Communist countries. The performance occurred in semi-clandestine circumstances in front of some 40 audience members on a ramshackle makeshift stage in painter Mića Popović's personal atelier.^[1] This came on the heels of the fiasco, regarding the ban of Godot in Beogradsko dramsko pozorište one year earlier, a staging that was being prepared by theater director Vasilije Popović with Ljuba Tadić, Rade Marković, Bata Paskaljević, Mića Tomić, and Tatjana Lukjanova among the cast. After this makeshift performance the troupe grew into a real theater that got its home in Borba building later that year. On 17 December 1956, Godot had a proper premiere at the new location, which was its first performance that was open to the public in post-World War II Eastern Europe.

Right from its start, Atelje 212 became well known for its avant-garde repertoire.

The first directors of the theatre were Radoš Novaković and Bojan Stupica, but Mira Trailović soon became director, moving up from the position of assistant director.

After a few years, the theatre moved to its current building, designed by Bojan Stupica. The building has a retractable roof, which is opened in summer.