Children's Theatre Subotica puppet exhibition

Opening: 23rd September 2025 at 11.30 AM

Children's Theatre Subotica

Children's Theatre Subotica: A BIOGRAPHY

The Children's Theatre in Subotica was founded 90 years ago.

The first performance intended for children was staged on December 6, 1934, at the Sokolski Dom (today's Jadran venue), and throughout the years, it has remained a cultural institution involved in the education of all municipality children.

The founder of the theatre was Mr. Oton Tomanić - an engineer by profession, but also a true admirer of the art of puppetry. He himself wrote around 60 puppet plays, designed the puppets and the sets while the performances were played by local schoolchildren. The first professional actors were hired only after the World War II.

Today, the Children's Theatre performs equally in Serbian, Hungarian and Croatian - the native languages of Subotica inhabitants. The theatre is funded by the city of Subotica. It has a total of 25 employees and stages 6 or more new plays each year, written by domestic or international artists. The theatre's repertoire consists of more than 50 different plays for children of all ages.

The theatre’s most cherished project is The Diaper Theatre - an art project for babies up to 36 months old which has been running for 14 years in Serbian and Hungarian. A new play is staged each year with the important task of nurturing the need for artistic content among the city’s youngest citizens. The Children's Theatre collaborates with all theatres for children in the country - as well as with theatres of the region.

Over the past 9 decades, the theatre has received hundreds of awards and recognitions at domestic and international children's theatre festivals for the quality of its plays, acting work and achievements in theatre arts. The theatre is open to all types of collaboration concerning children and/or for children. It has been organising drama workshops for children aged 7 to 14 for years, led by young professional actors from the Children's Theatre.

The theatre has nurtured a tendency to introduce innovations and contemporary theatre trends. Plays are usually staged at the institution's headquarters, but are also performed out of the venue. The theatre acts primarily in the area of Subotica, AP Vojvodina, but also has an excellent cooperation with the Cultural Center in Gračanica, where they travel each year to stage plays and conduct puppet workshops for children from Gračanica and other places in the Kosovo Pomoravlje region. The theatre is mindful of the multinational character of its environment and also organizes performances from the Republic of Croatia, the Republic of Hungary and the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina - where they have the opportunity to present their creativity.

With the aid of the government, theatre has received funding to purchase equipment for launching their own video production for children. As part of Tv DePo, an internet television station created exclusively by children, the theatre produces various content with the professional assistance of employed actors. To date, approximately 60 programs have been produced, available for viewing on the Subotica Children's Theatre YouTube channel. The independent video production of the Children's Theatre was also supported by the Provincial Secretariat for Culture, Public Information and Relations with Religious Communities of Vojvodina.

The importance of the institution of the Children's Theatre can easily be defined as exceptional - not only for the city of Subotica, but also on a regional level - as a venue in which generations of children developed into individuals in a dignified manner. Culture is a sign of an individual's personality, a mirror of the social environment and the identity of the community in general. The cultural institution of Children's Theatre has been carrying out its mission for 90 years, with dignity.

The most important award for the theatre is the Karađorđe Star of the Third Degree for outstanding contribution to culture which was awarded by decree of the President of the Republic of Serbia on Vidovdan 2022.