This book assembles texts by renowned academics and theatre artists who were professionally active during the wars in former Yugoslavia. It examines examples of how various forms of theatre and performance reacted to the conflicts in Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, and Kosovo while they were ongoing. It explores state-funded National Theatre activities between escapism and denial, the theatre aesthetics of protest and resistance, and symptomatic shifts and transformations in the production of theatre under wartime circumstances, both in theory and in practice. In addition, it looks beyond the period of conflict itself, examining the aftermath of war in contemporary theatre and performance, such as by considering Ivan Vidis war trauma plays, the art campaigns of the international feminist organization Women in Black, and Peter Handkes playVoyage by Dugout. The introduction explores correlations between the contributions and initiates a reflection on the further development of the research field. Overall, the volume provides new perspectives and previously unpublished research in the fields of theory and historiography of theatre, as well as Southeast European Studies.

Jana Doleki is a PhD candidate at the Department for Theatre, Film and Media Studies at the University of Vienna, Austria. Her current research focuses on wartime theatre in Croatia and Serbia.Senad Halilba¨i is a University Assistant and PhD candidate at the Department for Theatre, Film and Media Studies at the University of Vienna, Austria. His research focuses on theatre during the Bosnian war. Previous publications include the co-edited volumeBibliothek Sarajevo: Literarische Vermessung einer Stadt (2012).Stefan Hulfeld is Professor of Theatre and Cultural Studies at the University of Vienna, Austria. His current research agendas focus on theatre historiography and theory. Publications include the chapters 'Modernist Theatre' inThe Cambridge Companion to Theatre History (2013) and 'Antitheatrical thinking and the rise of "theatre"' inA Cultural History of Theatre in the Early Modern Age (2017).

1. Introduction.- 2. Testimony: Borka PAVIEVI.- 3. Irena ¦ENTEVSKA: Stages of Denial: State-funded Theatres in Serbia and the Yugoslav Wars.- 4. Senad HALILBA¦I: Bosnia and Herzegovina's National Theatres in the Context of Language Politics During the War.- 5. Testimony: Amela KRESO.- 6. Jeton NEZIRAJ: Theatre as Resistance. The Dodona Theatre in Kosovo.- 7. Ksenija RADULOVI: War Discourse on Institutional Stages: Serbian Theatre 1991-1995.- 8. Jana DOLEKI: Theatre on the Front Lines: Ad Hoc Cabaret in Croatia, 19911992.- 9. Lada ALE FELDMAN: Within and Beyond Theatre: President Tuman's Birthday Celebration at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb .- 10. Testimony: Snje¸ana BANOVI.- 11. Milena DRAGIEVI ¦E¦I: Culture of Dissent, Art of Rebellion: The Psychiatric Hospital as a Theatre Stage in the Work of Zorica Jevremovi.- 12. Ana DEVI: Theatre of Diversity and Avant-Garde in Late Socialist Yugoslavia and Beyond: Paradoxes of the Disintegration and Cultural Subversion.- 13. Testimony: Borut ¦EPAROVI.- 14. Barbara OREL: The Theatre Exchange between Slovenia and the Republics of Former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.- 15. Branislav JAKOVLJEVI: Peter Handkes River Journeys: Fording the Stream of Conscience.- 16. Testimony: Nihad KRE¦EVLJAKOVI.- 17. Darko LUKI: Strategies for Challenging Official Mythologies in War Trauma Plays: The Croatian Playwright Ivan Vidi.- 18. Aleksandra JOVIEVI: Postmodern Antigones: Women in Black and the Performance of Involuntary Memory.- 19. Testimony: Dino MUSTAFI.