This year's Budva Theater City Festival will see its 23rd edition, cementing it as one of the most important cultural events in Montenegro and the region. For years, the festival has gathered artists from around the world and region, often pushing the envelope on theater art.

Back in 1987, when the Festival was launched, Budva was far from the exclusive resort that it is today. Back then the city came up with something completely different to offer visitors in July and August. Even though the old city, with its theater program, and Poets' Square with its literary programme, are the centerpieces of the festival, festivities are staged throughout the city - from the courtyards of elementary schools, through galleries and museums, to local exotic beaches, and finally, abandoned factories.

It is this special quality that attracts artists from all over the world to the city each year. This year's festival programme will be divided into four segments - art, literature, music and stage. Even though the global economic crisis has threatened some of the latest theater co-productions, audiences will still be able to see some quality older shows, along with theater groups from Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Spain, and Germany.

This year's Budva Theater City will stage an intense 40-day-long program. Some of this summer's attractions will include guest appearances by writer Vladimir Pištalo, winner of the Belgrade NIN Novel of the Year Award, the most prestigious literary award in Serbia, and Spanish writer Rafael Argullol.

Another important part of the festival is called "Stories from Budva," which has to do with local legends and tales. Some older pieces, like Maja Pelević's "Jumper Girl", directed by Kokan Mladenović and co-produced with the Serbian National Theater in Novi Sad, along with "Don Krste," co-produced with the Yugoslav Drama Theater in Belgrade and written and directed by Vida Ognjenović, will be staged. Actor Vojin ?etković was awarded the Ljuba Tadić Award, named after one of Serbia's and ex-Yugoslavia's biggest stage and movie actors, for his role in this play.

This year's festival will also host Meša Selimović's "Death and the
Dervish," directed by Egon Savin, Maja Pelević's "Orange Peel," directed by Goran Marković  and Djordje Milosavljević's "Instant Sexual Education," directed by Nikola Vuk?ević, from the  Podgorica City Theater. “Death and the Dervish” is one of the most important books written in Bosnia and former Yugoslavia in the last century.

The Budva festival is also renowned for its spectacular street shows. Last year, an Argentine-Spanish troupe performed "K@osmos." This year, a theater group “Titanick” from Münster, Germany will perform "Odyssey," while the Australian group “Strange Fruit” from Melbourne will perform "Absolute Pearl". As for the festival's art program, four exhibitions will be organised. The works of painter and sculptor Dimitrije Popović, 58, will feature in the central exhibition.

The star of last year's festival was Slovenian director Tomaz Pandur, who opened the event with "Caligula." The celebrated director had cooperated with the festival before, co-producing shows imbuing viewers with different perspectives on the art of theater and historical figures like Caligula and Nikola Tesla. Last year also saw a return of one of ex-Yugoslavia's foremost theater directors, Ljubiša Ristić, with "Gossip." The BudvaCity Theater takes place from July 10 until August 20.