SAT Booklet - English

SerBiAn CulTurAl CenTer Of SeATTle

The Serbian Cultural Center of Seatte is a nonprofit 501(3)(c) organization founded in September 2024.

The Serbian Cultural Center of Seattle’s mission is to become a platform that enhances opportunities for a variety of cultural and educational programs that aim to connect Serbian Americans living in Washington state and beyond. One of our first projects is the play The Pocket Watch produced by its subsidiary, the Serbian Theater of Seattle Srce Our vision is to lay groundwork for a sustainable and dynamic legacy that celebrates Serbian heritage, inspires future generations of Serbian Americans, and builds a lasting impact which continually enriches the cultural ethnic diversity of the greater Seattle area.

We see ourselves as the descendants of the many generations of Serbian American families that have for the past 150 years celebrated and upheld Serbian cultural heritage within the greater Seattle area. By continuing their work, we aim to inspire future generations and ensure a lasting cultural legacy that enriches Seattle’s diverse ethnic society.

The Serbian Cultural Center of Seattle and its subset Theater “Srce” acknowledge that we live, work, and create on the traditional unceded indigenous land of the Coastal Salish Peoples, particularly the stillunrecognized Duwamish Tribe. They have been and still are this land’s original stewards and storytellers.

The Co-Founders’ Message

rada VojnoVic, PrODuCer AnD finAnCeS leAD

As President of the Serbian Cultural Center of Seattle and one of the producers of this play, it is my honor to welcome you to The Pocket Watch, the inaugural production of Theatre Srce, a proud subsidiary of our Center. This play carries the mission of our Center by honoring and preserving the rich cultural heritage, language, and history of the Serbian people. Set against the backdrop of World War i, The Pocket Watch tells a moving story of love, resistance, and the enduring scars of war. Through this production, we remember the sacrifices made, celebrate the strength of those who endured, and ensure that our shared legacy lives on. i hope that this play allows you to feel the raw emotions of love, loss, and resilience, leaving you with a deeper understanding of how the past shapes our present and why it is crucial to carry these stories forward.

Bjanka Marceta, PrODuCer AnD MArkeTing leAD

if someone had told me back in november 2023, when we began working on the script for The Pocket Watch, that this journey would last over a year and a half and grow into a project that would bring together our entire community—whole families—i probably would have just smiled in disbelief. The idea of founding an amateur theater had long been just a beautiful notion, a distant goal that felt nearly impossible to realize.

And then The Pocket Watch—a graphic novel by Dragan lazarević—found its way to us. Written in 2018 on the anniversary of the breakthrough on the Salonika front, it was Dragan’s way of honoring his great-grandfather radomir. He poured the story onto the page in a single evening, driven by memory and deep emotion.

Just as Dragan is not a professional writer, we had never professionally worked in theater. And yet, this story found us. in a mysterious way, it seemed as though it was seeking us out—asking to be told, and to be passed down to our children.

Seven years after this graphic novel first saw the light of day, and exactly 36 months after our first meeting, auditions, countless rehearsals, and tackling every production challenge imaginable—we are finally here, on opening night. We believe that you, too, will find yourself in this story—deeply Serbian, yet profoundly human and universal. And we hope you’ll feel the same strength and energy that carried us through this entire journey.

The Pocket Watch is more than a play. it is a bridge—between past and present, between Belgrade and Seattle, and between all of us who took part in its creation. it is a reminder that some stories, regardless of time or place, simply must be told and passed on. Thank you for being part of it.

Mira MartinoVic, PlAyWrigHT AnD DireCTOr

My entire experience working on The Pocket Watch has been nothing short of transformational. As i write this letter, i marvel at a couple of things.

The first is what an incredible joy it is to create something beautiful in an intergenerational community! Our production is much more layered because we leave a piece of ourselves in it. i shout into the four winds about the delight we experienced working together, the beauty we created, and the connections we deepened along the way.

The second thing i still marvel at is watching people i’d known for decades transform into identities on the stage that not even they themselves would ever have imagined. each of us learned something unexpected about ourselves and each other. in the words of the great Bard, that is how we became “we few, we happy few, we band of brothers.”

This past year has flown by! But what wonder we’ve lived through together. it is inspiring how each of us insisted on making our play exceptional from the very first moment. Thank you, actors, organizers, fans! As i proclaimed in a thousand emails throughout the last year—our Pocket Watch would never have been such a success had it not been for each one of us.

i am beyond thrilled to invite all our friends who came to watch us into our magical world! Welcome!

Silvija Јakovljevic, PrODuCTiOn AnD STAge CreW leAD

Welcome, dear friends —

To those before the curtain, upon the stage, and in the quiet shadows behind it — thank you for the gift of your presence, and for placing your trust in us by being here this evening. Homo ludens — play is a fundamental and essential element of human culture. And truly, the four of us have been playing for years — from children’s performances at our “Sveti Sava” school, we’ve “played” our way to the Serbian Cultural Center and this amateur theater. When the idea for this play first began to take shape, my heartfelt hope was that it might open a space for our grown children and former students — a place where they could continue to take part in the life of our community, to keep learning our language, and to celebrate our culture. it brings me immense joy to see these young, capable individuals among us tonight. i sincerely hope their numbers continue to grow with each new project.

“To stand still is to fall behind — if we do not grow better, we surely grow worse.” The creative paths of every actor, organizer, and supporter who contributed to this labor of love have been unique, but the effort we invested has made all of us better as individuals — and has helped us grow stronger as a community. it is my hope that this evening marks the beginning of a tradition we may carry forward together in the years to come. Cheers!

Jovica Spasic (narrator)

1914-1919

nikola Cvijancevic (radomir lazarevic)

lana Parezanin (Julka lazarevic)

CAST

Adrijan Hajdarpasic (young Dragan lazarevic)

rada Vojnovic (townswoman 1)

Sasa Juric (student’s father)

roberta roso (townswoman 2)

Deni Hajdarpasic (adult Dragan lazarevic, ensemble)

exTrAS AnD BACkSTAge CreW

exTraS

Andjela Vojnovic, filip Vojnovic, Zivko Vojnovic, lena Marceta, Mihailo Jakovljevic not in the picture: Dragana Bojanic

SCene

Bozurka Pejcic-Morrison, Srdjan Jovcic,Tanja Milovanovic, Sava Milovanovic, Mihailo Jakovljevic, ivana katancevic, goran Martinovic, Silvija Jakovljevic, Sasa Juric not in the picture: Pedja Bojic

markeTing

Mira Martinovic, Bjanka Milica Jakovljevic not in the picture: Milena Milica golic

SounD anD lighT

Milos Vukic, Danko Panic, Jakovljevic not in the picture: Milan

Bjanka Marceta, Dalibor Marceta, Milena Dedijer, gordan radojcic, Panic, Dejan Subotic, Silvija Milan Stefanovic

CoSTumeS anD makeuP

Milica Jakovljevic, Sofija rudic, Mira rudic, not in the picture: Mila Panic, goran Martinovic, Mira Martinovic, katarina rudic, Silvija Jakovljevic

greeTerS/uSherS

Aleksa Jovcic, Sara Zekanovic, Mihailo Jakovljevic, elena Martinovic, not in the picture: Marko Marceta

The Pocket Watch

By Mira Martinovic

Partly based on the graphic novel The Pocket Watch by Dragan lazarevic

act 1

An Overture

Jula 1915.

fleeing and engagement

Drac

The french Boats

Tunisia

Happy Times

Open Market

The Tavern 1

intermission

act 2

Serbian Women

Jula 1916

The Tavern 2

Zelabia

The Pocket Watch

Jula and radomir

french nurses

Death

Salonika front

news

Handover

the Present day

narrator – Jovica Spasic

1914-1919

radomir lazarevic – nikola Cvijancevic

Julka lazarevic, Slobodanka’s older sister – lana Parezanin

Child Dragan lazarevic – Adrijan Hajdarpasic

Milutin – luka Marceta

Admiral guepratte – goran Martinovic

french Colonel, Serbian Soldier – Srdjan Jovcic

french nurse – Milica Dozic

french nurse – gordana Subotic

Serbian Soldier – nikola rudic

extras: Dragana Bojanic, lena Marceta, Andjela Vojnovic, filip Vojnovic, Zivko Vojnovic

1933

young Market Seller – Marija radojcic

Slobodanka, Julka’s younger sister – Svjetlana Vasic

Market Seller – ljilja Bojic

Market Seller – nada Jovcic

Townswoman – rada Vojnovic

Townswoman – roberta roso

Adult Dragan lazarevic – Deni Hajdarpasic

Student – Aleksa Milovanovic

Student’s father – Sasa Juric

Old Man – Aleksandar Dozic

newsboy – Petar Spasic

umberto the 1st king of italy – Pedja Bojic

Tavern Owner – Slobodan Bojanic

The german, fritz Schmit – Dejan Subotic

Content Warning: given the topic of the play Sat – the first World War, please be advised that this content may be disturbing to some audiences. The depictions contain potentially triggering images, such as the use of prop guns, suffering, and death.

We invite you to take the pictures of the set before and after the show.

Photography, video and sound recording, and use of cell phones is prohibited during the play.

The PockeT WaTch: PloT Summary

SPOiler AlerT: if you understand the Serbian language, we advise that you read this extensive summary only after you have seen the play. A non-spoiler plot summary is available in the Serbian language program.

the Basics

The play that you are about to see, The Pocket Watch, encompasses three time periods: the years around the first World War, the spring of 1933, and the present day. The link that connects them is a young couple from a village in Serbia, Jula and radomir lazarevic. They are real people as well as the great grandparents of the author Dragan lazarevic, whose graphic novel The Pocket Watch serves as a baseline for our play.

Before the Great War

The first World War came on the heels of the two Balkan Wars. in the first Balkan War, Serbia fought alongside Montenegro, greece, and Bulgaria to complete their struggles for freedom from the Ottoman empire, their centuries-long overlord. in the Second Balkan War, primarily Serbia, Montenegro and greece fought with Bulgaria over land claims. By the time the summer of 1914 came around, Serbia, as all the other Balkan countries, was exhausted. The great War would not wait, however, and their peasants were called to take up arms for the third time in a row. Jula and radomir lazarevic personify all those peasants—their joys in peace, the woes of war, and the resurrection of a shattered nation.

1914 to 1919

in our play, the years 1914 to 1919 frame the events of the great War. The scenes are set in Serbia, Albania, and Tunisia, and in them we meet Jula, radomir, their young son Dragan, and radomir’s best friend, Milutin.

These scenes reveal the deep yearning that radomir and Jula feel for one another. They are far apart, radomir in the war and Jula in their village, and yet, their mutual devotion makes us feel as if they were together. While radomir and Milutin trek the Albanian mountains to flee the german and Austrian armies, radomir relates the story about how he asked for Julka’s hand in marriage. He tells Milutin that he waited on the bank of the creek where she was to pass, plucking grass blades and worrying himself into believing that his love was not reciprocated. As he got up, ready to abandon his marriage proposal, he saw Jula standing on the other bank, looking at him “as if she knew what was hiding” in his soul. unable to collect himself, he mumbled about taking a little break from the fieldwork while his mother’s calls in search of him echoed across the valley. He describes to Milutin

how Jula just kept looking at him and smiling, and then she said a simple “i do,” making him feel “as if she attached wings’ to him. in Jula’s two monologue scenes, she speaks as if speaking to radomir. She tells him about the news from the village—who was killed and how the women and elderly help one another while armies pass through and leave them without livestock and grain. She mentions the old mill owner who would not accept payments. “What good’s money to me if none of my sons return.” in his words, we feel the peasants’ chilling intimacy with war and death. in her second scene, Jula tells us that Vidosav, her sister Slobodanka’s bridegroom, was killed.

Characters’ main quotes Jula: “But we did. We survived.” radomir: “All of life is on you, now, Jula.” milutin: “The Allies proclaimed us dead. Dead! Oh, just wait until they see dead Serbs sprint towards their Serbia! They’ll see us outrunning all their horses.”

the spring of 1933

The three scenes taking place in 1933 are set in a market and in a tavern of a Serbian town. in these scenes we meet Jula and radomir’s now adult son, Dragan, as he is coming to the market to bring crops and with it help his Aunt Slobodanka. Slobodanka remained alone and childless, finding her life meaningless. “A burden, only a burden is what i am.”

in the tavern scenes, we get to know an old man who was Slobodanka’s bridegroom’s officer and responsible for his death. He symbolizes survivor’s guilt and drinks his life away, lamenting his memories of all the young men he sent to their deaths.

The father and his student son, who just came from his studies in Vienna, discuss the great War. The student is enraged over the way in which his Austrian professors define Serbia as the cause of the great War. The father, recognizing his son’s passion, tries to make him see how peace is better than war, regardless of the circumstance. He intensely worries about his son, reflecting that worry onto us. And we, the audience, can imagine what awaits young men like this student in the decade that follows.

When a german seller of Bayer Aspirin, fritz Schmit, walks into the tavern, he reminds the old man of the horrors that he had witnessed when the Austrians and germans crossed into Serbia. The waiter pleads with the old man to be civil to the german, but the old man squeezes through his teeth a reply that he “didn’t take kids off of the scaffolds these villains put them on to be civil with him now.” The german does not pay attention to the old peasant, and his pride in the development of the german industry spills into a panegyric on Hitler.

Characters’ main quotes:

Slobodanka: “What do i care about another war. What do i have left to lose!”

young market Seller: “See! We took time, but we made it through! not even the empires could break us. We managed as best as we could, and now look, we’re building a new Serbia! A whole new world!”

Student: “nearly 40 political assassinations in europe between 1900 and 1914. kings, princes, prime ministers, high diplomats. nearly 40 murdered in Portugal, Spain, france, finland, greece… But then, because of this one prince, the small peasant Serbia with its peasant king is guilty for the great War. Well, i cannot, father, not even for you, i cannot accept such lies!”

Father: “What’s the point of glory that kills off our kids! To live, Son, we must live!” old man: “They put me, a peasant, a simple man, they put me as an officer. To command kids to slaughter. not even twenty years old like Vidosav. He only spoke of his Slobodanka. How beautiful she is, and when he returns, how he’ll build her a home and fill it with kids… And i sent him to slaughter! And how many more like him.”

today:

The narrator, Jula and radomir lazarevic’s great grandson shares with us historical photographs of the Serbian golgotha that the first Serbian war photojournalist, rista Marjanovic captured. We see endless lines of Serbs in the snow fleeing the german and Austrian armies across the Albanian mountains; women and children in traditional clothes pushing along oxen carts packed with what could be packed, also fleeing. The narrator connects these women with his great grandmother Jula as embodiments of those who found strength within themselves to survive and to bring up what was left of their families, their villages, and their country. The narrator adds that, since one in four Serbs perished in the great War, it is impossible that every one of us with Serbian origins does not share in the losses of the great War. in the end, he devotes the play to all those Serbs who would never be born.

The narrator’s quote: “This only happens to be a story of my great grandparents, but it could easily be your family story too. if you don’t believe me, ask, and you’ll see.”

The path that led us to today has taken a year and a half, from October 2023 to May 2025. look at the few milestones and interesting facts below.

milestones:

• October 21st, 2023 – the initiation of a discussion

• november 1st, 2023 – the first founder meeting in Third Place Books

• easter 2024 – the first formal announcement

• May 20th 2024 – the first information night

• May 22nd 2024 – the first reading/audition

• June 24th 2024 – the first rehearsal, Mercer island Community Center

• March 28th 2024 – the founding of the Serbian Cultural Center of Seattle and the Serbian Theatre of Seattle “Srce”

• September 3rd 2024 – became a non-profit 501(3)(c)

• february 10th 2025 – rehearsed for the first time in the theater where we are to perform, the rainier Arts Center

interesting Facts:

• 49 formally-organized rehearsals and 130 hours of rehearsing

• Around 3,000 email messages

• Around 5,000 text messages among the four founders

• Around 70 hours of founder meetings

• Over 30 scenario versions

• rehearsals held at the following places: Mercer island Community Center, luther Burbank Park Amphitheatre (where the Wooden O, Shakespeare in the Park, held its inaugural performance 30 years before us), Mercer island Apartments lounge room, kirkland Apartments lounge room, Bellevue’s friendly company headquarters, rainier Arts Center and numerous Seattle public libraries.

Friends of the Theater Srce

Danka and uros Batricevic

Dragana and Slobodan Bojanic

nikola Bojanic

ljiljana and Predrag Bojic

Zana and Srdjan Boskovic

nikola Cvijancevic

Milena and Miodrag Dedijer

Milica and Aleksandar Dozic

Svetlana and Zoran glisic

Milovan glogovac

Milica golic and Damjan Zivaljevic

Viktorija and Deni Hajdarpasic

Silvija and Srdjan Jakovljevic

ying Jin

nada and Srdjan Jovcic

Sasa Juric

Mirjana and goran kundacina

ivanka lakic

Bjanka and Dalibor Marceta

elena Martinovic

Mira and goran Martinovic

nevena Martinovic

Zorica and Jadran Mihailovic

Aleksa Milovanovic

Tanja and Sava Milovanovic

Bozurka and Doug Morrison

lilliana and Danko Panic

lana Parezanin

Violeta and goran Prunk

Aleksandra and Predrag radmanovic

Marija and gordan radojicic

Snezana and Sasa radosavljevic

Mirjana and nikola rudic

ljiljana Savkovic and Miroslav Plese

rishabhkumar Shukla

Jovica Spasic

Cheryl Spasojevic

Aleksandra and Milan Stefanovic

gordana and Dejan Subotic

Jelena and Milan Tomic

Svjetlana Vasic

Marija and Dusan Velickovic

rada and Zivko Vojnovic

Bojan Vukadinovic

ljiljana and Milos Vukic

ruzica and golub Zekanovic

Marina and Vlado Zaric

AT&T

Serbian Cultural Center San Diego

Cisco

F5

GitHub

MediaMosaic

Microsoft

TikTok

Verizon

An updated list of donors will be posted on our website. This will include the donations given after the printing of this program.

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

A WHOleHeArTeD THAnk yOu!

There are many people who have helped us with this production, and we thank each one of you from the bottom of our hearts!

We would like to specifically call out Dragan lazarevic and Vujadin radovanovic for allowing us to use their graphic novel Sat with all its artistic drawings. We would also like to thank Professor Dragan elcic for allowing us to use the photographs from his documentary, Rado ide Srbin u vojnike, which contains the Serbian war photojournalist, rista Marjanovic’s first World War original photographs. your support has helped us create a production that we are profoundly proud of. Thank you!