Skopje, 20 February 2026 (MIA) — The Bitola National Theater will perform the play "Black Seed" at the Macedonian National Theater at 8 pm. The play is based on Tashko Georgievski's 1966 novel by the same name, which was also turned into a film by Kiril Cenevski in 1971.

Directed by Andrej Cvetanovski, the Bitola theater's adaptation is tells the powerful and emotional story of the Macedonians from Aegean Macedonia after World War II, organizers said in a press release.

"The personal fates of the characters highlight themes of suffering, perseverance, identity and dignity as well as the need for stories about the past to remain alive and passed on to new generations," the release said.

Jelena Cvetanovska wrote the play script for the Bitola theater's "Black Seed" adaptation. Sergej Svetozarev designed the set, Blagoj Micevski designed the costumes, Damjan Cvetanovski designed the stage movements and Dimitar Andonovski wrote the music for the play.

The cast consists of Martin Mirchevski, Ognen Drangovski, Vasko Mavrovski, Nikola Stefanov, Petar Spirovski, Nikola Projchevski, Hari Mihajlovski, Aleksandar Stefanovski, Petar Gorko, Borche Gjakovski, Zhivko Borisovski, Marija Cvetanovska, Aleksandar Dimitrovski, Aleksandar Kopanja, David Baltovski, Filip Stefanovski, Viktor Krstevski and Aleksandar Gjorgiovski.

"If we don't tell our stories, no one else will. That is why we have to remember the names and destinies of our people," Cvetanovski is quoted as saying in the release, pointing out the role of theater as "a guardian of historical and human truth." mr/