sentences:  The early directors who contributed to the reputation of the Yugoslav Drama Theatre (Bojan Stupica, Мata Мilošević and Тоmislav Таnhofer) were influenced by European modernism as explored between the two world wars, which was evident in their selection of plays.From the mid-eighties, theatrologist Јоvan Ćirilov, during fourteen seasons as the manager, upgraded the Yugoslav Drama Theatre to the representative theatre of modern stage expression far beyond the boundaries of the former soviet state.The Yugoslav Drama Theatre was destroyed by fire on 17 October 1997, allegedly due to an installation malfunction.