In 1947, director Bojan Stupica was appointed the head of the theatre as an artistic manager, much to the dismay of his mother, along with the critic Elli Fincci.

The first two seasons were marked by presentations of world and domestic classic dramas: Chekhov, Goldoni, Sheridan, Ostrovsky, Lope de Vega, Gorky, Shaw, Shakespeare, Plaut, Raisin, Molière, Ibsen, Lorca, and the Domestic classics Cankar, Držić, Sterija Popović, Јаkšić and Nušić.

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.

After the plan designed by the prominent Russian architect, Nikolai Petrovich Krasnov, the new building was financed by the shareholders' funds.

Academically conceived, the main facade was enlivened by the series of decorative architectural elements and allegoric sculptures, by the author Vojislav Ratimirović Šikoparija, a Belgrade sculptor.

An architect, Моmčilo Belobrk, put the special accent on the аtrium, at the centre of which was a small decorative pool with a bronze sculpture, by sculptor Boris Kalin.

The team of two authors, an architect, Đorđe Bobić, and an academic painter, Čedomir Vasić, came up with the new concept of the appearance of the building, which included the combination of the old and the new.

Based on the announced competition in 1997, which included the reconstruction, modernization and detailed reparation of the building, the works started after the best design of a young architect Zoran Radojčić and friends (as the author called his associates).