35 Years. Theatre in Romania After Censorship | Lecture and Roundtable Discussion

11.00

35 Years. Theatre in Romania After Censorship
Lecture by Professor Marian Popescu
 

The regime change in 1989 meant a long-awaited freedom for theatre in Romania. The creators of performances, the performing artists, the theatrical institutions, the legislation, the intrusion of politics, and the questioning of taboos all shaped a theatrical map that often did not correspond to the territory. Theatre reform has become not only a slogan but also an endless adventure.

This lecture will attempt to provide some answers regarding what has happened during the time that has passed. It will also look towards a near future where funding for the arts is increasingly precarious, and the emergence of new artistic professions, facilitated by artificial intelligence, will modify the anatomy of theatrical production.

The lecture is also a recognition of the exceptional creativity of many directors, actors, set designers, choreographers, and composers of stage music. However, today's creators owe much to those who worked uncompromisingly in the face of censorship before 1989.

MARIAN POPESCU

Associate Professor at the University of Bucharest and at Babeș-Bolyai University, where he supervises doctoral candidates in the field of Theatre and Performing Arts. Honorary Director of the Center for Academic Integrity at the University of Bucharest. Member of the Board of IRAFPA (Institute for the Research of Academic Fraud and Plagiarism, Geneva). Expertise in Education, Performing Arts, Ethics and Academic Integrity, Book and Film Industries, and Cultural Policies. Invited expert of the European Commission for Culture and the Performing Arts. Experience in central administration (Ministry of Culture, Presidential Administration). Theatre critic, translator from English, editor, and author of seven books on Theatre and the Performing Arts. Co-founder, along with Ion Caramitru, of the Romanian Theatre Union (UNITER), where he served as the first vice president from 1990 to 1994. PhD in Philology.

Began his university career in 1991 at the Academy of Theatre and Film (UNATC) in Bucharest, continued at Lucian Blaga University in Sibiu, and then at the University of Bucharest and Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca.

Awards, Distinctions, Honors

Order of the Crown of Romania, Knight's Degree, 2013 (for services to Romanian theatre).

UNITER Prize for Theatre Criticism, 2001.

Prize for Antipathy Towards Non-Value and Compromise, Flacăra magazine, 1993.

Prize for Theatre Studies, UNITER, 1991.

Prize for Theatre Criticism from the magazines Tribuna, 1982, and Ateneu, 1988.

35 Years Since the Regime Change
Roundtable Discussion

Participants: Gábor Tompa, Marian Popescu, Adrienne Nagy Darvay, Anca Măniuţiu, Crenguța Manea