For the very first time, our theatre's archives were open to the public, displaying several documents about the first years of existence of the National Theatre of Cluj-Napoca. On this occasion, visitors could see on video screens photos depicting the first productions of the theatre and historical images of the building.
The first posters of the theatre, with their original design following criteria completely different from the contemporary ones, were displayed as well.
Last but not least, the exhibition provided the viewers with reading spaces, where they could examine several handwritten or typed archive documents from the first years of existence of the institution, the original signature of Zaharia Bârsan, the first director of the theatre, the letterheads of the Royal House and of other institutions of the age. The exhibition welcomed its visitors in a time travel, where they could experience reports about the "wardrobe fund" or the "pricing raise", about hirings, precipitous firings, contracts, budgets, costumes, props, about the lives of all the people that, one hundred years ago, helped build artistically, administratively and financially, the institution that brings us all so much joy today!
The exhibition also displayed original documents and was open throughout the entire duration of the Gates Open Day, on Wednesday, 27 March 2019, between 10.00 a.m. and 8.00 p.m.
Drawings Exhibition: 100 YEARS OF NATIONAL THEATRE IN YOUR TOWN
March 27, 2019
The National Theatre of Cluj-Napoca made a call inviting children to send their drawings inspired by the theatre's Centenary. The best works were awarded on the main stage of the theatre during the Gates Open Day, on Wednesday, 27 March 2019. During the same event, all drawings were displayed in the foyer of the theatre.
Exhibition: A CENTURY OF THEATRE IN CLUJ
As we are approaching the anniversary moment of 100 years since the first Romanian theatrical season was opened in Cluj (1st December 1919), we invite our audience to accompany us in a visual voyage through the Cluj theatrical world in the last hundred years. How did our city look like at the end of the 19th century, beginning of the 20th? Where did theatre performances take place? How was the urban landscape reshaped outside the walls of the medieval city after the construction of the National Theatre? How did the building pass from the Hungarian to the Romanian administration, how was the first Romanian artistic team formed, who was Zaharia Bârsan, the one who settled the basis of the new Cultural Institution? How did the first posters, the actors and the settings look like? Which are the most important historic and artistic phases that marked the evolution of our Theatre from its beginnings to our days?
Visiting the exhibition A century of theatre in Cluj, our spectators will have the chance to go back in time and recompose the history and the life of the National Theatre through documents, engravings, photographs, costumes and projections. The documents are provided by the archives of our Theatre and by the personal collection of Mr. Francisc Koós. We thank the Octavian Goga Library for its precious support.
The opening of the exhibition will include a reading performance of selected fragments from the writings of the first director of the National Theatre, Zaharia Bârsan.
Curators: Ștefana Pop-Curșeu, Andreea Iacob, Delia Oancea
