The Piatra Neamt Youth Theater, the place where most great Romanian
\nartists have learned their craft, celebrates this year 50 years of bearing this
\nname. In all these years, it has supported and promoted young artists, this
\nyear with the Pleading for You(th) Theater Festival. The 29th
\nedition of the festival, held under the leadership of the new director of the
\ntheater, Gianina Carbunariu, brought the theater even closer to young artists,
\nas well as the community. The festival was preceded by an anniversary moment,
\nwhich started with the inauguration of the photo exhibition called Youth
\nTheater Actors and Spectators. It featured 46 photos taken during meetings
\nbetween actors from the theater and city inhabitants, with a short caption with
\nthe background of the people featured. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Here is Gianina Carbunariu:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
We had the project ‘Youth Theater Actors and Spectators’, as
\npart of which we ran 46 interviews with spectators of all ages, with various
\nbackgrounds, from all walks of life. We didn’t have only spectators, but also
\npotential spectators. We spoke to people who had never been to the theater. I
\nthink this is more interesting, and the most important thing, attracting an audience
\nwho has never been to the theater. Not because they are not interested, but
\nalso because of lack of time, or a lack of promotion. The interviews were a
\npart of preparing the anniversary moment. We launched there the photo
\nexhibition, and we tried to make the project visible beyond the theater foyer,
\nwith banners reading ‘Actors and Spectators’.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The photos on the walls of the foyer were made by Mihaela Jipa,
\nartistic secretary of the theater, who, together with actors, picked the brains
\nof the city’s inhabitants in relation to the theater. Here is Mihaela Jipa: <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Someone said that theater has the role of educating, you find
\nyourself in theater, in theater you can be yourself. Theater is like a church,
\nwhen you go there you prepare, inwardly and outwardly. One lady told us that
\nher favorite actor was Bogdan Talasman. He gave her an autograph, and wrote
\nsomething on it, which became her motto in life. Everyone we interacted with
\ntold us something special. It was a lesson for all of us. This closeness, I
\nthink, was something that changed for both sides the perception on audience,
\nart, actors, and the role of theater.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The stories about the Youth Theater, told at the anniversary moment
\nand in the book accompanying the event, were told by the artists who have acted
\nhere, as well as by the audience. Some members of the audience have been
\nwitness to the evolution of the theater, while some young people got to know
\nit. Here is Gianina Carbunariu once again: <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In July we launched the project ‘Spectator Archive’, inviting
\nspectators to send letters telling their stories about the Youth Theater. The
\nletters were the basis of the anniversary event. The anniversary moment was the
\nengine of this project, and in the future we will be thinking of how to further
\ngather materials for the archive, how to motivate the spectators.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
This year’s edition of the Piatra Neamt Theater Festival included a
\nsection recommended to high school students, and a jury made up of seven high
\nschool students granted a Popularity Award for the best show in this section.
\nGianina Carbunariu said that the stake in this was not the award in itself, but
\nthe fact that young people would come to the show, would talk to their peers
\nabout the shows, would communicate, would learn how to watch a show, would take
\npart in discussions with the audience.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Among the seven young people selected through letters of motivation
\nwas Francisc Gabriel Lolea, a sophomore at the National College of Information
\nTechnology. He told us how he got to send the letter, and what his expectations
\nwere of theater: <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
: I took part in the competition called ‘Tea, Poetry, Theater’,
\nand I won a meeting with Victor Giurescu, actor with the Youth Theater, and we
\nhad a conversation. This meeting motivated me, and I told myself I should let
\nloose my words and my love of theater. I sent a motivational letter and I was
\npleasantly surprised that I got picked out of 200 applicants. I am surprised by
\nthe shows that were presented, they have interesting topics, which should
\nchallenge us to reflection. We need shows to attract young people, since the
\nname of the theater is the Youth Theater.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Catalina Balalau is one of the young actresses with the theater who
\ngot involved in the projects meant to bring the theater closer to the community:
\n<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
We went to the fabric factory, we met there very convivial
\npeople, we made a tour of the factory, we talked to them. Some were people who
\ngo to the theater, others didn’t. We talked to them about the reasons why they
\ndidn’t. It was a wonderful morning both for them and for us. Then we saw them
\nagain at the inauguration of the ‘Youth Theater Actors and Spectators’
\nexhibition, and it was very pleasant. It’s good to talk to each other. Of late,
\nthe climate has been very friendly here, and spectators are more familiar with
\nus. We had a lot of full house shows this season, every weekend. This means we
\nmust be doing something right. There have been some great initiatives lately.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Gianina Carbunariu is convinced that theater is not for the elites,
\ntheater is for everyone. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
I want the community of spectators in Piatra Neamt to come to
\nthe theater. I want theater to belong to the community in which it exists, and
\nfor the community to feel that, that the theater belongs to them. And I want
\nthem to be critical, I want them to have a dialogue with the artists. I want us
\nto be together.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Piatra Neamt Youth Theater, the place where most great Romanian artists have learned their craft, celebrates this year 50 years of bearing this name<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":129,"featured_media":161788,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44685],"tags":[44886,44887,44791,44888,44885],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-161787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-of-culture","tag-pleading-for-youththeater","tag-youth-theater-actors-and-spectators","tag-gianina-carbunariu","tag-mihaela-jipa","tag-piatra-neamt-youth-theater"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n