Cristian Sofron, the new manager of the Odeon Theater in Bucharest

A first initiative of the new Odeon director has been to enlarge the theatres acting crew by hiring several young actors.

Luana Pleşea, 03.03.2018, 19:36

The very popular Romanian actress Dorina Lazar was the top-level manager of the Odeon Theater in Bucharest for more than a decade. A substantial change has occurred at this level, since the beginning of 2018 saw actor Cristian Sofron taking up the top managerial position of the aforementioned theater. Cristian Sofron is a well-known actor himself, having shot to fame when he featured in the TV Series At Full Sail, as sailor Mihu. For five years, Cristian Sofron was the Manager of the Nicolae Balcescu UNESCO Cultural center. Early into his term in office manager Cristian Sofron’s main concern is to secure a better promotion of the Odeon Theater outside the country, since the institution he runs has for long been one of Romania’s oldest and most important stages.

With details on that, here is Cristian Sofron himself : “What I want for the Odeon Theater is that everything happening there, stage performances, related events, all sorts of other events, should fall under the slogan ‘Everything at the level of excellence.’ The Odeon Theater is one of Romania’s most important theaters, what I want is that it should become one of Europe’ best theaters and why not, one of the best theaters in the world. The Odeon Theater has traveled widely, it goes places on a considerable number of occasions, but maybe we should steer our energies towards taking part in the really important festivals across the country as well as abroad, we should try to bring over specialists, so that they may see our work, so that they may appreciate our stage performances…That cannot be achieved in a couple of months, that’s for sure, but I am dead positive that, slowly but surely, the Odeon Theater will become more and more known abroad”.

The new manager of the Odeon Theatre shares the belief that excellency can also be achieved by inviting important stage directors. So, in the upcoming period, one of the most popular and highly-acclaimed Romanian stage artists, Alexandru Dabija, will work with the Odeon Theater, stage-directing a show titled The Tales of an unknown man, after Tchekhov’s Stories. The name of Alexandru Dabija is closely linked to the history of the Odeon Theater, where he staged a number of shows. We recall Alexandru Dabija was also the manager of Odeon Theater between 1991 and 1994 and 1996 and 2002, respectively. Another stage director, currently employed by the Odeon Theater, Dragos Galgotiu, will be starting rehearsals for Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Dragos Galgotiu’s stage version of the play seeks to be an event in its own right. Younger stage directors Andrei and Andreea Grosu, the founders of the Unteatru independent theater, return to Odeon to stage Mihail Sebastian’s Playing Holiday. By the end of the season, director Zoltan Balazs, manager of the Maladype Theater in Budapest, is guest artist as part of the European project titled “Fabulamundi. Playwriting Europe”. Balasz will be staging the young Polish playwright Elżbieta Chowaniec’s Gardenia. Besides the directors invited, manager Cristian Sofron also has other plans for the Odeon Theatre, beginning with the Odeon Gallery.

Cristian Sofron: “There is a section destined for exhibitions in the Odeon Theatre. I wanted this section to be open to visitors all throughout the day. It doesn’t seem fair that the wonderful works on display there to be seen only by the spectators who come for the shows at the studio hall and who are no more than 100-120 people. We have lots of projects targeting young theatre buffs who can visit our theatre when the stage is being mounted if they want to see how shows are prepared and all. We are running such a project through the Alternate Schooling programme in the following period. So young people and children alike are allowed to come and see for themselves how we mount the set and get the stage ready for every show. We have recently initiated a project, which we called ‘The Night of the Young Director”, during which the National University of Theatre and Cinema can present its most valuable shows on the stage of the Odeon Theatre. I think we should think of the young generations as well.”

Currently working for the Odeon Theatre, choreographer and director Razvan Mazilu, an artist famous for his contribution to the improvement of Romania’s dance and musical theatre section and for the support he grants to young choreographers, is to stage, as every year, a dance gala, on April 29th, the International Dance Day. Discussions are underway about staging a show on the life of actress Judy Garland.

The building housing the Odeon Theatre in Bucharest is an architectural gem dating back to 1911. The building has had several incarnations, at present being the only theatre with an Italian stage and a gliding ceiling. Located on the Victory Road, close to the University, the building is one of Bucharest’s major tourist attractions. With completely refurbished premises, reinforced and re-adorned after the initial projects of 1911, the Odeon Theatre can address even foreign tourists, provided the shows are translated. Here is again manager Cristian Sofron.

Cristian Sofron: “The Odeon Theatre has the proper installation and most of the shows here have been translated into English. We have the right personnel trained for this job, so we are waiting for foreign tourists as well. We are very committed to this aspect and we have some challenges for the travel agencies. It’s for the first time I make this statement: in my opinion a complete travel package should also include a cultural event, a theatre performance…and I am convinced that when I can present travel agencies with this proposal, the answer will be a positive one.”

A first initiative of the new Odeon director has been to enlarge the theatre’s acting crew by hiring several young and also some famous actors such as Adrian Titieni and Andi Vasluianu, two actors who have attained international recognition thanks to the roles they played in films.