This season, we invite you to take a peek behind the scenes on our Instagram profile and see what Reactor looks like through the eyes of the wonderful people who bring this magical place to life!

This April, we get to see it all through the eyes of the fabulous Oana Mardare—actress, founding member, and Reactor's next-door neighbor! We’ll let her tell you her cozy tale of good neighborliness, and we warmly invite you to follow her delightful Insta posts using the hashtag #filtruoana.

The very first time I held the key to the house I live in now—which sits right on Petőfi Sándor Street no. 4, sharing a lovely courtyard with Reactor—was back in March 2014, as we were buzzing with excitement to open Reactor with an epic 24-hour event! The kind owners let us use the house as a sort of dressing room for the artists. A cozy, "grandparents' house" kind of dressing room. I have no idea how many years had passed since anyone last stepped inside, but it looked as if it were a peaceful Sunday morning and the grandparents had just popped out to church, set to return by noon. There were still jars of sweet jam waiting in the pantry. The cupboards were bursting with cutlery, dishes, old photos, linens, and clothes. There were beautiful paintings on the walls and lovely doilies on the tables. And surprisingly, hardly any dust! In the room that is now the kitchen, about 15 choreography students were eagerly changing into the white costumes they were about to dance in for Reactor's grand opening. I don't remember much else—just that vivid image and the feeling that it was a tiny bit spooky to stay there by myself for too long!

In the following months, after commuting back and forth from Florești to Reactor, we realized it was high time we moved to Cluj. The thrilling feeling of needing to be right in the center of the action made moving into the "grandparents' house" seem like a brilliant idea!

In May 2014, right on the first of May if I remember correctly, Doru was happily painting the lavender bedroom walls over the old patterned brown ones.

During Reactor's first years, there was a charming flower shop called "Alecsandra" where Pasta Nostra is now. They were lovely people, but at one point, they had a little issue with the Reactor door leading to the restroom and blocked our access. So, our wonderful audience had to use the bathroom inside my house! Just the bathroom, of course—not my cosmetics!

Also during that lively time, Mowgli kindly installed a latch on the bathroom door. Thank you, Mowgli!

In 2016, right around my birthday, because I was feeling a bit blue about not having a little cozy corner of my own, Doru lovingly hung a hammock in the bedroom. Mihai Nuțu lent a helping hand too. Thank you, Mihai!

Until 2017 when we renovated the basement, our office and guest room were all squeezed into the kitchen! That’s where we did our very first financial reports, meetings, interviews, rehearsals, and even a performance... Oh, and the talented Marius Costache lived in the kitchen while working on "The Little Prince," staying up late sewing the costumes! Oh, and Cristi Ban stayed there quite a few times while working on "Sub Reflector." Oh, and Relu’s cage was right there too! And, we even did a fabulous calendar photo shoot with Adi Bulboacă. I still have the photo from that!

Starting in 2017, the office moved downstairs to its proper spot, and the guest room moved down to its cozy room too. I fondly remember Petro asking back then, "Well, and what on earth are we going to do with the kitchen now?"

Today, things are happily a lot more organized!

We’ve gradually said goodbye to the grandparents' old things and furniture, replaced the drafty front door, laid down lovely wooden floors paid for with our wedding money, and at one point, while I was away on a trip to Bucharest, Doru went ahead and painted the outside of the house! I think Leta was there helping too. In any case, thank you, Leta!

Now it feels truly like home, even though I try not to get too attached to rental properties. It’s home enough for us to live a beautiful, normal life. Even if, every now and then, a friendly stranger wanders in to ask if this is where they sell tickets to "Love me tinder"!

It’s as much of a home as it can possibly be when you live right in a theater's courtyard. When you look out the window, instead of seeing people walking dogs or traffic, you see the stage van loading or unloading, passionate artists arriving for rehearsals or enjoying a break, and excited theatergoers, young and old, arriving or leaving with smiles. You look through the glass at the very world you are about to step into just 10 seconds later. It’s like waiting in the wings for your cue—half of you is already out there in the spotlight, and the other half is still happily getting ready.

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