After seven fabulous years of activity, Reactor is stepping into a brand-new stage, all centered on the exciting theme of the future!

We kicked off the year with Retrospective 7, a wonderful look back at the four main artistic directions of our space, shaped over seven years of cultural projects and inspiring encounters with so many diverse theatre makers. Each of these four directions was celebrated with a special focus—a series of dedicated events that featured lively debates with specialists, online performances, interactive discussion and critical thinking workshops, and a vibrant live performance created by Reactor's collaborating artists!

Our first direction—contemporary playwriting—is brought to life at Reactor through specific projects like our annual playwriting residency, Drama 5, running since 2016, and by proudly including playwrights in most of our artistic production teams. The second direction—documentary theatre (personal histories, collective histories)—shines a light on our artists' passion for reflecting on significant events in recent history, blending objective facts with warm, subjective personal perspectives. Our third focus explored artistic experimentation, looking at what experiment means in theatre today and how we can discover fresh new forms while staying beautifully connected to our audience. And our fourth bundle of events celebrated theatre for young audiences, represented at Reactor by the playful MiniREACTOR platform, which grew right alongside its big brother, sharing the very same loving principles and directions!

Following this heartwarming look back, Reactor is embarking on a new journey! While all these directions remain close to our hearts, we are taking them a thrilling step further. In the coming years, Reactor will explore the exciting theme of the future—what we project, what we dream of, and what fears the future might bring, starting from our present moment, as we creatively design solutions for even the most pessimistic predictions! After seven years of our collaborating artists exploring and understanding the past, both personal and collective, it felt like the perfect time to imagine what comes next. This spark of curiosity was there even before the pandemic, but the past year, with its forced pauses and moments of reflection, certainly amplified our passion for this theme! On one hand, we feel the vulnerability of theatre workers—not just financially, but philosophically: what is the magic of theatre when artists and audiences cannot meet in person? How can we transform theatre so it remains vibrant and relevant even in times of crisis? On the other hand, a global concern about what the future holds—from ecological challenges to economic shifts—makes us feel that we shouldn't avoid the topic, but rather face it with courage, imagination, and a healthy dose of optimism! Let's discover together where we are headed and how our actions today shape the beautiful destination of tomorrow.

With this joyful spirit, work never stops at Reactor! We are busy planning, dreaming, and preparing new projects. Currently, we are working on a fantastic new show directed by Cristian Ban, which we hope to share with you very soon in one creative form or another. At the same time, we are dedicating more energy to our internal lab, exploring playful new ways to connect with you, our wonderful audience. We are also preparing context-adapted projects, stepping outside our studio walls, and reconnecting with the city through a series of exciting interventions—we can't wait to share more details with you soon!

Also in the first half of the year, a delightful new premiere is coming to MiniREACTOR, featuring a show based on a text written during a playwriting workshop by a wonderful parent-child duo! And because summer is the perfect season for residencies, we have opened two exciting calls for applications: Fresh Start—creative residencies for talented young graduates, and Drama 5—our beloved playwriting residency.

Discover more details about Reactor's creative and experimental projects on our website: www.reactor-cluj.com, our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/ReactorCluj, and our Instagram: www.instagram.com/reactor.cluj.

A lovely snapshot of the team behind the show we are currently working on, under the brilliant direction of Cristian Ban!

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