Reactor after 7 years: Wrapping up our retrospective, and stepping into a bright new future!

After seven fabulous years of activity, Reactor is embarking on an exciting new chapter, all centered around the thrilling theme of the future!

The beginning of the year was joyfully dedicated to Retrospective 7, a wonderful look back at our space's four main artistic paths, shaped beautifully over seven years of cultural projects and inspiring encounters with a myriad of talented theatre makers. Each of these four directions was celebrated with a special focus—a festive series of events—featuring lively debates with various theatre experts, fantastic online show broadcasts, a thought-provoking discussion and critical thinking workshop, and a vibrant, live performative event created by Reactor's collaborating artists.

Our first direction—contemporary playwriting—shines brightly at Reactor through unique projects, like our annual Drama 5 playwriting residency running since 2016, and through our creative approach to production, happily bringing playwrights directly into our artistic teams. The second direction—documentary theatre (personal histories, collective histories)—embraces our artists' wonderful passion for bringing significant moments of recent history to the stage, blending objective facts with warm, personal perspectives. Our third focus celebrated artistic experimentation, exploring what new creative magic we can bring to the stage today while staying beautifully connected with you, our audience! And our fourth bundle of events turned the spotlight on children's theatre, brought to life at Reactor by the joyful MiniREACTOR platform—which was born right alongside its big brother, sharing the exact same playful spirit and artistic values.

With this beautiful look back, Reactor happily steps into a brand-new phase! While all these directions remain close to our hearts, we are taking them a big step forward. In the coming years, we at Reactor are thrilled to explore the **theme of the future**! Together, we'll dive into what we dream of, what we hope for, and even the fears the future brings, starting right here in the present, finding creative solutions for even the trickiest predictions. After seven years of helping our collaborating artists understand their pasts—both personal and collective—it is time to dream up what comes next! We felt this spark even before the pandemic, but a year of reflection has certainly amplified our excitement for the topic. Yes, theatre workers feel a profound vulnerability today—not just financial, but a philosophical quest for meaning: where does theatre belong when we can't meet face-to-face? How can we transform theatre to keep it vibrant and relevant, even in times of crisis? At the same time, we all share global worries about the future—from ecological concerns to economic shifts. But instead of avoiding these topics, we choose to face them with courage, imagination, and a healthy dose of bright optimism! We want to explore where we are going and how our actions today can shape a beautiful tomorrow.

With this inspiring vision, the creative wheels are turning at Reactor, and exciting plans are underway! Currently, we are joyfully working on a brand-new show directed by the wonderful Cristian Ban, which we hope to share with you very soon, in one delightful form or another. At the same time, we are dedicating more energy to our internal laboratory, dreaming up fresh ways to meet and connect with you. We are also preparing context-friendly projects, stepping outside our studio, and finding new ways to connect with the city through a series of interventions we can't wait to share more about soon!

Even more joy is coming in the first part of the year with a brand-new premiere at MiniREACTOR, featuring a play written during our parent-child playwriting workshop! And since summer is the perfect season for residencies, we are thrilled to open two calls for applications: Fresh Start—creative residencies for talented young graduates, and Drama 5—our wonderful playwriting residency.

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

A happy snapshot of the team working on our upcoming show, under the wonderful direction of Cristian Ban