Bulandra Theatre


The Bulandra Theatre in Bucharest, Romania was founded in 1947 as Teatrul Municipal; its first director was Lucia Sturdza Bulandra, one of the leading Romanian stage actresses of her generation. Liviu Ciulei was director between 1963 and 1972;one of the most important directors of the late times was Stefan Iordanescu, who restructured the theatre management; since 2002, the theatre has been directed by Alexandru Darie.
Since 1991, the Bulandra Theatre has been a member of the Union of European Theatres, which was founded in March 1990. The theatre currently has two stages, located about 1.5 kilometers apart from one another, Sala Liviu Ciulei, the former Sala Izvor near the Dâmboviţa River, not far from the southwest corner of Cişmigiu Garden, and Sala Toma Caragiu, about half a kilometer southeast of Piața Romană, just east of the Grădina Icoanei park.
Originally Teatrul Municipal, the theatre later acquired the name Teatrul Lucia Sturdza Bulandra, now shortened to Teatrul Bulandra. The present Sala Liviu Ciulei was and remains the headquarters, housing offices as well as the actual theatre space. The main teatre building has been renamed in 2011 after the previous head of Bulandra Theatre, film and theatre director and actor Liviu Ciulei. Before Communist times, the second hall, located by Grădina Icoanei and designed by architect Ion Mincu, was the auditorium of a private school, Şcoala Centrală de Fete, located on Icoanei Street. After nationalisation, the hall was first renamed after Filimon Sârbu, then later took its present name, in memory of actor Toma Caragiu.