The Timisoara City Hall did not close a new management contract with Lucian Vărșăndan for a further mandate at the head of the German State Theatre Timisaora (GSTT).


In April 2017 the Local Council of Timisoara approved the result of the management evaluation – established by the committee of specialists at 9,88 – approving at the same time that Vărșăndan submits a new management project, for another five year mandate.

The manager submitted his project in September of 2017. Even so, the City Hall did not organize the next step foreseen by the law, namely the analysis of the new project by a specialty committee. Thus, the procedures were interrupted by the administration at the end of September, without communicating the motives for this decision.

Consequently, the second five year mandate of Vărşăndan - of managing the theatre since 2007 – ended on the 31^st of October 2017.


Lucian Vărşăndan was born in Arad. He graduated from the “Nikolaus Lenau” Highschool in Timisoara, and then became licensed in Letters (German and English studies) and Law at the West University in Timisoara. He works at the GSTT since 1999.

In 2007 he was trusted with the reigns of the theatre, at 31 years old. As director he was especially involved in promoting the GSTT image within the national theatre scenery and consolidating the quality of artistic productions. During his directorate, GSTT had as guests important creators from within the country as well as abroad, like directors Radu Afrim, László Bocsárdi, Alexandru Dabija, Alexander Hausvater, Yuri Kordonsky, Radu Alexandru Nica, Silviu Purcărete, Volker Schmidt, Gábor Tompa and Niky Wolcz, set (and costume designers) Dragoş Buhagiar, Judit Dobre-Kóthay and Helmut Stürmer, musicians Peter Oschanitzky and Vasile Şirli, actors Miklós Bács and Sorin Leoveanu, choreographers Florin Fieroiu and Răzvan Mazilu and many others.


The theater's poster included a significant number of acclaimed stagings, of different genres, like: Cabaret, the Jungle Book, The Bald Singer, Actually it’s nice, derdiedans, Elektra, The Girl in the Goldfish’s bowl, The Fuchsiad, Hotel PM, The Incredible Story of Eréndira…, Moliendo café, Mountainbikers, Missunderstanding, A Respectable Wedding, The seagull, Shaking Shakespeare, The Sound of Music, Nardis a.s.o.


GSTT was invited to some of the most prestigious festivals in Romania, but also in Georgia, Germany, Luxemburg, Polland, Moldavia. For the consolidation of the group, there were workshops and Gărâna Summer schools organised as well as the activity of theatrical pedagogy.

The “Eurothalia” European Theatre Festival was initiated and extended. The seven editions were comprised of performances of top producers from Europe – for example the Maxim Gorki Theatre in Berlin, Münchner Kammerspiele, Rimini Protokoll, Odin Teatret, She She Pop, Hebbel am Ufer Berlin, Gob Squad, les Ballets C de la B, Ultima Vez, the Jewish Theatre in Varsovia, the „Jan Kochanowski” from Opole, Schauspielhaus Graz, the Hungarian State Theatre in Cluj, the Odeon Theatre in Bucharest a.s.o. - as well as the creations of some of the most renowned or innovative European artists, such as Eugenio Barba, Oliver Frljić, Krzysztof Garbaczewski, Oskaras Koršunovas, Jan Lauwers, Alain Platel, Silviu Purcărete, Andrei Şerban, Wim Vandekeybus and many others.

In 2016, Lucian Vărşăndan was a State Secretary within the Ministry of Culture.
Among the GSTT projects for the next months are three international tours in Germany and Luxemburg, with the productions Antigone and Spring Awakening as well as the creation of the international co-production The Mountain Giants by Pirandello, under the stage direction of reputable international director Paolo Magelli, with artists from five countries, within a project co-founded by the European Union.