The story of the “Radu Stanca” National Theatre in Sibiu started in 1788, when Martin Hochmeister established the first theatre in Sibiu, by turning one of the city’s defence towers into a building for performances. The fact that the German community got involved in building this theatre led to the setting up of the German Department, which joined the existing Romanian Department of the Sibiu State Theatre, later known as the “Radu Stanca” National Theatre in Sibiu.

Designed as a multifunctional body, whose main objective was to use cultural resources strategically, as a starting point for the full development of the local, regional, and national community, the Sibiu International Theatre Festival, alongside the “Radu Stanca” National Theatre of Sibiu, created the Sibiu Performing Arts Market, the Volunteer Programme, the Department of Drama and Theatre Studies (Drama, Theatre Studies/Cultural Management, and Choreography) of the “Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu, as well as the Platform of Doctoral Research in the Fields of Performing Arts and Cultural Management, one of the world’s most important platforms for creativity, dialogue, and mobility in the field of performing arts. In time, the “Radu Stanca” National Theatre and its associated structures have become regional pillars in culture, education and research. Artistic quality, as well as the collaborations with renowned Romanian and foreign directors who created shows on the Sibiu stage has led to a continuous growth of new performances and new actors. Nowadays, the theatre has a team of permanent artists who contribute to more than 120 shows, in both Romanian and German. Starting 2001, the “Radu Stanca” National Theatre in Sibiu has been on an impressive number of more than 520 tours in both Romania and abroad, and was also invited to important festivals around the world: Edinburgh, Avignon, New York, Brussels, Rome, Tokyo, Seoul, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Naples, Paris, Liverpool, London, Budapest, Bogota, Tampere, Poznań, Warsaw, Barcelona, Lisbon, Porto, Cairo, Yerevan, Tbilisi, Nitra, Athens, Thessaloniki, Belgrade, Varna, Lille, Tel Aviv, Omsk and Chișinău.

All the activities taking place in our six performance venues, as well as in non-conventional spaces (factories, trams, on the street and in parking lots), in educational institutions, partner companies, libraries, book shops, etc. are dedicated to high quality creations and to education through culture. With a broad repertory varying from Greek tragedies to innovative 21st-century experiments, the “Radu Stanca” National Theatre in Sibiu has collaborated with important directors in Romania and abroad, such as: Silviu Purcărete, Andrei Șerban, Andriy Zholdak, Kushida Kazuyoshi, Armin Petras, Mihai Măniuțiu, Tompa Gábor, Alexandru Dabija, Yury Kordonsky, Radu Afrim, Alexander Riemenschneider, Radu Alexandru Nica, Robert Raponja, Masahiro Yasuda, Gigi Căciuleanu, Dragoș Galgoțiu, Zoltán Balázs.

The “Radu Stanca” National Theatre and the Sibiu International Theatre Festival played an important role in obtaining the title of European Capital of Culture for the city of Sibiu in 2007.