After three years, the company of the Csokonai Theater in Debrecen held its season-ending meeting again in the now completely renovated building on Kossuth Street.
According to their announcement, Mayor László Papp (Fidesz-KDNP) said that it was a conscious strategic decision on the part of the city management to not give up on their dreams and to create theaters that can meet the requirements of the 21st century in all respects.
He added that they are proud that the historical building built in 1865 has been renovated in such a way that, in addition to preserving the historical and monumental characters, “artists and directors can freely realize their ideas without technical obstacles”.
The most significant developments in recent years have been realized in Debrecen in the field of culture: almost HUF 20 billion were used to develop the two theaters – the historic building of the Csokonai Theater and the Csokonai Forum. While in the period before the renovation, there were 500 spectators in the old theater building, now up to 1,100 spectators can sit in the theater seats in one evening – the city manager explained the changes.
Péter Gemza, the outgoing director of the theater, said that his term as director was about construction. He added: during the years of general uncertainty, during the epidemic, when no one could rely on routine, he tried to manage the factors of uncertainty well, striving to ensure that everyone in the company was healthy and had a job.
Regarding the season that has just ended, he emphasized: the difficulties caused by the temporary playgrounds were eliminated by the fact that the theater company started the 2022/23 season in the building of the Forum in Csokonai, opened with Für Elise.
In addition to nine shows, 45,500 spectators visited the events of the theater with tickets. By mid-June, 377 theater performances were held. The viewing rate was 84 percent.
The most played production was the never-to-be-bored A Pál utcai fiúk (17 performances), followed by Miska Mágnás (16 performances), while the musical youth performance Toldi had the highest number of performances (21).
The team of the Csokonai Youth Program held 114 lectures and sessions during the season. Last season, they launched their community theater program for adults called KözTér, which is also unusual in the country, and had its premiere in November. Thanks to the ROHU grant, the classroom performance Trigonometry was produced together with theaters across the border: the play was also presented by the Hungarian and Romanian troupes of the Northern Theater of Szatmárném – they wrote.
According to tradition, this year’s art awards were presented at the season-ending company meeting.
(MTI)
