The Director of the State Theatre of Constanța will artistically coordinate the Young Actor Gala HOP 2024

The 27th edition of the Gala Tânărului Actor HOP 2024 will have as its artistic director the director Erwin Șimșensohn, General Director of the State Theatre of Constanța (TSC), as decided by the Senate of UNITER (The Union of Theatrical Artists of Romania).

The Gala will take place between August 25 and 31, in Alba Iulia. This is the fourth time that the Teatrul Prichindel and the Casa de Cultură a Studenților in Alba Iulia will host this event, thanks to financial support from the Alba County Council.

Gala Tânărului Actor – HOP is a national cultural program held annually. The purpose of the program is to promote and launch young graduates from higher artistic education, both public and private.

The first edition took place in 1998 in Costinești, under the direction of director Cornel Todea, who held this role until 2012.

Between 2013 and 2015, the artistic direction of the event was taken over by director Radu Afrim, and between 2016 and 2018, the gala was coordinated by professor and actor Miklós Bács. From 2019 to 2021, dancer and choreographer Gigi Căciuleanu took on the artistic direction, and in 2022, he passed the baton to dancer, choreographer, director, and costume designer Răzvan Mazilu. The 2023 edition had two artistic directors—directors Leta Popescu and Alexandru Dabija.

Erwin Șimșensohn’s appointment as the artistic director of the HOP Gala this year seems to be a recognition of his efforts, as a director of a theatrical institution, to support the debut of young theater professionals, both through the rejuvenation of the TSC troupe with debutant actors, and through organizing events like the Festivalul DbutanT initiated by the Teatrul „Andrei Mureșanu” in Sfântu Gheorghe, and since 2020, co-organized by the theaters in Constanța and Sfântu Gheorghe for four editions, the International Scenography Program, and hosting the dramaturgy camp for students.

“Young actors graduating from theater institutes need competition, they need to be seen, and their skills need to be honed. The Gala Tânărului Actor HOP is the perfect place and space for this. Because the actor entering the professional environment needs VISIBILITY. To meet this need, the HOP Gala comes into play, a contest whose prizes are, at the same time, not the final concrete outcome. This annual event brings together the best young actors to become VISIBLE to the creative factors in the Romanian market: theater directors, event organizers, casting directors, project initiators, etc.

The HOP Gala is an environment that facilitates the MEETING between creative factors and young actors with potential. Thus, the HOP Gala becomes a permanent platform for bringing the actor market closer,” according to UNITER, these are the reasons for organizing this annual event.