After studying the Romanian market, The Odeon Theatre has come to the conclusion that there is no clear offer for the young audience and the new generation of theatre creators. Consequently, during the 2001-2002 season, The Odeon Theatre launched the DEBUT- Programme, designed to encourage the young generation of stage-directors (students or young graduates from Art Universities).
The objectives of the programme: to promote and involve young artists and contemporary texts into contemporary Romanian culture; to diversify the cultural horizon of the Romanian audience and to promote contemporary drama into the Romanian theatrical circuit.
The result of this project were several plays that were included into the current repertory of Odeon Theatre.
The winning projects were:
People Annihilation Or My Liver Is Pointless by Werner Schwab, directed by Sorin Militaru Marisol by Jose Rivera, directed by Alexandru Berceanu The Alchemist dramatization after Paolo Coelho, directed by Anca Colțeanu, norway.today by Igor Bauersima, directed by Andreea Valeanu The Dead And The Living by Ștefan Caraman, directed by Ana Margineanu
During the season 2002-2003, the project was continued with Why Does the Child Boil In The Polenta “Why does the child boil in the polenta ?”, a dramatization after the homonymous novel by Aglaja Veteranyi, directed by Radu Afrim.
In 2009 it was organized a new contest within the project Young directors – Contemporary plays and the winners were Hell is the memory without the possibilities to change it proposed by Mariana Cămărășan and Alexandra Penciuc and Tlicked, proposed by Alexandru Mihail.
In 2015 took place the third edition of the contest and the winners wew Horia Suru with the play The Nether by Jennifer Haley and Vladimir Anton with Donald Margulies play – Time Stands Still.
