Gabriela Panţel, Preocupările ASTREI pentru crearea unui teatru naţional al românilor din Transilvania
ASTRA’s preoccupations concerning the creation of a national theatre for Transylvanian Romanians
In the second half of the 19th century, the Romanian population in Transylvania were steeped in a traditional folk culture which was having its undeniable merits, yet was a self-sufficient one, confined to itself. Romanians had to withstand the prejudices and, rather often than not, the scorn of the other ethnicities in the Empire, which called for their taking major actions, in order not to remain at the perifery of Transylvania’s multinational society. Astra‘s leaders have realized this imperative and their sustained efforts of founding cutural institutions had a decisive role in the spiritual emancipation of the Romanian population. A most notable institution which they founded was the short-lived Society for the Romanian Theater Fund. This paper pins down the important moments in the evolution of the two institutions that contributed to the influential prime role of the Astra Society in Romanians’ cultural history.
Keywords: Astra, theatrical movement, cultural action, national theater, drama, Transylvania.
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- Revista Luceafărul / The Luceafărul Review, 1905.
