This unique collection brings together over 200 letters received by Vetuța Pop, literary secretary at the State Theatre in Oradea, over several decades of activity. A figure universally respected in Romanian theatre circles, Vetuța Pop maintained a steady, often intimate correspondence with some of the most important playwrights, directors, actors, translators, and literary secretaries of the time.
The letters reflect not only the everyday working mechanisms of a theatre institution during the communist and post-communist periods, but also the complex cultural, artistic, and human relationships that animated Romanian theatrical life in the second half of the 20th century.
Ranging from professional exchanges to personal confessions, the collection offers a rare perspective on the backstage dynamics of repertoire building, text selection, translation processes, and creative collaborations. At the same time, it captures the tone, style, and concerns of an intellectual community navigating between artistic integrity, censorship, and transformation.
Currently being catalogued, digitized, and annotated, the Vetuța Pop archive will soon become accessible for research, shedding light on an essential yet often invisible dimension of theatrical creation: the literary and dramaturgical work behind the scenes.