\u201cBeyond the numbers, for me, ‘together’ remains something very concrete: thousands of gestures of trust, gathered over time, brick by brick.\u201d – Chris Simion-Mercurian, director, writer, and theater founder.<\/p>\n
Built from scratch over nine years and funded by more than 14,000 individual donors and companies, Grivi\u021ba 53 stands as Romania\u2019s first newly constructed independent theater in roughly eight decades. The project began in 2016, when director Chris Simion-Mercurian used the money from selling her grandmother\u2019s house to purchase a plot of land on Calea Grivi\u021bei in Bucharest, turning a personal dream into what would become a national cultural milestone. A bold initiative developed together with her husband, Tiberiu Mercurian.<\/p>\n
A fundraising campaign launched in 2017 invited supporters to symbolically \u201cbuy\u201d bricks, seats, and windows, transforming individual contributions into the physical structure of the theater. In 2022, the project received its long-awaited construction permit, and building works began the following year.<\/p>\n
The theater officially opened its doors in September 2025 as a EUR 4.5 million investment financed entirely through private donations, sponsorships, and grants. Designed by architect Codrin Tri\u021bescu, the four-level building includes two performance halls and flexible spaces conceived as a contemporary cultural hub.<\/p>\n
More than 4,100 donor names are displayed at the entrance, a visible reminder of the community behind the project.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cIt is a movie-like story. Maybe one day someone will be inspired by it and make a film,\u201d Chris Simion-Mercurian told Romania-insider.com.<\/p>\n
In the Q&A below, she reflects on the risks, setbacks, convictions, and lessons that shaped Grivi\u021ba 53 – and on what independent theater means in Romania today.<\/p>\n
\tFor Romania Insider readers who may not yet know you: who is Chris Simion-Mercurian, and how did the roles of director, writer, and theater founder come together over time?<\/p>\n
Chris is a rebellious artist, a free spirit, a nonconformist woman in constant search of self, in constant search of God. Chris lives what life offers her; she is curious, she does not stay in her comfort zone, and she is not afraid of her fears; she confronts herself. She does not turn down challenges. She accepts the natural stages of growth and transformation. She chooses difficulty rather than betraying her soul. She is not arrogant, but she preserves her integrity. She acknowledges her vulnerability and uses it.<\/p>\n
Theater directing and writing are extensions of my soul. Being a cultural manager, cultural PR, organizer, and doing the technical work I\u2019ve done were not choices, but necessities. I became a theater founder because I had to choose between my soul and compromise, and I chose my soul.<\/p>\n
\tGrivi\u021ba 53 became concrete in 2016, with the purchase of the land. But when was the idea of building a theater from scratch actually born? Was it a need of the city or a personal one?<\/p>\n
The idea was born before the land. The land was only the first concrete step. For me, the beginning was a need for \u201ccleanliness and truth.\u201d The need for a place where you can build without lying to yourself and without lying to others.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Of course the city needed such a space, but I don\u2019t believe great projects begin only with a diagnosis of the city. They begin with personal responsibility: if you feel something is missing and you truly want it, you build it. And you take ownership of the journey that comes with it.<\/p>\n
\tGrivi\u021ba 53 is called \u201cthe first independent theater built together.\u201d What does that mean in numbers: investment, donations, donors, space, halls, seats?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just \u201ccalled\u201d that. It is, in concrete terms, the first theater built together from the ground up. The initiative was mine, when I sold my grandmother\u2019s house and used the money to buy the land on Calea Grivi\u021bei 53. ‘Together’ means the community that this effort brought together. 14,000 founding donors and several dozen companies. This is a historic achievement for Romania\u2019s cultural sector. It is a first. Grivi\u021ba 53 is not the success of one ego. It is the success of a community. People who trusted me, who knew who I am and what guarantees I offer as a person and as an artist.<\/p>\n
In numbers: the total investment amounts to approximately EUR 4.5 million. A decisive moment came in 2021, when we secured a EUR 1,903,989 grant that made it possible to move from fundraising campaigns and sponsor meetings to actual construction. Construction officially began in 2023, on the land purchased in 2016. The building was inaugurated on September 18, 2025, and the theater itself, along with the premiere of its first original production, opened in December of last year.<\/p>\n
The building has four levels, two performance halls, and spaces designed for contemporary theater, dance, landmark cultural events, artistic residencies, workshops, exhibitions, installations, and interdisciplinary projects.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But beyond the numbers, for me, ‘together’ remains something very concrete: thousands of gestures of trust, gathered over time, brick by brick.<\/p>\n\n
\tWas there ever a moment when you seriously considered giving up? What kept you going?<\/p>\n
I had unrealistic expectations; I believed this was an effort that would be supported by everyone, by the entire professional community, because building such a space after 80 years is historic. It was supported only by some. Eventually, I understood that people are free to choose what they believe in and what they don\u2019t. I expected the authorities to ease the bureaucracy; it was the opposite. I expected members of the team to believe as strongly as we did, but they didn\u2019t seem confident at all – we had to push hard to keep things moving.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We received enormous help from people who seemed to appear out of nowhere, like angels, at key moments. I didn\u2019t try to look for logic in it, because human logic often runs parallel to divine logic. I stayed the course, went through the journey, and we reached the end. It\u2019s a movie-like story. Maybe one day someone will be inspired by it and make a film.<\/p>\n
Even so, there was never a moment when we decided to give up. I didn\u2019t take it personally. I accepted it as it came, it was part of the labor, a kind of filter that sifted and selected. Every closed door opened another one. What matters is that we arrived where we are today, we wrote a page of cultural history and are leaving behind not just a theater, but a landmark, an example.<\/p>\n
\tWhat did you learn about people during the years when you asked the public for support, and how did this \u201cimpossible idea\u201d change you?<\/p>\n
I learned that it is essential for people to trust you, to trust who you are. That the choices you make define you. Solidarity exists when people encounter you authentically. I also learned that along the way you will meet envy, irony, and sarcasm – but not everything can be perfect.<\/p>\n
When someone approaches you with a negative feeling, it\u2019s not about you, but about them. People don\u2019t envy what they don\u2019t desire, right?<\/p>\n
And I learned something else: expectations lead to disappointment. You open your soul and want the other person to come along with you, but they are free not to. And you have to respect that. The ones who are meant to join you in the story are the ones who will.<\/p>\n
\tAfter last year\u2019s official opening, what did the theater\u2019s first months look like, and what surprised you most in meeting the audience? Is there a moment or reaction that has stayed with you?<\/p>\n
The first months were intense and very alive. As difficult as it was to physically build the theater, it must now be built just as carefully on a cultural level. That is the real work at this point: shaping the identity of the space through performances and through the way we meet our audience.<\/p>\n
Because we didn\u2019t build just another theater. We built a theater that didn\u2019t yet exist. What surprised me most was how quickly a sense of belonging was created.<\/p>\n
\tIn March, Eugenio Barba opens the international program \u201cIconic Personalities.\u201d What\u2019s next for the theater, and how important is the international component? Will we also see performances or other events in English?<\/p>\n