The cooperation between the University of Debrecen and the Csokonai National Theatre has expanded beyond music and humanities training to include visual arts. Within the MSc programme of the Faculty of Engineering, architecture students designed stage sets and costumes for Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible. Their works were presented on the day of the premiere in the lobby of the Csokonai Fórum.
At the opening of the “Salem Project” exhibition inspired by Miller’s drama, János Vági, head of the Department of Architectural Engineering at the University of Debrecen’s Faculty of Engineering, recalled that the initiative to establish cooperation between the two institutions came from the department last year.
He emphasized that the exhibition opens an often less obvious dialogue between architecture and theatre, as both disciplines work with space. At a time when architecture is increasingly shifting away from new construction toward preservation and transformation of existing structures, architects are once again focusing on the essence of space—how it affects people.
According to Vági, theatrical space is continuously recreated every evening, making set design not a peripheral activity but a natural extension of architectural thinking. The presented works explore how space can generate tension, meaning, and atmosphere.
Deputy Director Lóránt Bocskor-Salló of the Csokonai National Theatre described theatre as a comprehensive art form and expressed his long-standing desire to involve multiple disciplines—including music, architecture, and the visual arts—in collaborative projects, calling the initiative a beautiful example of artistic dialogue creating new creative space.
Set designer Ákos Mátravölgyi highlighted that the ten student projects show deep engagement with the drama, resulting in highly sophisticated and professional-quality designs that could easily be mistaken for work by trained stage designers.
Director Illés Horváth expressed hope that the participating students found the project inspiring, praising the works as professional-level set designs rich in complex ideas and personal artistic expression.
The course was led by university lecturer and set designer Edit Huszthy, who mentored the architecture students throughout the project.
Exhibiting students included Sára Dani, Boglárka Dankó, Tamás Herczeg, Olívia Ivett Katona, Noémi Eszter Koncz, Kevin Kulcsár, Zalán Lovas-Kondor, Dániel Molnár, Ákos Sándor, and Zsófia Vida.
(unideb.hu)
(Photo: Ákos Katona)
