The Színláz Theater Company was formed in November 2006 with the aim of promoting drama and theater among university students, and of establishing, over time, the practical theatrical training that was lacking at the time from university theater – in the Hungarian language, at least. The group’s long-term objective is to run an independent university stage which creates performances and teaches students the basics of acting.
Since the group’s founding, so-called „open trainings” have taken place on Tuesday evenings during the academic year. Anyone who is interested can attend these trainings, where they get the chance to experiment with theatrical speech, movement and games, under the guidance of theater professionals. The students with a more serious interest in acting contributed to the creation of the company’s first performance in December 2008. The play was titled Matchbox – Soap – I Disappeared, and in it the players told stories from their own childhoods. In 2009 they put on a play called Lego – What would you like? as well as a coproduction with the actors of the Csokonai Theater called F.A.L. At the end of October 2009 we organized a national festival, titled “University Theater Space I. – ESZTi akartátok.” Theater companies from Budapest, Veszprém and Szeged took part in the festival, and the Színláz Company presented the three plays mentioned above. These plays also were performed at an event called “Panel Theater – Fest in the Room,” which we organized in cooperation with the G.I.D.A. Association.
In addition, we presented Calderón by Pier Paolo Pasolini for the first time before the festival audience. (Calderón was invited to the Színváltások University Festival in November 2009 in Budapest, organized in the famous place known as Tűzraktér.) The following year we also took part in the Színváltások University Festival in Budapest and in the National Theater Festival of Pécs, with Függés by Zita Izsó.
The Színláz Company is supported by the Faculty of Arts’ Student Union, but we also have joint professional programs with the István Pálffy Special College and the foreign language departments’ companies (e.g. English and Italian). We are supported by the Csokonai Theater as well. We also maintain partnerships with the literary groups LÉK and DEIK.