We can equate this today referred to by Patrice Pavis in the quoted fragment with most of the long history of theatre from the end of the 19th century to the present. Emerging as a reaction to traditional modes of staging, experimental theatre sought to explore new artistic languages, new ways of communicating and relating to the audience. Innovation, polemic, risk, overcoming conventional limits are just some of the attributes that have always accompanied it.

Theatre and experiment are the central concepts of our conference. What is the role/purpose of experimental theatre? What type of relationship does it maintain with creativity, society and the history of the performing arts? What differentiates it from traditional theatre? Is experimental theatre an elitist art form or, on the contrary, one accessible to the general public? What role does theatre criticism play in the encounter with experimental theatre? What role do specialized universities play/should play with regard to experimental theatre? What type of relationship does the Romanian theatre environment have with stage experimentation? Which were the institutions, personalities, and performances that embraced the difficult and risky path of theatrical experimentation? Since 2025 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of director Gheorghe Harag, a true innovator of theatrical language, who inspired numerous contemporary creators, our conference will have a special section dedicated to him, focused on the experimental side of the performances he directed.

Researchers, cultural workers, teachers, students, artists, all those who believe they can enter into a dialogue based on the proposed theme, are invited to take part in the conference organized by the University of Arts of Târgu Mureș. We invite you to send the abstracts of the papers according to the model that accompanies this call for participation by e-mail (in Microsoft Word compatible format), to conference@uat.ro by November 15, 2025. The conference will be held, in sections, in Romanian, Hungarian, English and French. The scientific committee will select the papers that will participate in the conference before November 20, 2025. Papers accepted through the peer review system will be published in the journal Symbolon, (symbolon.ro), indexed by ERIH PLUS, CEEOL, DOAJ, Crossref, and Google Scholar and classified in category B by CNCS. Website: http://uartpress.ro/journals/index.php/symbolon/pages/ICTS25 .