Ţăndărică Puppet Theatre was founded in 1945 and its first section was that of marionettes managed by Lucia Calomeri and the set designers: Elena Pătrăşcanu, Alexandru Brătăşanu, Lena Constante and Ileana Popescu. The first team included the director Nicolae Massim and the puppeteers: Dorina Tănăsescu, Antigona Papazicopol, Lucia Georgescu, and others. In 1949, Margareta Niculescu (now honorary president of UNIMA), the new manager of the theatre, founded the puppet section together with Renee George Silviu (director) and Ştefi Nefianu, Fifi Bradu, Rita Stoian, Carmen Stamatiad (puppeteers). Later on other artists, among which: Liviu Ciulei, Ella Conovici, Ioana Constantinescu, Mioara Buescu (set designers), Ştefan Lenkisch (director), Brânduşa Zaiţa Silvestru, Justin Grad, R. Zolla, Mihai Pruszinski, Costel Popovici, Valeriu Simeon (puppeteers) worked at the theatre. Well-known directors also staged performances here: Radu Penciulescu, Silviu Purcărete, Cătălina Buzoianu, Victor Ioan Frunză, Ildiko Kovacs, Irina Niculescu, Felix Alexa, Ion Caramitru, etc.
Before 1989 performances were staged that introduced new means of expression in animation theatre: Humor on Strings, The Little Prince, Apolodor's Book, The Three Wives of Don Cristobal, Me and Dead Matter, Cabaret-tissimo, Peter Pan, Ninigra and Aligru, Pete and the Wolf, Tyl Eulenspiegel, Petrushka, Don Quixote. Ţăndărică Puppet Theatre was host of four editions (1958, 1960, 1965, and 1998) of the International Festival of Puppet Theatres. In 1978, the theatre was awarded the Erasmus Prize for its important contribution to the development of an aesthetic profile of the contemporary puppet theatre. The theatre toured a lot and participated in many festivals all around the world, receiving many prizes for creation or interpretation. Its well-known nocturnal shows may be considered part of its resistance to the communist regime .
Between 1986 and 1999 the theatre's manager was Michaela Tonitza-Iordache, under whose leadership important performances were staged such as: A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Assembly of Birds, The Tempest, operas with puppets: Cinderella, Bastien and Bastienne, The Barber of Seville, as well as other successful titles: Puss-in-Boots, Pinocchio, Harap Alb.
From 2000, the manager of the theater is Călin Octavian Mocanu, who is also General Secretary of UNIMA Romania (the director Cristian Pepino is President of the Romanian section) . The theatre has had a consistent strategy in selecting the repertory. A large portfolio of titles from the great classical Romanian and world literature: Păcală (The Prankster), The She-Goat with Three Kids, Puss-in-Boots, The Three Little Pigs, Snow White, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Cinderella, The Beauty and the Beast, The Sleeping Beauty, Tom Thumb, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Purse with Two Coins, etc.
Another direction of management's strategy is to support the artistic débuts of young creators (directors, set designers, etc.).
In order to draw the adults' attention we created the Animart experimental studio, where we perform Faust and Candide, free adaptations of the well-known masterpieces. Every year we organize the Joy for children. Top notch shows International Festival, now at its fourth edition.
The theatre was awarded a great number of prestigious prizes in national and international contests: The National Prize for Puppets, The Originality Prize, The Prize for Cultural Interrelations in the Theatrical Art, The Grand Prizes at festivals in Tolosa, Prague, Botoşani, Galaţi, etc.
In 2004, the Lahovari Hall was completely renovated and since then, every year 75.000 children have been visiting our theatre. In 2008 Ţăndărică Puppet Theatre changed its name to Ţăndărică Animation Theatre.
