The Vári Literary Stage was founded in the Buda Castle District in 1968 by engineering students at the Schönherz Zoltán College of the Budapest University of Technology. Their shows were edited and directed by the cultural worker, Tibor Debreczeni. The stage was first and foremost a service to poetry. Debreczeni and his ensemble are credited with the completion of the genre of mimetic and ceremonial oratorios. In 1980, the college moved to a new location, from the Castle to Irinyi Street in Buda, leaving the stage without a venue. Between 1980 and 1985, they worked in a basement in the 8th district, in Lujza Street, under the name of the Szószínház (Theatre of Words).