Fresh Start VII: Celebrating Fluidity and Breaking Through!

As usual during the summer, we make room for creative residencies here at Reactor, and the end of August brings the wonderful results of our seventh Fresh Start edition! Our fantastic team of 9 residents is working incredibly hard on their upcoming show "Mă împart la zero" (Divided by Zero), which they will joyfully present on August 30 and 31, starting at 8:00 PM right here at Reactor. But before the big nights, we wanted to hear all about their exciting 2-month journey, so we asked them a few fun questions!

You started the creative process for this show in a very unique way compared to how traditional rehearsals begin. Looking back now, how was that first stage of work for you, with the residency and workshops at Reactor?  

George Zamfir (Zippo): I think the workshops really brought us closer together! On the very first day at Reactor, we were all a bit shy, not knowing what to say and tired from the road. But after just a few hours of workshops, we were absolutely beaming with energy and smiles! Beyond that, they helped us get to know each other artistically: during feedback sessions, we saw how everyone processed the creative exercises. For me, another big plus was the wide variety of activities we did—I was so excited to jump back into improv games and explore a more physical approach to acting, which is usually quite far from my comfort zone.

Ramona Gherasim: In a way, I felt like I started this process on the wrong foot. I still remember how nervous and anxious I was on the first day! Working with completely new people felt like a huge leap out of my comfort zone, which explains all that initial worry where I genuinely thought I wasn't "cool" enough to be there. But as time went by, all that panic just melted away! Now I can be as silly and cringe as I want in front of my colleagues without a single worry. Plus, the workshops were absolutely amazing at helping us bond as a team, relax, and figure out the artistic direction we wanted for this show.

Hunor Varga: For me, this first stage was incredibly beneficial and important. You rarely find training programs at theater institutions, especially ones based on methodologies like devised theater, which isn't very common in Romanian schools. It was a wonderful introduction to everything that followed. Every member of the team comes from a different background, with different training, discipline, dynamics, and theatrical tastes, so we really needed someone from the outside to bring us together and open us up so we could create magic as one team.

Clara Roman: I think the workshops in the first phase were absolutely essential for us as a group to open up to one another and understand each person's unique way of working. Through these workshops, we discovered our group's special dynamic and how we relate to the project, which was incredibly helpful during the creative process.

Mara Solomon: The workshops we did at the beginning of the residency were surprisingly fun! It was honestly the absolute best way to break the ice and let go of our inhibitions. 10/10!

P.S. Next time I meet new people, I'm definitely going to ask them to do a few theater games with me!

How did working together go, considering the plan was to use devised theater methods in a non-hierarchical structure? What were the challenges, joys, and how did your roles evolve?

George Zamfir (Zippo): We aimed, at least initially, to work in a non-hierarchical way and slowly transition to a slightly more structured approach. There was always plenty of room for anyone to pitch ideas and solutions in any department. Generally, the moments when we were all perfectly in sync, feeling exactly where we wanted a scene to go, were the most satisfying! The challenges came during creative blocks or when we had too many exciting directions to choose from. We did a lot of improvisations where the entire team participated, including the designers, which was so cool! It's wonderful to have a space where everyone can express themselves artistically, even if you sometimes need a bit of structure (which comes with time).

Irina Balcu: Working together was extremely fluid, and I mean that in the most positive way possible! This fluidity meant that every single member of the artistic team had a say in the production, and the final show truly carries a piece of everyone's heart. However, it also meant we hit creative blocks quite often, leading to rewriting and restaging scenes when we couldn't immediately find our unified voice. So, what we have is a deeply authentic show, but made with a lot more sweat than we expected! :))

Ramona Gherasim: Obviously, the final result is a beautiful compilation of ideas from everyone's minds! I think the hardest part was finding the right way to bring all these ideas together harmoniously and coherently. This hierarchical vs. non-hierarchical system was quite an adventure because we didn't really transition to a hierarchy; we tried to keep shared responsibility alive for as long as possible. The most beautiful thing is that we all contributed to both the process and the final show. We had the chance to work side-by-side and, I hope, we had tons of fun during these intense weeks! I certainly had a blast (except for the super serious, focused moments, of course!).

Hunor Varga: It was a thrilling challenge to work together, especially since we didn't know each other and most of the team had no prior experience with devised theater. The biggest challenge was deciding on the artistic style and direction of the show, which ultimately became a beautiful hybrid form that makes everyone happy! As for my role, I felt like I wasn't just a choreographer; I was an outside observer contributing to everything happening on and off the stage. In a way, we were all sparks of inspiration for each other, from which everyone then built something unique in their own department.

How is this collaborative way of working reflected in the show itself?

Irina Balcu: So many scenes started directly from the actresses' improv exercises! Writing and staging the scenes was also filled with ideas and feedback from everyone. Thus, our show is a boundary-pushing creation, sitting in a magical space of theatrical play—it has a unified, coherent theme, but I feel what we created is, above all, a lively artistic laboratory that has dressed up in its finest performance clothes!

Ileana Zirra: First of all, it is incredibly heartwarming for us to recognize actual fragments from our writing exercises, the inside jokes, discussions, and improvisations we cooked up before we even started putting the show together! And for those of us on the creative team who aren't on stage, that is so satisfying and nice. Even if many ideas were left on the cutting room floor, their essence is still there. I'd say the show holds all the traces of charcoal from an animation that got erased to move to the next frame—and I love that, even if it's something only we can see from the inside.

 What are you hoping for or looking forward to when you meet the audience?

Clara Roman: I really hope we can fully enjoy meeting our wonderful audience, without any pressure or stress, and without worrying if everything is absolutely perfect. This creative process doesn't end with the premiere; it just enters a exciting new stage, and the show will keep growing. I'm expecting a warm, open, and understanding audience. I hope we all laugh together (and maybe share a few touching moments, too!)