Fear as a Form of Resistance: A Cheerful & Inspiring Political Theatre Workshop on Creative Writing and Critical Thinking!

From April 20th to 25th, we are absolutely thrilled to invite you to a vibrant political theatre workshop led by the wonderful Nicoleta Esinencu!

This workshop aims to explore political theatre, documentary theatre, and theatre based on personal histories, all approached from the exciting perspective of activist and resistance performance!

Throughout this period, we will dive into writing and developing critical thinking with lots of energy! Drawing inspiration from personal stories and local contexts, participants will create heartfelt letters, postcards, and manifestos carrying messages of solidarity to be sent across different neighborhoods of the city. We will create colorful posters, stickers, or stencils calling for civic disobedience, and draft flyers advocating for exciting new forms of social justice, addressing both local and global challenges!

And the fun doesn't stop there! Our goal is to explore and joyfully reclaim public spaces, finding creative, collective ways to intervene and take back what is ours! This workshop isn't just about writing texts for the page or the stage; instead, we will focus on fantastic, concrete actions that bring our messages directly to the heart of the community!

The grand finale of the workshop won't necessarily be a traditional showcase in a theater hall. Participants will explore the local context together and collectively choose the perfect form of public intervention that suits them best! This could be a lively happening, an engaging performance, or other creative activist interventions in public spaces. These actions can range from posters and flyers to recorded messages, sound protests, or powerful monologues shared on stage. Each form will strive to reclaim public space, introducing wonderful new ways to communicate and stand together!

This workshop is warmly open to everyone interested in the theme—whether you are a writer, playwright, artist, student, researcher, or passionate activist!

April 20-25 – 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM

Available spots: 15
Register: Via Eventbook – HERE

Please reserve your spot responsibly, as spaces are limited, and kindly cancel your booking if you can no longer join us for this wonderful experience!

Nicoleta Esinencu is a brilliant playwright and director who lives and works in Chișinău. She studied Playwriting and Screenwriting at the Academy of Arts in Chișinău.  In 2003, during her residency at the Academy Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart, she wrote the play "Fuck you, Eu.ro.Pa!", which was published in 2005 by Solitude Press Stuttgart. That same year, the play was featured in the Romanian Pavilion's reader at the Venice Biennale.  In 2007, invited by the Goethe-Institut Bucharest, she took part in the Public Space Bucharest project with her performance "A(II)Rh+". As part of this project, her first volume of Romanian texts was published by IDEA (Romania) and Walther Koenig (Germany).  In 2008, she participated in the international project "After the Fall," marking 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, where she produced the show "Antidote."  In 2010, along with a creative team, she founded teatru-spălătorie, a wonderful independent artistic initiative. At spălătorie, she and her team worked on a series of performances documenting the social and political life of the Republic of Moldova. In 2019-2020, Nicoleta was a fellow of the prestigious DAAD Artists-in-Berlin program. Her works are published in Romania (IDEA publishing), France (Espace d’Instance, L’ Arche), Germany (Walther Koenig, Solitude Press, Suhrkamp Verlag), Austria (Aramo), Bulgaria, Poland, and beyond! 

This cultural program is co-funded by the National Cultural Fund Administration. The program does not necessarily represent the official position of the National Cultural Fund Administration. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the program or how the results of the program may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the grant beneficiary.