The end of the season brings yet another fabulous premiere to Reactor! We are talking about the show THE EVENT HORIZON, a production created within the multi-annual cultural program "Metamorphic – collective processes." Here, we cheerfully explore the impact that the multiple crises of recent years have had on our personal lives and our work. The text is beautifully crafted by playwright Ioana Hogman, and the production is directed by the wonderful Mihai Păcurar. Below, you can dive into some of their thoughts on working on this exciting show!

Ioana, what was the context of your artistic research for the text of The Event Horizon?
Ioana Hogman: The initial spark for the project came from Mihai, along with a few delightful sub-plots he shared with me over time. I filtered these through my own perspective during the creative process, with some staying very true to Mihai's original vision, while others delightfully drifted or transformed completely! Beyond these ideas, there were themes we both feel strongly about and have been approaching for a while—perhaps in a much more specific way during this process, guided by some wonderful authors and artists. These themes gather around our relationship with nature, or what each of us perceives as nature, and how it shapes our relationship with the future. I realized that, in one way or another, with every project I have explored the theme of hope, and here I feel I got closest to it! The laboratory stage was absolutely wonderful and crucial because we got to see how our fellow colleagues connect with these themes. The paths chosen for each moment in the text were born right there in the lab, from the performers' improvisations, thoughts, and how they responded to the exercises. It also mattered so much how Alex Gorghe and Robert Kocsis supported this process through their participation in the workshop and their subsequent research of proposed themes. Their approach was unique and incredibly welcome, and this style of documentation is definitely something I would love to try again in an even more structured way!

Mihai, what excites you most when you start working on a show? What do you research? Is there anything particularly on your mind these days regarding your work as a director?
Mihai Păcurar: I have always had a playful difficulty connecting with traditional theatrical conventions! The "contract" signed between artists and spectators is almost always filled with expectations, assumptions, hopes, and indulgences. Even without those little elements, I think there are very specific niches for each of us where artistic proposals truly resonate with our own needs and capacities to receive them. In this light, artistic experiments have a real echo with the audience only when they carry enough recognizable genetic material in their DNA. And that already sounds like a compromise on the experiment itself! That would be the first premise.

The second is the exciting need to use an artistic platform like Reactor to share ideas (often delightfully challenging ones) about how we relate to the world we live in. Perhaps not for all, but for many artists, the urge to open up conversations about how we live amidst global meta-crises is more present than ever. At the same time, I think it is wonderfully healthy to occasionally question the tools we use and how we can elevate our creative environments so that the impact of our work is even more tangible! Unfortunately, I often fall into the trap of urgency, driven by the fast pace at which things slip through our fingers. And then, I get the strong impression that nothing is quite enough, and the need to invite even more conversation partners becomes beautifully urgent!

How did you design the creative process and rehearsals, considering that this show has a wonderfully strong meta-theatrical and self-referential layer? What joys and challenges come with this kind of work?
M. P.: For me, exploring an old-school theatrical convention became incredibly exciting! I did this out of a desire to highlight our slow reaction speed (as individuals and as a global society) to local and global changes, and the slightly clumsy ways we try to overcome them. It is a beautiful illustration of innocence! That is the meta-level of the proposal. On a technical level, once the contract is embraced, a classic narrative convention offers so many wonderful tools for sensory and emotional magic! And luckily, the possibilities of placing post-dramatic elements into a classic container are endless!

The image of artists who, in a not-so-distant future, try to diversify their creative practices as a passionate gesture in the face of climate, social, or economic changes is really about us. It is about trying to stay afloat and keep shining even in the darkest scenarios. For me, it is about resilience and care—two beautiful tools we need no matter how often we change the stage we play on!

Ioana, what is your relationship with this meta approach to playwriting?
I.H.: This self-referential nod to the Reactor space and its joyful celebration of ten years was definitely present in the process, though perhaps not quite as much as I now see was needed, looking back. Until near the end of the process, I saw it as a lovely secondary element—a point of inspiration rather than a permanent anchor. It is one of those elements I would gladly approach differently if I were to start over; I think some of the richness of that anchor slipped away while trying to build content on other topics. As for the meta-layer of playwriting, it is always an intrinsic part of every process for me, taking different shapes depending on the project. I believe the meta-layer is a wonderful playground of freedom that I am still happily learning to fully embrace!

What do you hope to get out of the creative process for this project? Do you view the role of the playwright differently now, given that this text beautifully fictionalizes a future (utopian or dystopian) of Reactor?
I.H.: The role of the playwright in this show was wonderfully unique because, after "Habituation," I tried once again to tell one or several stories! It is not my usual style—especially not with these narrative and dramatic notes—which made it a thrilling challenge. It was also unique because I tried to weave in my fascination with science, though I might have self-censored the level of speculation and playful absurdity in the text just a little too much. I did not think in terms of strictly utopian or dystopian; I simply followed a thread that spun out of my encounter with Mihai, the rest of the team, the authors we read, and how we viewed the world during this writing process. Otherwise, I did what I now realize I always do: I built a colorful lens to view the world, rather than just a theme or a thesis. Oh, and I think I took some bold creative risks that I could not take before! I don't know exactly what the effect will be, but I absolutely cannot wait to try it again and go even further!

How does the shape of the show blend with the content of the play? Did you discover new things from collaborating with the rest of the artistic team?
I.H.: The blend of the show's form and the play's content is a wonderfully exciting experiment in communication! How it will shape up further when it meets you, our lovely audience, is an even more thrilling mystery—I can't wait to see what happens! As for working with the rest of the artistic team, as I mentioned, it was the main spark for building the text. I wrote for these fantastic people, inspired by them and their improvisations, alongside everything generated by Mihai, Robert, and Alex. I do not know how close they feel to what I wrote, but this text is the beautiful result of our meeting, and with six other people, it would have had a completely different, wonderful melody! I say this acknowledging that it was not a fully devised process, and we did not have as much playwright-team consultation as would have been ideal. This was simply due to personal circumstances, but in the end, it is all a lovely exercise in communication—one that I am always happy to practice! Sometimes I get closer to people and my goals, and other times it is a beautiful learning curve.

How do you think the audience will receive the show?
I.H.: I think for the first time, I am simply happy not to make any predictions and just enjoy how the show is received!

M.P.: For the Reactor audience, who has been wonderfully accustomed to post-dramatic experiences for years, the appearance of a classic narrative style behind the fourth wall might feel delightfully refreshing! It offers a way of connecting with the material that is more suggestive than direct, which I hope will gently activate and bloom as you walk back out into reality. I hope I do not sound too bold, but I truly believe in the magic of this experiment, which works with a gradual release of emotion. I love playing with the expectations and reception of a work of art! The context of this meeting makes up more than half of the experience itself. It is a joyful game of anticipation and surprises! For a long time, I have been fascinated by these unspoken games between the artist and the audience, and it is wonderful to use them as part of our creative toolkit. It is so important to keep the vital spark of exchanging ideas alive rather than relying on safe formulas!

That is why I might not use this exact theatrical convention in the future, but it is incredibly rewarding for me as an artist to allow myself to explore these creative desires!

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