A whimsical look behind the scenes: An autofictional work-in-progress journal - Event Horizon / Part II

At the end of June, we are happily getting ready for another wonderful premiere here at Reactor! We are talking about the show Event Horizon, a production created within our multi-annual cultural program "Metamorphic - collective processes". In this piece, we playfully explore the impact that the multiple crises of recent years have had on our personal lives and our work. Read on below for the exciting second part of our creative process - a collage of a (partially) fictionalized personal journal written by the lovely team who worked together on this show.

Oana Mardare 

May 7, 2024

It's the very first day after the Easter holidays!

There were a few little glitches in the system that affected our original plan. We are currently on the first day of the second step of our second stage, and we all agreed we need just one more step to achieve everything we've dreamed of! The workload is grand, and the stakes are delightfully high. We are each focusing on our individual projects, and the distances feel absolutely immense. I worry that soon I won't be able to see our lovely mulberry tree. How will I know if its crown has embraced both windows? What if it swallows the van? What if it sweeps us off our feet and we end up as a cozy little birdhouse in its crown? I fear that when we finally step out of here, we'll want to take our first step on solid ground, but we won't be able to. We'll be suspended in the air. So, we'll just have to cozy up in our birdhouse, because we can't fly. Yet!

Kuku falls.

Ana-Maria Marin

May 11, 2024

ultrasound: quack quack

The energy is absolutely fantastic when I do shows with Szilárd!

Oana Mardare 

Peek-a-boo! May 13, 2024

Who put the mulberry tree on the windowsill? What a funny joke!

We are in the second part of the second stage, so a little creative confusion is only natural!

Robert Kocsis 

May 2024 – Even more days post-reform

I'm not staying at rehearsals today. I'm away! I call Mihai. He fills me in on what's happening, and I am loving this creative trip more and more.

May 2024 – I've lost track of the days post-reform

I'm back! I get to see the video part of the show for the very first time. I am completely focused on it. I feel that by watching this show, the spectator wonderfully edits together everything they see across the entire stage. I absolutely love this concept!

During the break, I go grab a bite with Alex. He takes me to the most wonderfully punk restaurant I've ever seen in Cluj. I feel a bit silly for not knowing about it before, even though I'm a Cluj local!

May 2024 – still post-reform

The lights are up! This is what I’ve been waiting for the most. I can really feel how the ideas we discussed from the very beginning are beautifully coming to life in the project.

Oana Mardare

May 19, 2024

The last day of the second stage.

Today, some wonderful people came to watch us, and I'm not allowed to look away from them!

We draw the blinds and draw our conclusions for the next stage.

Then we head outside to enjoy some sweet mulberries. There are so, so many of them, more than ever before!

Robert Kocsis

June 2024 - yes, yes, yes, post-reform

We're taking a little break from rehearsals. I share my thoughts about the show with Mihai at a relaxed pace. Our chat wraps up just as the rain starts. I can't wait for rehearsals to start again!

June 2024 - even more post-reform

Rehearsals are back on track! We have just a few days left before the big premiere. I can see how much the break helped. The show has become a beautiful world of its own.

Ana-Maria Marin 

June 24, 2078 (premiere week!)

Question of the day: Are the Dogaru brothers, those distant cousins of ours, doing well?

Szilárd Gáspár-Barra

June 24, 2024

Day 2 since my return from sunny Spain. Am I the only one who feels that the most exciting things always happen somewhere else? At least the ones I'd love to join right now! It’s so fascinating how in every creative process you reach a point where you feel incredibly close to your character. When you share almost the exact same thoughts or challenges, you get that wonderful "Aha!" moment... Just like my current dilemma of wanting to be in two places at once. Or wondering if everything we are doing here makes sense... and realizing you can only find out if you go all the way. I've only just arrived! I'm enjoying my noodles while these thoughts flow. The others are already beautifully setting up the space. And as they all pass by, they give me a warm pat on the back, we look at each other, and we smile. And all is wonderfully well, isn't it? Yes! So: Here we go... testing, one, two, good morning, ten-four... let's do this!

Oana Mardare 

June 24, 2024

First day of our third and final stage!

Just a little longer and the mulberry tree will be completely empty of fruit. We'll close the blinds soon and open them again in a week, once the project is complete. We'll go on a lovely vacation, then return in the autumn just as the leaves start to fall. We'll sweep them up. We'll return right here to the hall and keep the magic going!

Our Event Horizon seems beautifully stable now. Things are looking simpler. Inside is like this. Outside is like that. Time is a wonderful constant in motion. Fixed points hold strong for set periods. Set by whom?

Distance. Distance is when you can no longer care. Distance is what happens between knowing what to do and actually doing it. Distance is the sum of our trajectories divided by their number.

ANA-MARIA: But how many trajectories are there?

DORU: I don't know.

Ana-Maria Marin

June 25, 2024 (premiere week!)

Hope walks gracefully through the gate. She enters the hall and takes her seat, ready for the magic.

Mark-Cristopher Demeter

It's Friday, day 397 of rehearsal

The final day. Tomorrow is the big premiere! It's a warm 28 degrees Celsius outside. Not great, not terrible. It's delightfully cool in the hall. Our indoor climate-changing system is doing a fantastic job. I feel a wave of excitement, but it's a wonderfully tranquil kind of excitement. If such a thing exists! Kuku is the most excited of us all. I found him on the floor this morning. He probably took a playful leap off the table during the night. He looks a bit redder today, maybe from the thrill of it all, but he’s moving great! His joints have become more flexible; he's ready to go. After setting up the stage—a task Kuku doesn't help with at all—we start a full run-through. I tap on the virtual keyboard to capture the ideas sparking in my mind. My experiences turn into bright pixels. Pixels that perfectly align with the commands from the processor. Actually, the pixels of an OLED screen and my neurons aren't so different. They are all wonderfully precise. Not a single line goes unsaid. Things are beautifully coming together... some are, some aren't. But if everything were perfectly uniform, it would just be a smooth sphere, with no exciting edges or breaks. The tranquility gets forgotten during the run-through, but afterwards, it returns as the reigning feeling. The evening air is delicious. It's so refreshing you want to gulp down several breaths at once. The gentle breeze feels like butter melting on a warm steak. The air is perfectly balanced. We sit on the courtyard benches, chatting away. A lovely mix of ideas and feelings. We can't wait for tomorrow!