Point Nemo: A Performer's Playful Thoughts!

This April, we are absolutely thrilled to present Reactor's very first international co-production, brought to life alongside the Cluj Cultural Centre, Pogon (Zagreb, Croatia), and L’arboreto – Teatro Dimora (Mondaino, Italy) as part of the exciting project Stronger Peripheries: A Southern Coalition!

To give you a delightful peek behind the curtain of our performance Point Nemo, the wonderful Alexandra Caras, Selma Dragoș, and Adonis Tanța happily sat down with us to answer a few questions.

You joined the creative team of Point Nemo while it was still in its research phase and even took part in some of that initial journey. What does the artistic process look like for you when working this way? How has this research experience been so far?

Selma Dragoș: For me, the laboratory was an incredibly stimulating experience, full of joy and creative satisfaction! Even though Catinca, Mihai, and Oana already had a concept in mind, the fact that we collaborated by seeking solutions together through our own artistic and personal experiences—with plenty of playful trial and error—meant that I truly connected with and embraced the concept. I probably wouldn't have reached this deep understanding without exploring those choices in detail before rehearsals started in Cluj. Since everyone made suggestions and none of us were experts in the specific languages we were playing with (like board games and social games), we arrived at a wonderful result through approximations, analogies, happy confusions, and exciting 'aha' moments that none of us could have reached alone. Of course, all this excitement came with a little thrill of uncertainty—we had tested ideas on each other and three lovely local volunteers, but we had no guarantee how it would play out with a lively, diverse group of 30 people!

Adonis Tanța: For me, the most magical part of our research was definitely our residency in Mondaino. It was my very first time working in a theatre nestled right in the heart of the forest—such a generous, breathing space both literally and figuratively! If it were up to me, I'd bottled up a bit of that serene Italian atmosphere where we could breathe a little easier. Now, we are feeling the exciting buzz and pressure of the premiere, where the rhythm is a bit different from our cozy forest laboratory! :))

The show’s credits list you all as performers, but you each come from unique artistic backgrounds that shape how you view performing. What does being a performer mean to you in this wonderful context? 

Selma Dragoș: My stage experience is mostly in shadow puppetry, performing, or clowning in children's shows. So, when I was invited to join, I assumed those weren't the only skills that recommended me, but rather my real-world, non-artistic experiences. Today, with just a week left until the big premiere, I still believe my role as a performer in this project will draw heavily on my experience as a facilitator in adult profiling workshops. I think the stage presence I'm aiming for should delightfully combine a bit of the playful, mysterious artificiality of a character with the encouraging neutrality of a focus group leader!

Alexandra Caras: It’s something completely new and wonderfully challenging for me! There are so many moments right now where we don't know exactly how things will unfold, how the audience will react, or what they might refuse to do. Because of this, we get to improvise quite a bit based on the dynamic flow of the performance. It’s thrilling and a little scary all at once! I'm waiting with lots of curiosity and open questions. The core concept is absolutely brilliant, and I think it’s so cool that I get to bring it to life on stage.

How did working together feel, especially since the process is highly participatory and non-hierarchical? What joy and challenges did you find, and how did your roles evolve? How does this collaborative spirit shine through in the performance itself?

Alexandra Caras: This isn't my first time in a project with this kind of collaborative dynamic, so I'm somewhat familiar with it. There’s such a wonderful sense of satisfaction when you feel you've contributed directly to the creative process... A feeling like: 'How cool, they kept my idea!' or 'Ha! Look, my thought inspired someone else and turned into something concrete in the show!' It makes you feel so much closer to the project, more intimate with it, and gives you a special sense of ownership. Of course, there are plenty of creative challenges in this way of working too—it can get tiring or frustrating at times—but that's all part of the magic of our laboratory, and that's where those secrets will stay!

What does this unique style of performance bring to our main theme—the right to a future? How can we still talk about the future in today's world?

Adonis Tanța: First of all, the very format of the show takes a bold step into the future, as it’s not a conventional piece of theatre at all! We tried to explore the concept of a performative game as much as possible, connecting deeply with our current world while imaginatively projecting ourselves into a hypothetical future. In our game, imagination is everything. I believe that as long as we can imagine the very next second, the day ahead, tomorrow, or our golden years, the future exists and we can absolutely talk about it. And honestly, isn't that what we do every single day anyway?