Publications
Miracolul de la Cluj și M.I.S.A.PĂRUT
Petro Ionescu, Alexa Băcanu, Ovidiu Țichindeleanu, Gabriel Andreescu and Miruna Runcan, 2019
We set out to make this book with the wish to bring together some of the performance texts written in recent years at Reactor de creație și experiment. We initially planned an anthology — Reactor has produced over 30 shows, most on new and original texts — but for a start we settled on Miracolul de la Cluj and M.I.S.A.PĂRUT, two of the more recent productions. Both were created within the shared framework of the Exerciții de democrație project. Investigating recent history, and both are grounded in rigorous research into the subjects they address. More than mere supports for performance, these texts are self-standing dramatic works that can be read independently.
Miracolul de la Cluj unpacks the mechanics of the Caritas scheme, which defrauded millions of people in the early '90s, while M.I.S.A.PĂRUT follows society's violent reactions to MISA and its members, amplified in the 2000s by a sensation-seeking media.
For these productions, research and documentation were an essential part of the process, with contributions from all the artists involved. We carried out a series of interviews with the playwrights, directors and actors of the two shows, seeking to understand how one can approach documenting a case, a phenomenon or a story, how the gathered information is digested and turned into performance material, and what a piece of documentary theatre can offer in terms of clarifying or understanding recent history.
To round these out, some context and an overview were needed. Ovidiu Țichindeleanu's text sketches the social, political and economic background of the '90s — the mix of instability, confusion, enthusiasm and hope that made the Caritas pyramid scheme possible; Gabriel Andreescu traces a brief evolution of the Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute and the abuses suffered by MISA members; Miruna Runcan's text closes the book with a perspective on how the two shows were received.
I hope this volume will be followed by others that bring forward recent Romanian playwriting and the working practices of artists who address contemporary social and political subjects in their shows.
Reactor 10
Hogman, Ioana (ed.), 2024
Beyond taking the form of an act of celebration and of recovering the intangible heritage of the Reactor de creație și experiment space, the volume Reactor 10 uses the occasion of 10 years of activity to examine recurring themes and practices, held under continuous questioning, which often express the need for systemic change in the cultural sector. At the same time, the publication takes on the role of formulating intentions for the future, stated individually or unanimously adopted by the collective around the space.
A collective volume conceived and edited by Ioana Hogman
authors (in order of appearance):
Ioana Hogman, Oana Mardare, Mihai Păcurar, Doru Taloş, Petro Ionescu, Mihaela Michailov, Oana Cristea Grigorescu, Selma Dragoș, Alexa Băcanu, Lucia Mărneanu, Olivia Grecea, Leta Popescu, Dragoș Mușoiu, Raul Coldea, Rariţa Zbranca
Texts accompanying the photographs: Mihai Păcurar, Cătălin Filip, Cristian Ban, Selma Dragoș, Leta Popescu, Robert Kocsis, Oana Hodade, Oana Mardare, Lucia Mărneanu, Diana Dragoș, Raul Coldea, Doru Taloș, Petro Ionescu, Delia Gavlițchi, Dragoș Mușoiu, Tavi Voina, Olivia Grecea, Ioana Hogman, Andrada Balea, Ana Maria Marin, Alexandru Condurat, Andreea Ajtai, Raluca Mara
Transcript excerpts by: Alexa Băcanu, Lorena Copil, Raluca Bugnar, Ovidiu Caița, Oana Mardare, Valentin Oncu, Robert Kocsis, Doru Taloș, Adriana Creangă, Raul Coldea, Petro Ionescu, Silvia Netedu, Cătălin Filip, Zsolt Csepei, Șerban Pop, Tímea Udvari, Lucia Mărneanu, Cristian Ban, Carina Bunea, David Schwartz, Anda Glișcă, Denisse Moise, Panna Adorjáni, Csenge Adorjáni, Radu Dogaru, Adrian Tudoran, Bogdan Olarson,
Cătălin Sânpetrean, Nicoleta Esinencu, Ionela Pop, Teona Farmatu, Oana Hodade, Leta Popescu, Ramona Sângerean, Tavi Voina, Ioana Țurcan, Roxana Țentea, Marius Mornea, Ileana Anton, Tudor Gliga, Ana Rednic, Dragoș Mușoiu, Călin Deneș, Andrada Balea, Oana Jipa, Sinkó Ferenc, Grațiela Bădescu, Botond Nagy, Claudiu Urse, Ioana Toloargă, Iris Kovacs, Dorian Leonte, Alina Nelega, Alexandra Voivozeanu, Kata Győrfi, Andreea Tănase, Alexandra Pâzgu, Alex Mircioi, Eliza Păuna, Selma Dragoș, Anca Munteanu, Cosmin Stănilă, Ovidiu Cioclov, Andreea Ajtai, Delia Gavlițchi, Ana Cucu-Popescu
Identități. Antologie de piese Drama 5
Oana Hodade (ed.), Selma Dragoș, Alex Mircioi, Rin, Gabriel Sandu, 2025
The volume brings together four plays written over time as part of the Drama 5 playwriting residency, organised by Reactor de creație și experiment in Cluj-Napoca, thematically united by the issues around sexual and gender minorities that they address.
The play "Tatăl meu, preotul" ("My Father, the Priest") by Gabriel Sandu was written in 2016, during the first edition of the residency, close to the family referendum, and tells a story inspired by a real case of a priest active in the movement to change the constitutional definition of family, and his relationship with his gay son. "Toate astea vor fi ale tale" ("All This Will Be Yours") by Selma Dragoș (2020) tells the story of a queer woman who inherits a house in the provincial town where she was born. Her attempts to take possession of the house and build a family there with her partner clash with the varying degrees of reluctance shown by a familiar, motley group of neighbours, relatives and fellow townspeople. "Teo&Emi trăiesc istorie (melodramă queer în 4 acte)" ("Teo&Emi Live History — a Queer Melodrama in 4 Acts") by Alexandru Mircioi (2022) traces the love story between two men in an alternate Romania where same-sex marriage has just been legalised. Over the several decades they spend together, the two change, drift apart and come back together, consumed by the small dramas of their lives and by the larger events reshaping the world around them. In "Miceliu – manifest pentru contaminarea dintre specii" ("Mycelium — a Manifesto for Cross-Species Contamination", 2023), Rin tests a radical, all-encompassing empathy in which the invisible connections between organisms become visible, and the language used, sidestepping any gender distinction, strives to reflect this new perspective on life, opening up an important discussion about the relationship between language and thought, inclusivity, and the possibility of changing systems of ideas.
The four plays are accompanied by interviews with their authors conducted by Oana Hodade, as well as two contextualising texts written by Alexa Băcanu and Bogdan Georgescu. (Oana Hodade, editor).
