The recurring patterns of history, the global warming,  the human race decay in a decaying world and love as the only possibility to escape reality are the themes of the most recent works presented by three of the most talented contemporary Romanian playwrights in a recent reading performance at the LARK Development Play Center, New York.

The readings of Gianina Carbunariu and Peca Stefan are the result of the Artslink Residencies they have been awarded this year, benefiting also from the support of Romanian Cultural Institute's New Drama Support Program (artistic director: Saviana Stanescu). The two playwrights worked in collaboration with the LARK Play Development Center and the Long Wharf Theatre, respectively.

Saviana Stanescu is a well-known Romanian playwright residing in New York City. She is currently a NYSCA playwright-in-residence with Women's Project and writer-in-residence for East Coast Artists. She also teaches in the Drama Department of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

Listening to their works-in-progress, I had the feeling that the Romanian drama is on the edge of a very important change. A more "out of the box" (where box = Romania) way of dealing with reality has changed these authors' voices and perspectives. Living in such a multi-cultural space as New York, even for a short time, probably contributed a lot to this change. I am not sure if purposely or not all three authors focused on universal issues of  "the more or less distant future", past and present - to paraphrase the title of Geanina's play.  Redefined about five years ago by DramAcum movement, to which many young Romanian playwrights subscribed, Romanian drama focused for a while on local, "now and here" issues: sky rocking prostitution, abandoned children, corruption etc. The same phenomenon occurred in Romanian movies and music. Extremely talented Romanian artists made themselves a title of honor by working on ghetto style projects, considered very trendy and believed to sabotage the arthritic official cultural establishments who, on their part, continued without blinking to distribute public funds based on very shaky criteria. As the world is opening more and more to Romania and projects like this will become more common, the challenge will be to adjust the dramatic text to different cultural contexts.

Beyond these general considerations, all the three texts presented on November 7th at Lark Theatre were interesting and very well written. Saviana Stanescu brought us a delicate and powerful text entitled For a Barbarian Woman, in which she attempts to make a parallel between the Roman and the American values infused in to the Romanian space, with a historical gap of 2000 years. Her  "Black Sea" character, witnessing both the Roman invasion and the recent American... arrival on its shores, is one of the most vivid characters I ever saw on a theater scene. Stefan Peca with his Gigantic delighted the auditorium with a hyperbolic love story. Geanina Carbunariu presented four scenes (out of seven to be written) of A More or Less Distant Future. Written with wit and a high sense of humor, each scene presents a snapshot of a decrepit human race facing a decaying environment and inner values. The actors' performance was highly professional and the evening overall was very dynamic and enjoyable.

A panel, “Play Development in Romania and the U.S. – Deepening the Relationship between Artists and Institutions”, followed the readings, with the participation of Beatrice Basso (Long Wharf Theatre), John Clinton Eisner (LARK Play Development Center), Fritzie Brown (CEC ArtsLink), Oana Radu (Romanian Cultural Institute) & the playwrights, and the need for fruitful cultural exchanges was briefly discussed.  

I will emphasize the importance of Saviana Stanescu's role in this event. A true visionary, Saviana has been facilitating cultural exchanges between Romania and US for the last six years, since she first came to New York in 2001. This event has been possible mainly because of her dedication and enthusiasm. She was also involved, along with the Romanian Cultural Institute, in editing roMANIA after 2000, the first anthology of new Romanian drama published in the United States - launched also a few days ago. The anthology introduces American readers to five important emerging Romanian playwrights and their plays that address resonant issues of a post-totalitarian society on its way toward democracy and a new European identity:  Stop The Tempo by Gianina Carbunariu, Romania. Kiss Me! by Bogdan Georgescu, Vitamins by Vera Ion, Romania 21 by Peca Stefan, Waxing West by Saviana Stanescu. The book was edited by Saviana Stanescu and Daniel Gerould, translated by Saviana Stanescu and Ruth Margraff, and represents a joint initiative of the Martin E. Segal Theater Centre and the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York, with support from RCI’s Translation and Publication Program. The Romanian anthology launch was in a very good company: BAiT— Buenos Aires in Translation (also published by MESTC) is the result of a collaboration between four of the most important contemporary playwrights from Buenos Aires, pairing them with four cutting-edge US based directors and their ensembles.

Adina Dabija

New York, November 9th 2007