Summary of the interview with Rodrigo Balogh
Rodrigo Balogh, director-playwright graduated as an actor in 2001 at the Shakespeare Theater Academy, Budapest. During his studies and afterwards till 2006 worked as an actor in numerous theaters, including RS9 theater. He started to do own theater productions in 2004 and in 2007 founded the Independent Theater Hungary , where he works in a Roma and non-Roma interethnic team in the fields of theater and education focusing on social issues. He has been researching the work of European Roma theaters since 2015, and is the festival director of the Roma Heroes International Roma Theater festival since 2017. He aims to found the European Roma Theater in cooperation with other Roma theaters.
The methodology developed for the Roma Heroes workshops is structured along two main lines. First of all, through these workshops we facilitate open discussion based on contemporary Roma drama texts, with the aim of promoting the themes and values brought to life by the characters and situations in contemporary Roma drama. Roma culture is usually portrayed as being non-contemporary but a traditional one, as a specific one, related only to the Roma community and incapable of contributing to the majority or mainstream culture. The only form in which the Roma culture has managed to penetrate and be accepted in the public space is in its traditionalized, folklorized forms (colorful skirts, dances, fiddle music, handicrafts), which have been tamed and broken by the realities of contemporary experiences. However, contemporary Roma culture exists, is alive, is dynamic and should be supported, especially when elaborating themes that emerge from the universe of Roma life. Therefore, the Roma Heroes Workshops are a response to the urgent need to bring this extremely important, yet under-explored part of Roma culture to young, non-Roma, and especially Roma audiences.
The program also addresses some critical needs of the Roma artists community: the marginality of Roma theater and the lack of permanent institutional support for it, the lack of current cultural products that talk about recent history in a critical and captivating way for a young audience, the lack of a theatrical repertoire that responsibly addresses important issues for understanding the past and the present of Roma communities, low consumption of theater among young people. The project responds to these needs through a methodology that incorporates topics relevant to Romanian society in general, informs – in an accessible and interactive format – the young public about these issues, supports and promotes Roma artists and contemporary Roma cultural production, and promotes theater consumption among young people. As a result, our firm opinion is that any program that uses art as a means to respond to social inequities, to educate young people and develop their critical thinking skills, their empathy and solidarity is worth all the effort and all the enthusiasm one is capable of.
The workshop consists of two sessions and is structured as follows:
During the first session, the youngsters analyze and discuss four plays and four heroes. At the beginning, we discuss in general what makes somebody a hero (What characterizes heroes and their environments? What do they do?) After we get to know the protagonists of the four plays (from short videos which present the focus scene of the dramas). After watching the videos the students can decide which play they would like to work with. We analyze the most important narratives together, difficulties, activity, decision making, action and result.
During the second session the focus is on the personal heroes and hero stories of the participants. We formulate creative messages together. We try to find the hero in ourselves and work with the heroes of the participants with the help of various creative methods (e.g.: theatre scene, visual art, writing). Most of the time when the participants created their personal heroes, they are asked to arrange in couples and form a story about their hero and create their own heroic story. After they share these stories in small groups and others can reflect on them.
The Roma Heroes Educational Methodology can connect to the Joy methodology very well. Their method can be used with any other target group within the context or maybe in a totally different one. Finding our personal hero, and the heroes living around us can empower the self and in this way can help to recognize our hidden skills.
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