I was on Romanian TV tonight...
It was for about a second and a half and I was way in the background, but it still struck me as a bit odd. The reason this happened was because I went to watch a couple of our kids in an adaptation of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and the local news was there taping it. They scanned the audience and also interviewed a few of the kid actors. What's really cool is that one of the kids they interviewed was one of our girls. She was so serious and steady. It was wonderful. She said something along the lines of (Dia translated for me), "This was my first role and I like playing [theatre] and I want to play until my last role". Now, you can't get much more logical than that. ( :
On a more serious note, this news spot could have a good impact because it allows some Roma children to be positively viewed in the mass-media. The director mentioned the Roma children who act in these shows (all kids Dia has recruited and helped) were doing a really good job. That may seem small, but it's amazing in light of the attitude towards the Roma in this country and in this city. They'll also get to see themselves recognized and that's got to be a fantastic boost for their self-esteem. Dia taped it and will make sure all three children get a copy.
Apart from the whole news thing, the show was actually quite good despite some technical upsets. It's been interesting to watch this group put on three shows. I hope they do well in the festival they're getting ready for.
We'll be having a small show/workshop of our own on Wednesday evening. I've been trying to help the kids prepare a little play, but I'm not sure we'll finish in time. If we don't, we'll use all the time (rather than only some of it) to show other children some theatre games. There are a few that our kids now know and we'll help them prepare to explain and lead others in playing them.
I have four more full days and most of another day and they'll probably go like this:
Sunday: Day-trip to Deva
Monday: Finish job app, work on project report, plan for session, run session
Tuesday: Work on project report, plan for session, run session
Wednesday: Finish project report, finalize show/workshop plans, show/workshop
Thursday: Pack, say goodbye to the kids, catch my flight back to the UK... and see Kate!!
Somewhere in there I want to finish making some notebooks for the kids as a thank you. I need about 27 and I have 23 that are made, but not decorated (I want to draw something on each one with the kid's name so as to avoid confusion about who's is who's).
Hopefully all this will make it a full and interesting last few days in Romania. ( :