February 25th 2025.
Lorena, Inna, Denis and Jessi are four students at the Technological High School in Lechința, Bistrița-Năsăud county, Romania. They want to become IT specialists, interior designer… And be happy! They do not practice any art form except listening to music, but they have organised, with the great support of Teodora, an English teacher at the high school, what was going to be the first professional cultural event of the village.
It all started with Teodora’s wish to bring a specific performance to Lechința: Copilul care nu știa de ce merge la școală/by Selma Dragoș (in English: the kid who didn’t know why he went to school) and ZBENG (cultural) company. The issue she encountered was the lack of fundings to organise this event.
Later on, she got contacted by the structure Shoshin Theatre based in Cluj-Napoca. This association is part of the European project: SPARSE Plus. Teodora has been asked to become a Local Promoter for Lechința which she accepted: this was her opportunity to present the show she wanted to her school.
She involved her colleagues and a few students at the Technological High School of Lechința: Lorena, Inna, Denis and Jessi. We had the pleasure of meeting them online for one hour to capture their experience as local promoters.
To the question: How did you get to know about the Sparse Plus project and what made you want to participate? They all answered that their teacher Teodora told them about the project.
Lorena: Were very excited to participate because it is a good opportunity to help other people which is a very good thing to do.
Denis: I wanted to participate to the project because I had a nice time with my friends, helping other people and knowing other people. And learning a lot of things and having fun!
Jessi: I am in this project because I want to do new things, and I like to help people. I like having fun helping people.
Inna: I found it interesting and, it’s so funny!
Question: what have you learned from the project? Can you describe what you did to help, to make this project, this event happen? What you specifically did the four of you?
Lorena: I think we learned to help people. It was very fun to go with my friends and tell everyone that there was a theatre and invite everyone. We put posters on the streets and went to a lot of magazine and stores and asked them to put posters there and told people from there that we have a theatre, and we posted on social media like Facebook to help other people to see and we told in our school everything.
Denis: I personally learned to speak with other people, usually I don’t speak. Like we were going to shops and asked for permission to put the poster, usually we don’t do that. We go, we buy, and we get out, that’s it. But that time we were going in, asked for permission if the person refused that’s it, we went out, a little bit sad but next shop! And it was fun to go with my friends and post the posters.
Jessi: well for me it was the organisation of the theatre, and we were organising people and all. We were putting chairs and tables for everyone to stay there. That was funny. And putting posters. I remember the preparing of the performance better than the posters.
Inna: It was interesting to participate and see how it is to organise a performance and what it means. And also going out with the posters and promoting and doing this together.
Question: Do you have an anecdote or a funny story of the event or about the preparation?
Lorena: We had a lot of fun and we have a lot of stories even when the show start, we were very excited because people were there and we were in the back, we were looking at them, trying to make them happy because they were there and make them understand why they were there. And when we were putting posters in our town, it was like Denis said, it was very hard to do because we never speak to people like that, we never told somebody “can I do something to your store and put something on your window?” (laughs) it was very fun and we loved that!
Denis: It was funny to see people coming because of us putting the posters, spreading the word.
Jessi: I liked when I saw people read the posters. I felt proud of me because I put the poster there. And when the people arrived in the theatre, I was proud because it was because of us.
Inna: It’s the same thing with the posters, going out and asking people, doing this kind of communication about asking for permission, having this negotiation. It was something new.
Daniela Rimei (AMAT): I really think you should be proud of yourselves.
Lorena: trust me, we are! We are very proud.
Question: Were there any difficulties that you have had to deal with?
Lorena: to be honest, people were nice in our help, and nobody rejected us, but it was; we were very shy because we never did that before. But after we did it, we were proud by us.
Question: What has been the best aspect of this event? Of this project? Of the show?
Denis: it was amazing, the people that recreated the scene, the artists. It was funny, communicative and it was good to help them, to be with them, to learn from them some things.
Question: if tomorrow your teacher was telling you “We are doing another event this summer, would you be ok to participate again?” what would you say?
Lorena: Yes! With no hesitation!
Question: If you could decide which kind of show to organise for your village, for your friends and parents and anyone you know, which kind of show would you like to organise?
Jessi: I think of a comedy show or something like that, something funny because it’s more pleasing to people.
Denis: comedies because they are funny. Because they are comedies and a lot of people like them, who doesn’t like comedies? I don’t think there is a man or a woman that doesn't like comedies.
A few words from Teodora: I don’t teach their class, but I think that they are a blessing, they are the kind of students that you would always want to have and because they are very responsible and trustworthy, and they really get involved. As a teacher when you are in school, and you get this kind of students you just want to keep them and not let them go. So, I really enjoyed collaborating with them.
About the performance: The performance was made after a workshop were director worked with some students in Cluj-Napoca for a couple of times, they were doing creative writing, and they wrote stories so most of the stories were based on the events happening in school. After the workshop finished the director took the stories and created this kind of a performance. She also added things; she didn’t base everything on the stories, but she added some of her own inputs into the performance. It’s simple, it doesn’t have too many things in it, but the actors played and acted very well the kids and they kind of portrayed what is happening in a normal class in primary school, like 3rd grade or 4th grade.
