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Romnja_Theaterkollektiv_by_Kasimir_Bordasch_1

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Rom*nja Power Theater

**Rom*nja Power Theater Collective**

Romnja Power Theater Kollektiv

Year of foundation of the theater	2017
Place:	Berlin, Germany
Leader of the theater:	Joschla Weiß
Main artists:	Joschla Weiß - leader of the theater, actress, dancer Simonida Selimović - actress Sandra Selimović - actress Safet Mistele - dancer, choreographer Joe Rain - actor, dancer Estera Stan - actress Roxie Thiele-Dogan - social worker, actress

"The transgenerational transmission of trauma is sensitively circled, the clash with the white majority society is staged all the more violently."

- Ute Büsing, journalist, about Rom*nja City, RBB24

"The Romnja Power Theatre Collective creates its own theatre stories, dance forms and songs, inspired by our rich cultural heritage, but developed from a contemporary perspective. It does not confirm entrenched clichés. It produces new images by telling the diverse realities of Rom*nja on the one hand. On the other hand, this theatre creates utopias, showing possibilities of how a future of Rom*nja and Sintizze could be. Queens and Kingstyle."

- Joschla Weiß, artistic leader of the Rom*nja Power theatercollectiv and actress

About the theater

Founded 2017, the art label Rom*nja Power Theaterkollektiv focusses on showcasing romani actors and actresses, productions and themes in the world of film and theatre. Intergenerational and intersectional exchange of knowledge within the community is central to our work: Romani and Sintizzi professionals pass on their expertise to the next generations. As well as a strong feministic art approach.

In this context, we understand feminism as a call to action, as an overall social critique of anachronistic systems. Feminism as the utopia of a space free of domination. This understanding of feminism is clearly located in the context of liberation movements, which always assume that liberation is a multidimensional one if we are really to speak of freedom. Thus, the work of the collective is part of a long tradition of feminist, anti-colonial and anti-racist struggles, art and literature.

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OUR WHY
Diversity is on everyone's lips. We know it and everyone is talking about it. The "token Romni" is cast for various film roles. However, it is striking that in the film and theatre landscape few roles are cast that do not conform to the norm. It is even more striking that the last German Actor* Award in 2020 was given to a Romni from the former Yugoslavia and there is hardly any media coverage about it.

Only a few theaters actually employ Roma and Sinti actors. When we see them on stage, it is often to serve certain cliché roles or they are cast as "critical observers" in a mostly white German ensemble. This phenomenon is complex and also affects other racially discriminated groups, such as black people and people of colour.

For Rom*nja and Sintizze artists, the idea arises that a *diversity measure* has long since taken place. Looking at the history of persecution that has persisted for more than 500 years, the German government could, against this historical background, pay special attention to the protection of its recognised minorities.

This does not seem to be the case in Germany. We want to focus on artistic and cultural productions in order to counteract a narrowing of the representation of Sinti and Roma from a position of lack. We

are convinced that this must be a core task of progressive art institutions in the long term.

If theatre is understood as a mirror of society and a transformative means, existing truncated casting regulations fall short. The views on what diversity actually means, which measures should (not) be taken to implement it and when it can be considered successful, also and especially in the arts - and cultural landscape, gape widely.

Curtain up for Roma and Sinti theatre
Sinti and Roma artists were significantly involved in the development and shaping of European theater, even if the common historiography claims otherwise. We want to correct this historiography.

Implicit in this is the creation of different aesthetic practices, poetries and a dramaturgy that dynamically contain different gestures, representational forms and intentions. The artistic contributions of Romani artists from all fields of art and culture, but also the myths, prejudices and clichés that exist about Roma and Sinti in European cultural memory, have always been the greatest sources of inspiration for theater creators, e.g. Carmen, by George Bizet. (Miguel Ángel Vargas and Dragan Ristić, https://www.romarchive.eu/de/theatre-anddrama/ )

The problem is that although they are beautiful to look at, they do not correspond to reality, but run the risk of reinforcing clichés. It is our concern with our production to break new ground that will lead to new meanings and visions of a Roma and Sinti theater and go hand in hand with their needs in Berlin, as a cosmopolitan cultural metropolis.

With this background our productions aim to discover unimagined spaces, a link that can be placed between identity and performing arts, as well as between identity, power and society.

AWARDS

2019
Mete eksi Award for „So kheren amenca?! Forever holiday?!“ for exemplary commitment in the fight against xenophobia, for peaceful coexistence and for a city without racism

Main productions

2021
Hanna Al-Taher, Simonida Selimovic, Rom*nja Power Theatre Collective:
Rom*nja City- City of liberated people. In pursuit of a possible world
(Rom*nja City – Stadt freier Menschen)
*dance theater, online premiere*
D.: Simonida Selimović, Sandra Selimović, Rea Kurmann
COR.: Safet Mistele, Aurora Magri

A dance and theatre production by and with the Rom*nja Power Theatre Collective. Inspired by Bertolt Brecht’s „Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny” in German, English and Romanes.

Rom*nja City is the story of Rita Prgmore and her twin sister Rolanda. In the 1940s German Nazi doctors experimented on them to create a so called superior human race. This is also a story of searching for a utopian feminist City, between reckoning with the past and looking towards a possible future.

Grips Theater (Gripstheater)
Berlin, Germany

2020
Hanna Al-Taher: City of Liberation
(Stadt der Befreiung- Auf der Suche nach einer möglichen Welt)
D.: Sandra Selimović
COR.: Safet Mistele

Howmuch time and Energy to overthrow systems of dominations would we have, were we not preoccupied with surviving? Leila and Carmen have had it and set out on a journey in search of freedom city, a mythical city of liberation and possibility, in search of a feminist Utopia.

Berlin Mitte Theater, Grips Theater
(Theaterhaus Berlin Mitte, Gripstheater)
Berlin, Germany

2017
Hanna Al-Taher: Forever holiday?!
(So kheren amenca?! Für immer Urlaub)
D.: Sandra Selimović

The play So Kheren Amenca?! / Forever Holiday?! tells the story of two youngsters who were evicted from their homeland. What can a parent do if she gets a letter claiming that her children can no longer live in the land that they believed to be their home? Everything changes and just one thing matters now: what can they do to stay? But there is nothing they can do, they must leave the country. They get deported and that is when their endless holiday starts: visiting distant relatives whose world is incredibly far from that of the young adults. We can learn what kind of challenges they have to face and how they overcome the difficulties.

Romano Svato Theater, Maxim Gorki Theater
(Romano Svato Theater, Maxim Gorki Theater)
Berlin, Germany

Guest performances

Hanna Al-Taher, Simonida Selimovic, Rom*nja Power Theatre Collective: Rom*nja City
2022
-> Grips Theater (Gripstheater)
Berlin, Germany

-> Theater Dortmund (Theater Dortmund)
Dortmund, Germany

->Theater Heidelberg (Theater und Orchester Heidelberg)
Heidelberg, Germany

Hanna Al-Taher: Forever holiday?!
2019
-> Roma Heroes - III. International Roma Theater Festival
Independent Theater Hungary (Független Színház Magyarország)
Budapest, Hungary

-> Grips Theater (Gripstheater)
Berlin, Germany

2018
-> Romnja* Power Month Festival (Romnja* Power Month)
RomaniPhen (RomaniPhen)
Berlin, Germany