I am thankful to have been invited to work in this small town located on a plane in the mountains about halfway between Pitesti and Brasov. This was an opportunity to discover life outside of the big cities in Romania. From the terrace of my Pensiune I could see the green hills surrounding this town. Its location must have been a natural trading hub as travelers made their way across the
mountains to Transylvania.

This project with the cultural administration of the city was first instigated in 2021.
In an effort to develop a local park into a cultural garden, the citys administration teamed up with Amfiteatru Foundation to seek funding from the EEA Grants. As their Norwegian partner I wanted to engage local citizen to participate in a performance. Together with musician Inger Hannisdal we developed a show exploring solo pieces from Shakespeares plays. Having studied these texts myself as a drama student in London, It was a pleasure to work with young people finding their own interpretations of these classical texts.

_{The Casa Armatei}

In our performance we used excerpts from The Merchant of Venice, King Lear and Romeo and Juliet among others. Musician Inger Hannisdal is not only a composer and a highly skilled musician, she also conveyed stories and myths surrounding the traditional Norwegian harding fiddle. The audience had the pleasure to discover traditional music from Norway, performed alongside some of Hannisdal’s own tunes.

_{The audience was exited to learn about the Harding fiddle.}

This experience reminded me of the beauty and pleasure we discover when we engage in creativity and arts. The project brought us together in a few brief weeks and we were reminded of the universal nature and breath of Shakespeares works. As texts, they transcend cultural differences and and time, finding their echoes in young voices seeking their own paths.

I thank the administration of the Casa Cultura for welcoming me and giving me the pleasure to learn a little about an old town the was once ruled by the Negro Voda.