Rogvaiv

ROGVAIV premiered on June 20, 2011 at Teatru Spălătorie, Chişinău, Moldova. ROGVAIV is an Active Art project against all forms of discrimination. ROGVAIV / ROY-G-BIV is the acronym for the colors of the rainbow. It is a documentary-performance addressing the shameless intolerance expressed publicly, with no control or responsibility, by the political leaders and public figures of the Republic of Moldova in 2011. Some of the scenes are re-enactments of actual TV shows, e.g. “Salt and Pepper” and “In-Depth”).

B.G.

The ROGVAIV project is part of the Călcătorie Residency of Teatru Spălătorie. The Project was supported by ERSTE Foundation. Bogdan Georgescu served as project author, playwright, and director. He translated his play from Romanian. ROGVAIV received The Best Performance Prize at the New Romanian Drama Festival, in Timisoara, Romania, 2012.

Characters

Red

Dirk Schuebel, The European Union Ambassador for Moldova

Interpreter

Orange

Dumitru Vicol, Moldavian student, studying in Paris at the Sorbonne

Various commenters on his article

Yellow

Production Assistant

Moderator

Green

Nata Albot, TV producer and host for the show “Salt and Pepper”

John Onoje, immigrant from Sierra Leone to Moldova, recent citizen

Andrei Bolocan, TV show assistant

Viorel Mardare, TV show guest

Blue

Moderator

Victoria Diacon, community member

Elisaveta Volosniuc, community member

Diana Covalciuc, Hippocrates NGO spokeswoman

Indigo

Lorena Bogza, host of the political show “In-depth” on PRO TV Moldova

Mihai Godea, leader of the Democratic Liberal Party

Dumitru Diacov, leader of the Democrat Party

Ion Hadârcă, leader of the Liberal Party

Violet

Angela Frolov, director of GenderDoc LGBT Organization of Moldova

Oleg Brega, journalist and analyst

A Journalist

The gender of the actors playing different parts does not need to correspond to the gender of the character.

Author’s note: In 1864, when the Constitution and the first modern criminal code was adopted in Romania and Moldova, same-sex relationships were not criminalized in any way. In 1995 Moldova removed from its criminal code the article that persecutes homosexuality, adopted by Carol II in 1937, following the model of Nazi Germany, its ally at the time. By June 2011, in Moldova, the anti-discrimination law was withdrawn from debate in the Parliament because it mentions “sexual orientation” as a form of discrimination, along with any other form. The anti-discrimination law is meant to protect, first of all, minorities, against the abuse of authorities and, secondly, to change mentalities. Political leaders make statements such as: “There are some disorders, nature is nature, but that doesn’t imply that we have to put them out there. It’s as if we would take out our sick people from the psychiatric hospital and set them free downtown. I won’t vote.” They abuse the situation for electoral purposes, promising “normal” families.

Red

(House lights on.)

(Note: a “/” in this scene marks an overlap or an interruption.)

Dirk Schuebel:

Good morning!

Interpreter:

Mr. Dirk Schuebel, ambassador of the European Union in the Republic of Moldavia.

Dirk Schuebel:

The honeymoon between the European Union and the Republic of Moldavia is over now.

Interpreter:

The honeymoon between the couple, European Union and the Republic of Moldavia (beat) is over.

Dirk Schuebel:

As I said, the honeymoon is over, now we’re a real couple and it’s time to start working together /

Interpreter:

As I used to say, the honeymoon is over, now we became a real couple and it is time to work together.

Dirk Schuebel:

/ . . . live together and support the same positions and same actions . . . /

Interpreter:

/ . . . to live together and to send out with the same messages and the same actions.

Dirk Schuebel:

This is a more positive report, than a negative one. Still, no miracles happened, but nobody expects miracles.

Interpreter:

This is a more positive than a negative report. There...