On the 30th of May, a group of young and unconventional theatre professionals from Romania and Italy explored the possibilities of the “2032 SMART-FAMILY” technological matrix, working together simultaneously at Teatrul George Ciprian in Buzău (Romania) and Everest – Spazio alla cultura of Industria Scenica in Vimodrone (Milan, Italy). The first part of the workshop focused on acting with telepresent stage partners, while the second part was dedicated to Ogmios Z42, the robotic puppet custom-built for our performance. It was an intense day, in which we discovered new expressive possibilities both in terms of telepresence and robot acting. Plus, we had loads of fun, playing aliens, scientists, and various robot characters interacting with humans. 😉
 
Participants in Romania: Teodor Delciu, Selma Dragos, Maria-Manuela Dușa, Alina Neagu, Victor Podeanu, and high-school student Cezar Pantazi (who we know will become a robotics star in the near future).
 
Participants in Italy: Domenica Bernini, Miriam Costamagna and Andrea Lopez (Drogheria Rebelot), Federico Espositi, Carola Maternini.
Workshop coordinators: Camilla Brison (IT), Paola Cagna (IT), Smaranda Găbudeanu (RO), Marina Hanganu (RO).
 
Technical director: Cristian Iordache (Ygreq Interactive) (RO)
Robot by Bucharest Robots (RO) – prof. ing. Marius Dumitrescu, CEO Ana-Maria Stancu and Ygreq Interactive.
 
Technical team: Filippo Di Dio (IT), Adrian Dragoman (RO), Gabriel Ilie (RO), Gheorghe Ilie (RO), Agnese Manzella (IT).
 
The workshop was part of the dissemination phase of “Tele-Encounters: Beyond the Human”, co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.