Lighting expedition extraordinaire to Romania

Mike and John Watson from Creative Lighting Design are helping out with a Romania theatre project.  Logos theatre project Bucharest Romania

A few years ago I met the international theatre director Oswald Geyer and his theatre Company at the Goetheanum Switzerland during the summer theatre arts festival where I was giving lighting design workshops.

Oswald Geyer has over 30 years’ experience of the professional theatre as an actor playing 70 roles, and as director in his native Romania, Germany and Austria. A few years ago Oswald decided with great determination and vision to set up the Logos theatre company in Bucharest.

Four years ago the theatre building (an almost ruined shell ) was given to them by the Romanian government to use as their theatre. With very little funds they have mended the roof, rebuilt and decorated the interior.

There are 8 professional actors who come from various theatre acting backgrounds, who are now working using Rudolf Steiner’s speech and drama course, under the artistic direction of Oswald Geyer.

The actors earn around £70 per month and they themselves have put in the heating, and pulled out all the rubbish and transformed it into a warm friendly theatre.

I promised to help Oswald when I met him at that summer conference, I offered to gather a number of nearly new stage lights and dimmers and a lighting control desk and somehow take them to Romania. My Son Mike flew out there last November to make a further assessment of the electrical, stage and auditorium needs. 

Mike spent 2 weeks sleeping in their office, and making a short documentary film about them. Logos theatre has to make most of their income, by going out to schools as much as possible, and presenting a wide variety of children’s theatre such as Grimms fairy tales and a wonderfully an award winning of Snow White. 

Mike was very impressed by the dedication and hard work of the company, considering they have no real funds. The logos theatre does not yet have a web site, as they do not have the funds for a computer, at the moment a very old computer belonging to one of the actors just about runs email but even this keeps breaking down.  

 We have designed a portable lighting set up that will enable them to use lights for their highly acclaimed touring children and adult shows, (Faust, and Peer Gynt being their new shows) and a greater number of other lights will go into their main theatre. We have collected and refurbished about 30 stage lights so far and have just had a promise of a few more. 

Stage lighting  Companies   Would you like to help by looking through your old stock and donating anything that is just taking up space in your stores.  We are on the look out for any type of serviceable DMX dimmer packs, or more any lighting stands or T Bars, filters, socapex cables, and useful accessories that you may like to pass on. 

or schools   connect your citizenship project  with drama and have fun giving a lunch time band concert.  

This July Mike will take equipment out to them in his 101 forward control Gas converted Land Rover. This vehicle is larger than the standard Land Rover  “you should see the roads out there pot holes as big as cars” says Mike.

He realized this would also be a great opportunity to take toys and maybe medical equipment out to the children that have been found new homes by the charity “Hope and Homes for Children”  (our daughter Ellie worked for them as a volunteer for a year in Croatia.)

They are a small charity who have managed to close several of those awful orphanages in Romania where hundreds of children were tied to cots, some for over 3 years. Hope and Homes for children is now recognised by UNICEF as a leading charity establishing alternative local family based care services which have transformed the lives of hundreds of children. Just recently HHC managed to find loving families for over 200 children in Bihor, Maramures. For more information about the work of Home and Homes please visit www.hopeandhomes.org    

 We estimate that it will cost of about £1500 to make the trip to Romania, which once there will be much appreciated.  

If you would like to support us in this project in any way either with, lights, toys, a computer, or make a donation  “Logos theatre project”  or to help us in any other way please contact me at john@light-design-ed.demon.co.uk 

  Your help will make a difference for the young and generations to come.

 Many thanks 

John and Mike Watson

Creative Lighting Design  

o ther projects