in:vzbl Festival—A Festival Dedicated to Rural Communities

The in:vzbl Festival, organized by the Basca Theatre, brought six shows from Serbia, Poland, Hungary, and Bulgaria to Timișoara, Romania in October 2025 and November 2025 specifically to draw attention to life and struggles in rural communities.

The six shows featured interactive performances, forum theatre, stories with ecological themes, and social documentaries with the intention that invisible voices can be expressed in a safe space, hidden problems become visible, individual trauma is transformed into collective healing, and where social isolation is diminished.

As part of the festival, two two-week artistic residencies took place in November 2025, during which two artists from different countries worked together with groups of children and adults from disadvantaged backgrounds to create unique performances.

Broadcast Schedule of the Performance Videos

• Thursday 5 March: (Dez)Rădăcinare/(Up)Rooting by Basca Theatre, Timișoara, Romania
• Friday 6 March: U Potrazi Za Domom/Seeking Home from Mikser, Serbia
• Saturday 7 March: Burza Nad Popradem/Storm Over Poprad by Teatr Tej Ziemi, Poland
• Sunday 8 March: Магистрала/The Highway by Toni Dimov Karabashev Company, Bulgaria
• Monday 9 March: Legjobb Falu/The Best Village by Independent Theater Hungary
• Tuesday 10 March: Izumrli Predmeti/Extinct Objects by Talas Cultural Center, Serbia
• Tuesday 10 March: Live artist panel with artists involved in the 2025 festival

Thursday 5 March 2026 at 20:00 EET (Timișoara, Romania, UTC +2). Convert into your timezone. 

(Dez)Rădăcinare/(Up)Rooting by Basca Theatre, Timișoara, Romania

(Up)Rooting is about where we came from, who we were, who we are, who we want to be, and where we are heading. It's about how we understand to connect or reconnect with a place that many of us have forgotten, from which most of us draw our roots and where the fun, the tragicomic, the fatalism, the eternity, and the habit of politely and reflexively greeting anyone who passes by on the road was surely born.

(Up)Rooting
Text by Andrei Ursu
Directed by Ana Maria Ursu
Actors: Jacqueline Kohl and Andrei Zgăbaia
Set design: Daria Pau
Choreography: Vika Medviedeva
Lighting/sound: Otniel Floruț
 

Friday 6 March 2026 at 20:00 EET (Timișoara, Romania, UTC +2). Convert into your timezone.

U Potrazi Za Domom/Seeking Home from Mikser, Serbia

Seeking Home, inspired by Jelena Vladušić's doctoral thesis, uses photographs as a window into the stories of those who crossed the Balkans in search of a new life. In these images, we see not only migrants, but traces of longing, strength, and questions we all carry with us: Where do we belong? What is home? The stories of women, men, and children are translated into a powerful theatrical experience, performed by two actresses who take on multiple roles in a space that changes before the audience's eyes.

Seeking Home
Dramatization, direction, and stage design by Anđelka Nikolić
Actors: Andrijana Dragnić and Jana Dekanski
 

Saturday 7 March 2026 at 20:00 EET (Timișoara, Romania, UTC +2). Convert into your timezone.

Burza Nad Popradem/Storm Over Poprad by Teatr Tej Ziemi, Poland

The show is inspired by Shakespeare's play The Tempest and Carpathian mythology. It tells the story of Mira, the owner of a guesthouse on the Poprad River, and her son, Arek, who faces family trauma in the shadow of local legends and beliefs. The performance combines shadow theatre, ritual, choreography, and Augusto Boal's "spect-actor" method, drawing the audience into an interactive process of co-creating the performance.

Storm Over Poprad 
Authors: Karolina Fortuna, Andrzej Skowron, Szymon Budzyk
Artistic direction: Szymon Budzyk
Cast: Karolina Fortuna, Andrzej Skowron
Set design: Alicja Gołyźniak
Costumes: Alicja Gołyźniak
Music: Kat Poręba
 

Sunday 8 March 2026 at 20:00 EET (Timișoara, Romania, UTC +2). Convert into your timezone.

Магистрала/The Highway by Toni Dimov Karabashev Company, Bulgaria

The show Магистрала/The Highway is both a comedy and a social drama that tells the story of a small Bulgarian village facing the tumultuous waves of modernization and globalization. The plot revolves around the news that a new highway connecting Bulgaria to Western Europe will pass through the middle of the village. For the inhabitants, this event becomes not just an infrastructure project, but a real cultural and personal upheaval.

The Highway
By Toni Karabashev
Artistic direction by Toni Karabashev
Actors: Ivan Todorov, Igor Damjanov
Set and costume design by Toni Karabashev, Ivan Todorov, Igor Damjanov
Music and choreography by Dobri Kisyov
 

Monday 9 March 2026 at 20:00 EET (Timișoara, Romania, UTC +2). Convert into your timezone.

Legjobb Falu/The Best Village by Independent Theater Hungary

What makes a young teacher, a recent graduate, worthy of starting her journey in a forgotten village, where opportunities are rare and hope flickers like a faint flame? Can her love for children and devotion to teaching be enough to make her stay? What happens when idealism fades, when promises prove empty, and the burden becomes too heavy to bear alone? Would you stay?

The show Legjobb Falu/The Best Village is a story about friendship, belonging, and the power of community, told through the eyes of a young Roma girl and the village librarian, united by their desire to bring life back to their village through the stories they have collected for the "Best Village" competition.

The Best Village
By Márton Illés
Directed by Henrik Nagy
Artistic direction by Henrik Nagy
Actors: Ramóna Farkas and Nóra Nemcsók
Set design by Bálint Knyihár, Péter Lovas
Costumes by Bóróka Nagy
Music by Misi Etlinlinger
Dramaturgy by Tímea Éva Bogya 

Tuesday 10 March 2026 at 20:00 EET (Timișoara, Romania, UTC +2). Convert into your timezone.

Izumrli Predmeti/Extinct Objects by Talas Cultural Center, Serbia

What could a dinosaur and an old cassette player that still purrs softly when you press "play" possibly have in common? They all find their place in this interactive show for children (but also for adults with a childlike spirit), where forgotten objects come to life and become characters, storytellers, or even stage partners. The show uses the magic of old objects—a retroprojector that shows images on the wall, a tape recorder that plays sounds from the past—to tell children an important story about our world.

Extinct Objects
Directed by Irena Antin
Actor: Vladimir Beljic
Visual identity by Konstantinos Petrovic
Production associate: Marina Todic
Graphic design by Nadja Petuhov
 

Tuesday 10 March 2026 at 21:00 EET (Timișoara, Romania, UTC +2). Convert into your timezone.

Live: Artists from the festival in conversation

• Ana Maria Ursu (director) – (Up)rooting, Basca Theater, Romania
• Jana Dekansi (actor) – Seeking Home, Mikser, Serbia
• Henrik Nagy (director) – The Best Village, Independent Theater Hungary
• Vladimir Beljić (actor, producer) – Extinct Objects, Cultural Centre Talas, Serbia
• Karolina Fortuna (director) – Storm over Poprad, Fundacja Sztuka Teatru, Poland
• Toni Karabashev (director) – The Highway, Bulgaria
• moderator: Lucia Lakatos (professional leader) Independent Theater Hungary
   

The in:vzbl Festival is a cultural program co-funded by the National Cultural Fund Administration (AFCN) and the European Union through the Theater in 1 car project.

The project does not necessarily represent the position of the National Cultural Fund Administration. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or how the results of the project may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the beneficiary of the funding.

The Theatre in 1 car project, running from 2024 to 2026, is co-financed by the European Union. The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Union’s Education and Culture Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the funding authority can be held responsible for them.