ROMANIA’S FIRST STAND-UP RESIDENCY, EXCLUSIVELY FOR WOMEN COMEDIANS AND ASPIRING WOMEN COMEDIANS
Rhea Platform x The Fool organized Change the punchline!, the first edition of a stand-up comedy residency exclusively dedicated to women comedians and aspiring women comedians.
Over the course of 4 weeks, a series of workshops took place with the edition’s three mentors (Magda Mihăilă, Sergiu Floroaia, Delia Riciu), alongside meetings with two guest speakers (Teodora Nedelcu, Ioana State) and two appearances at The Fool’s open mics. At the end of the residency, we wrapped things up with an open mic night dedicated exclusively to the participants.
The residents:
- Laila Abdel Hafiz
- Larisa Bănuță
- Lidia Borlean
- Jo Brăilescu
- Ana Crăciun-Lambru
- Anca Munteanu
- Antonia Scutaru
- Raluca Strugaru
- Irina Ștefan
- Adelina Toma
Stand up workshops
stand up
For 4 weeks, the stand-up residency took place at The Fool, under the guidance of 5 stand-up and improvisation specialists. We were looking for 7 participants who wanted to write or improve their stand-up material in a safe space, under the guidance of comedy professionals. And we found 10.
MAGDA MIHĂILĂ
Magda Mihăilă is based in France and performs stand-up in Romanian, French, English & Spanish. Seinfeld saw her on The Tonight Show telling one of his jokes to a group of cows, and called her “the future of comedy.” The cows and Jimmy Fallon agreed.
She led a feminist stand-up workshop focused on stage presence, deconstructing gender stereotypes & what-not.
SERGIU FLOROAIA
You may know Sergiu Floroaia as Sergiu from Râzi cu Sergiu și Andrei on Kiss FM, as a stand-up comedian, screenwriter & comedy writer. He opened for Eddie Griffin in Bucharest, wrote for Comedy Central (Show de seară), and is just as funny with a keyboard as he is with his mouth.
He led a joke-writing workshop covering everything this art form entails.
DELIA RICIU
Delia Riciu works in improvisational theatre. She teaches, organizes shows, develops and coordinates performances, and is a performer herself. You can regularly see her at The Fool or at improv festivals across Europe.
She led a workshop in which participants explored the answers to two questions: What do improvisation and stand-up have in common? & What can you learn from improv that can be useful for stand-up?
IOANA STATE
Ioana loves grammar (she dreamed of becoming a Romanian language teacher, and her debut stand-up number was about just that).
She was a guest speaker as part of the project.
TEODORA NEDELCU
Teodora Nedelcu holds a degree in performing arts and has been a stand-up comedian for over 10 years.
She was a guest speaker as part of the project.
The Final Open Mic
The participants got their stage legs at two open mics organized at The Fool, with the third one becoming an evening dedicated exclusively to them. Each of them took to the stage and tested the jokes they had been working on throughout the residency.
We did a little stand-up school. We changed the way the open mic line-ups look, just a little. You’ll be hearing more from them from now on.
10
participants
4
weeks of workshops
3
open mic nights
partners:
CO-FUNDED BY:
Graphic design: Ioana Trușcă
Photo credit: Alexandra Cojocaru
Video credit: Voicu Mureșanu
Organized by: Artistic Explorations Platform RHEA and The Fool
Media partners: Daily Magazine, Ziarul Metropolis, Happ.ro, Acoperișul de Sticlă, KroniKool.ro
Cultural project co-funded by: Administration of the National Cultural Fund
* The project does not necessarily represent the position of the Administration of the National Cultural Fund. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or the manner in which the results of the project may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the funding beneficiary.
