 Although Roma are the largest ethnic minority in Europe, they still experience high level of racism and have to deal with many societal issues. Additionally, Roma are being represented in a very stereotypical way in the media and art world. The Roma theater has more than a century long past with active professional theater groups in many European countries, but unfortunately they are still hardly known. The Roma Heroes Theater Festival initiated by the independent theater Hungary is the only international Roma theater encounter in the world, which have been organized in every year since 2017. Some of the presence artists and their work are introduced in our series. Today my guest is Rodrigo Balov, the writer and director of the play called Shadiz. Rodrigo is the artistic leader of independent theater Hungary and the initiator of the Roma Heroes Festival and this video series as well. And my other guest is Martin Illisch, the drama tour who will also do the translation during our discussion. So hi guys, I hope you are okay. Let's start. My first question is, Rodrigo, could you please summarize very briefly what is the play about? How did the idea come? What inspired you? So please Rodrigo, would you please summarize the beginning of the play, how did it come together, what is your opinion? Yes, the main theme of the play is the foundation of the project. So the independence theater Hungary since it got born always focused on social issues. We always focus on communities and personal stories and work on theater plays in the performance space. We always focus on communities and personal stories and work on theater plays in the performance space. So regarding Shadi's, we got the information that Roma usually live 20 years less than non-Roma people. So we thought it would be important to focus on this topic in the performance. What are the reasons of this low level of the life expectancy? Although in the performances we don't show the reasons directly. But it shows the quiet special situation of the Hungarian house system in which among the Roma have quiet special situation. When we started to work on this topic, we made a call for Roma and non-Roma young scholars. We selected four young scholars who participated in a more months long talent program where they also created the story together and rehearsed the performance. So we wanted to show in the first place that we were sure that we wanted to show a role in the performance. So we wanted to show in the play, among other topics, also some inherited illness, something like dependency, like drug abuse. We wanted to show also healthcare service provider with Roma origin and also somebody who has right extremist view on the life. I was very lucky that during when we made the play, we were already able to work together with existing actors and create the characters in the story together. So the play is a result of theatre workshop of many more. So it had a lot of success, a lot of adventure and new things. Thank you. I had the chance to watch the play already and I think it's very interesting and very important the story of the play. My second question would be just in general, who inspired you, who motivates you or who motivated you during your life and in your career as well? It's very important that I had a quite supportive family. I have a supportive relationship. And also when collecting related to any artwork, a group of artists, I always focus on selecting inspiring persons. I think none of the artists can want anything more than these big factors. Thank you. I'm also interested in what is your art creed or what are your principles in your artwork? As I said earlier, I usually like speaking about human beings and communities, their challenges and values. So there are five, six narratives which are dominant in all of my works. One of them is the decision making. The other one is the taking responsibility. The third one is being active, which is relevant to our dramatic heroes. So sometimes a dramatic hero can also fail and become a victim. I always want to show how somebody can stand up after failing and how to solve the problems. And maybe the most important is the influence on the dramatic hero on her or his smaller or bigger community. For me it's important that dramatic heroes are led by different values and through these values we can educate our audience as well. Thank you. I would also ask you, as a last question, what is your future plan or goals regarding your career, the art you make and also regarding the independent TFR. I would like to come together with other Roma-Saharan Roma-Saharan Roma-Saharan Roma-Saharan Roma. I would like to come together with other Roma-Saharan Roma-Saharan Roma-Saharan Roma-Saharan Roma. And this theater network should empower the other theater, Roma-Saharan theater, working in the different countries of Europe. And by the tools of drama and theater to ensure visibility for Roma communities and stories. This is a quite long road. Now we are creating the intellectual found of this theater. One of these funds are the Roma drama books we are publishing. But it's also important in this case that now and more around we can present numbers of Roma theater performances. Thank you. Do you have anything else to add? So then thank you for the discussion. We wish you enjoy the play and also the other Roma art books. Thank you.