Dr. Catalina Florina Florescu

(invited chapter)  “Who Is not Sylvia? A Character Analysis of Stevie from Edward Albee’s The Goat, or, Who Is Sylvia?” Contemporary Literature Criticism on Edward Albee. Ed. by Lawrence Trudeau. Layman Poupard Publishing, Columbia, SC, 2018 (forthcoming) (Reprint)

Suicidal Dog & Laika emerged soon after the results from the 2016 U.S. Presidential election (but extends far beyond that). Dog is an immigrant. The current political climate makes Dog alter his moods and perspectives on life. His owners face a series of new discoveries in the wake of Dog's death. In afterlife, Dog meets Laika, the famous Russian canine. They have an interesting but brief exchange on political events since Laika's death in 1957, as well as on the treacherous inconsistency of our collective memory. The play, a parable, invites readers to think if there is history without politics and how much we weigh civically.

Cast:
Father - Tibor Feldman
Mother - Kathryn Kates
Dog - Tony Naumovski
Laika - Amelia Fowler
Priest - Frank Camacho
Lawyer - Christian Baskous

Director: Marcy Arlin
Poster: Annabelle Krupcheck

The play is part of "3 Plays" to be published by PalmArtPress.

Please RSVP at fflorescu@pace.edu

👏Update: Currently, the book's release date coincides with Sfântul Nicolae, so, that's kind of cool.

👏 The book's TOC is the same:
https://www.routledge.com/Female-Playwrights-and-Applied-Intersectionality-in-Romanian-Theater/Florescu/p/book/9780367474140

👏If you'd like to have a quick intro into one of the women that was inspirational for my play and volume as a whole, check out this "crash course" on #Hrotsvitha: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdvIsJF9d9s

👏 I'd be promoting heavily this book because I'm proud and ebullient. 2024 will be deservedly fabulous!

👏 This volume is also proof that Romanian Literature is anything but minor, that this adjective should be revised as we are also striving to improve our literary and cultural complex identity globally. In this volume, in addition to the omnipotent English, there will be variations to it, so, #Englishes, and more: excerpts in Romanian, Romani, German, Italian, and French  -- so, join me in saying that we are not minor, marginal, but in fact quite fabulous.

👏 This is also the "story" of two "sides," i.e., 5 women who  stayed home, and 5 women who emigrated. Together we are a whole.

In her article Pain and Mourning in Vogel\u27s Baltimore Waltz and Lavery\u27s Last Easter Catalina Florina Florescu argues that there is something of a contrapuntal, contradictory nature when a person lives with or visits someone who spends most of his days in bed. Sitting next to a patient, his attendee faces the burdensome ticking of clocks, the ache of waiting, and the dagger-piercing questions of one\u27s meaning. In other words, it is not only the pain of the other that intrigues and baffles us. It is also narrating and performing our reactions to that pain. In Florescu\u27s reading, the focus of both plays is the problem of meaning, and more specifically the meaning of death as seen through AIDS and cancer. Vogel and Lavery reinvent the problem of meaning through a type of laughter that borders on tears

Dedicated to all the men in my life. Statement: This is a choreopoem dedicated to its originator, Ntozake Shange. In 1975, she coined the term while she was working on her bril liant piece, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf. One of the reasons why I teach this play is because the author did not compose it exclusively in the rigid, white, restrictive King's English. The play has far more merits than this, but for a woman who takes a lot of pride in her Balkan English added to the still not fully accepted, nor even promoted in the academia Englishes, I humbly thank authors like Shange who, indirectly, give me visibility, too. A choreopoem is a gem, as it is neither poetry, nor drama, but a dramatic expression. During the tragic year of the pandemic, I real ized that I had to start anew and refuse to return to old habits. Thus, I have been experimenting a lot with my own dramatic expressions. As Shange envisioned, a choreopoem has poetry, dance, music, and song. Personally, I treat definitions as invitations that may be explored. Admittedly, some are fixed and smelly, and can't embrace change (like misogyny, or capitalism). Others are playful (like woman, or choreo poem). As such, my choreopoem will expand its original usage by introducing one photo in which I play with a pair of scissors. I am defi nitely ready to cut and release myself. I am tired of my old bruises. If woman is a fugitive that's bc, like language, she's never fully done-necoaptă. 1 1 From my own poem, "Portrait in Syllables & Mixed Languages," dedicated to Ntozake Shange and published here: www.linkedin.com/pulse/portraitsyllables mixedlanguagesntozakeshangeflorescuphd/. No edits shall be made to this motto.

WellDance | curs de mișcare și well-being pentru pacienți și supraviețuitori de cancer
AREAL - spațiu pentru dezvoltare coregrafică
30 martie, ora 18.30 – 20.30
curs condus de Cristina Lilienfeld și Cosmin Manolescu
Dansăm liber ca o modalitate de a fi împreună dar și ca un mijloc creativ de a intra în contact cu propriul corp, istoriile și întrebările noastre.
Dansăm cu urmele pe care le lasă cancerul în viețile noastre.
Dansăm ca să ne spunem poveștile personale ca o formă de cunoaștere, suport și vindecare.
Dansăm pentru a celebra momentul prezent, așa cum suntem acum.
Dansăm pentru a aduce lumină în corpurile noastre și pentru a ne afirma existența.

La începutul lunii aprilie, în zilele de 6 & 7 aprilie, va avea loc la București premiera spectacolului de dans contemporan Cancer, Coregrafiat. Spectacolul, demarat anul trecut în cadrul unei rezidențe de cercetare coregrafică la AREAL spațiul pentru dezvoltare coregrafică, este o călătorie emoțională cathartică și participativă între viață, moarte și dans. Conceput de coregraful Cosmin Manolescu pe baza unui text original "Cancer choreographed" scris de dramaturga Cătălina Florescu, spectacolul are în centrul atenției durerea și viziunile unui personaj masculin, care se confruntă cu boala cancerului de sân, o formă rară însă prezentă și la bărbați, mai puțin însă cunoscută și mediatizată în România.
În conexiune cu spectacolul, coregrafii Cristina Lilienfeld și Cosmin Manolescu, vor organiza în data de 30 martie – WellDance - un curs de mișcare destinat pacienților de cancer, supraviețuitorilor acestei boli sau membrilor susținători/familiilor acestora.
WellDance este o incursiune sensibilă și plină de umanitate în traumele corpurilor fragmentate, de cele mai multe ori invizibile. Condus de coregrafii Cristina Lilienfeld și Cosmin Manolescu, cursul demarat din luna noiembrie la spațiul AREAL, își propune să ofere sprijin și un spațiu de întâlnire și suport pentru toți cei care s-au întâlnit cu cancerul, în diferite forme.
Timp de aproximativ 90 de minute, participanții se vor conecta la corpul lor, se vor mișcara și își vor explora creativitea prin sesiuni de improvizații libere ghidate dar și discuții și vizionări de filme. Cursul este oferit gratuit în conexiune cu premiera spectacolului din data de 6 & 7 aprilie, ora 19.00, participanții fiind invitați să participe și la una din cele 2 reprezentații de la ARCUB, Hanul Gabroveni.
REZERVĂRI
Cei interesați să participe la cursul WellDance sunt rugați să trimită un mesaj de rezervare la adresa cosmin@gabrielatudor.ro sau la telefon/WhatsUp 0724357237 (Cristina) sau telefon 0722 322 366 (Cosmin).

To Rodica, who died first / To Mircea, who continues me [I]In his book Picturing Health and Illness: Images of Identity and Difference, Sander L. Gilman argues that during the nineteenth century the healthy norm perceived as ugly not only those who were deformed, but also those who were ill, ageing, and/or experienced different bodily “loss of function” (53). In the nineteenth century, how much was medicine responsible for defining ugly as ill, deformed, and getting old, versus beautiful as healthy, and then, for the sake of the community’s health, firmly promoting these ideas? Furthermore, with the rise of photographic art, medicine was able to manipulate and control these ideas even more efficiently. According to Deborah Lupton, “The new technology of photography that developed from the mid-nineteenth century became a valuable strategy in the documentation of patterns of disease and illness, and the construction of the sites of dirtiness and contagion” (30). This essay focuses on the skin’s narrative as it presents its story when photographed. William Yang takes photos of his good friend, Allan, who is dying of AIDS. Of interests here is to discuss/approach the photographic art not from its scopophilic angle, that is, not from its perverse and pleasurable voyeuristic angle, but to analyze it side-by-side with Drew Leder’s notion of the “the remaining body.” He believes that in states of severe pain, one’s body “dys-appears,” “from the Greek prefix signifying ‘bad,’ ‘hard,’ or ‘ill,’” and he gives as example the English word “dysfunctional” (84). Yang’s photos offer variations of the “body that remains,” and, as we shall see, of the body that gradually did not remain. Through his work, Yang approaches visually the theme of the ars moriendi of the entropic body in pain as reminder of its mortal, gradually disabling fabric. [II] In the section of his work dedicated to AIDS, Gilman discusses only a collection of posters that have circulated in mass-media, which he researched at the National Library of Medicine at Bethesda, Maryland. Gilman thinks these posters function as the “still images of illness” (174). In other words, he believes these posters may have had an impact on the lay community, although not the intensified, urgent one, as he would have hoped. Because Gilman did not include a single photo of a patient dying of AIDS — although he understood this lack — I juxtapose one of the posters from his book with Yang’s photos taken of his dying friend, Allan, from his project entitled Sadness: A Monologue with Slides. Here I discuss the impact of Allan’s increasingly emaciated body versus the static, almost ineffective quality of the poster in order to consider the idea according to which “AIDS victims are living sculptures. … Both subject and object of art … they combine with their disease to overcome the narcissism of human consciousness. … It is an art of continuous transformation of subject into object and object into subject” (Siebers 220-21). Yang is an Australian artist with Chinese parentage. The images presented in this section originally appeared in print in Thomas W. Sokolowski’s and Rosalind Solomon’s collection of essays entitled Portraits in the Time of AIDS. According to the editors, Yang presented them as “monologues with slide projection in the theatre” (34) because the main actor of this one-man show is dying of AIDS. Yang’s work consists of seventeen slides with short texts written underneath them. In an attempt to respect the body that is dying, the texts are not recited, but the readers/spectators read them subvocally. The brilliance of this piece resides in its hushed tone, which parallels the act of dying when the patient’s body and mind become more and more tacit and lifeless. From one photo to another, and from one text to another, we discover Allan, although we never quite get to know him. The minitexts relate Allan’s story: how he was hospitalized at St. Vincent’s, known as “the AIDS ward” (35); how he decided to return home, into a studio shared with a dealer; how AIDS first attacked his lungs, and so he had to keep next to him “a large cylinder of oxygen as he was often out of breath” (37); how AIDS then affected his sight, and he developed a condition known as “CytoMegalo Virus — C.M.V. Retinctus” that gradually “destroyed the retina” of his eyes (39); how he decided “to go off medication” (46); and, how, finally “he went into a coma. I saw a nurse give him a glass of water but the water just ran out of his mouth” (50). To look at these photos time and time again is to be reminded of Albert Einstein’s vision of the passenger trapped in the train running with the speed of light. That passenger could not sense all that was happening in the train, and especially outside of it, because time moves in its cosmic, non-human, slippery dimension, and thus sensation could not profusely permeate his body. Juxtaposing Einstein’s vision with Allan’s decaying body, I read the latter’s body…

In 2013, I delivered a paper at Université Paris-Sorbonne and then I was invited to contribute to this volume. Those passionate about theater and medical humanities (for my essay in particular) and those interested in strong research papers (for all essays, mine included), are invited to explore it in depth: http://www.classiques-garnier.com/editions/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage_garnier.tpl&product_id=3080&category_id=10&keyword=Comparatism+as+a+critical+approach+Comparative+Lit&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

8.), 9.), 10.) why don't you send me an e-mail so we could talk? 😊
7.) Teatru. Editura Tracus Arte. Bucureşti, Romania (2018) (in Romanian). Introduction by Oana M. Chivoiu. Foreword by Cristina Modreanu. Afterward by Nona Rapotan. Endorsed by Andrei Şerban and Domnica Radulescu; Cover by Hajdu Tamás

6.) The Night I Burned My Origami Skin (poems/creative writing), Anaphora Literary Press, December, 2017. Endorsed by: Christine Hamm, author of Echo Park; Charlie Samuya Veric, author of Boyhood: A Long Lyric; and Frank Morrelli, author of No Sad Songs. With a Foreword by Kirsten Miles, National Director of the Tupelo Press 30/30 Project (Invited to read at the AWP Annual Conference, 2018)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTFbJM_BZ5g&index=1&list=UUra7jQXJvN6AIglLDzX0X0A
Library of Congress Link: https://lccn.loc.gov/2017954204

5.) Of Silences in Munch, Beckett, Hopper, and Hanson (A Monograph) (literary criticism; art criticism; philosophy of being; performance studies; interdisciplinary writing)
LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing, Germany, 2017


4.) Transnational Narratives in Englishes of Exile (exile/immigration in literature and film; Englishes; cultural studies; interdisciplinary studies; transnational literatures; diaspora literature; activism; translation); Lexington Books, Rowman and Littlefield Publishing Group, Lanham, MD. Endorsed by: Floyd Merrell, Purdue U; Julie Rak, U of Alberta; Lenutsa Giukin, SUNY Oswego; Alexandru Balasescu; Felicity Hand Cranham, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Noemi Marin, Florida Atlantic U; Lavinia Stan, St. Francis Xavier U; With a Prologue by Dr. Margarita Georgieva; and with an Epilogue by Dr. Maria Hadjipolycarpou; Cover: La dérive des continents by Antoine Josse (painting). Publicity event: MLA Book Exhibit, New York, NY, 2018.
Book launch: CEERES of Voices, University of Chicago, IL, March 23rd, 2018
https://ceeres.uchicago.edu/content/ceeres-voices-catalina-florescu-transational-narratives-englishes-exile-maria-sabina-draga
Library of Congress Link: https://lccn.loc.gov/2017954204

3.) Disjointed Perspectives on Motherhood (literary criticism; comparative feminism; motion picture). Lexington Books, Rowman and Littlefield Publishing Group, Lanham, MD, 2013. Endorsed by: Erica Johnson; Fiona Giles; Natalie Edwards. With an Introduction by Marilyn Francus of West Virginia University. MLA Book Exhibit, Chicago, IL, 2014.
Library of Congress Call Number: PN56.5.M67 D57 2013 OVERFLOWA5S
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00497878.2014.922027?journalCode=gwst20&#.WdYNDYdr5CA.mailto

2.) Inventing Me/Exerciţii de retrăit. (non-fiction/memoir). Editura Scrisul Românesc, Craiova, Romania, 2011, 142 pages (in Romanian) Review: “Directia superioara a spiritului creator” by N.N. Negulescu, Constelatii diamantine 2.3 (7) 2011. Release press: Biblioteca Judeteana Alexandru si Aristia Aman, Craiova, July, 2011.
http://reteaualiterara.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lansare-de-carte-la-craiova
http://www.totpal.ro/catalina-florina-florescu-„inventing-me-–-exercitii-de-re-trait”/
https://www.academia.edu/34077427/Despre_cartea_mea_de_memorie_editorial

1.) Transacting Sites of the Liminal Bodily Spaces (literary criticism; medical humanities; attitudes toward death). Cambridge Scholars Publishing, London, U.K., 2011, 195 pages. Electronic version accessible at http://search.ebscohost.com/
Library of Congress Call Number: PN56.B62 F56 2011
Social Media Site: https://www.facebook.com/Dr.CatalinaFlorinaFlorescu/

Charles Rafferty tells lyrical stories, never finished, but intriguing and inviting to exist on different paths simultaneously. With Rafferty you experience a transformation because your mind wanders and returns and then, seamlessly, starts another journey.

My interest in silence has deep roots as I have always been fascinated by its healing power and, surprisingly, assertiveness. Silence is of primordial importance. We need it to balance our lives. But is there silence in a painting, a play, and a sculpture? This monograph uses the works of Edvard Munch, Edward Hopper, Samuel Beckett, and Duane Hanson to discuss the relevance of silence in their respective works. Furthermore, imagine active silence when we relax while contemplating and when we look inside ourselves to touch our essence. This monograph will show you how and then you could extend this practice to other writers, artists, and yourselves. Step in and, contrary to popular belief, there is no shhhhhhhh here. Just start reading and you will discover other qualities of silence.

If skin had chords, it would reverberate its accumulated memories or compose a polyphonic melody. This seems to be the implicit effect in Sarah Ruhl's 2006 acclaimed play, Clean House, where the four female characters have a particular story and type of skin, masterfully orchestrated by the playwright. Smothering a more serious problem, Lane, the female doctor, has a cleaning-related disorder and demands everything to be clean and in its designated place. She hires a maid to tidy up her house. Lane is organized and systematic until one day her husband falls in love with his patient, Ana, and leaves her. As the plot of the play progresses, surprisingly, Lane accepts to take care of Ana. This is the moment that manages to unhinge Lane from her devastating routine. Lane symbolizes the " doctor's skin, " onto which several official discourses are evidently inscribed. As anticipated, Ana represents the " patient's skin. " She is the one who does not want to remain " hostage " in a hospital where she will die an impersonal death. As her body collapses gradually, she has given up on material things; in her home there is a couch, a chair, a bed, and a tank with one fish. Ana does not want her space to be invaded by unnecessary objects. As her illness closes her inner space more and more daily, she needs to expand her external space. When Lane decides to take care of Ana, they are not in a contextual antonymic pair any longer, wife and mistress, respectively. They have even transcended the rather limited relationship that exists between a doctor and her patients. Ana and Lane are two human beings who help each other to understand and cope with what remains after being cheated; the former by an illness, the latter by her partner. Virginia, Lane's sister, stands for the " transitory skin. " Unlike her rigorous sister, Virginia cannot find her place and purpose in this world. When she takes a job as a checkout girl at a supermarket, she has an epiphany as she contemplates the items passing aimlessly on the conveyor belt. Everything happens too fast and we do not quite seem to indulge ourselves in the art of living our lives. Finally, Matilda, Lane's maid, represents the " ebullient skin. " She refuses to accept that life is short and meaningless. Throughout the play, she searches for the perfect joke that would relax our contracted facial muscles. She wants to tone up our skin and thus allow us to have a final, potent laugh (in whomever face we want). Although we never hear Matilda's joke, nevertheless, by the end of the play we realize that what really counts is not the sum of our accumulated histories that are easily erasable, but the present, felt sensations. These four types of skin may be read as a spider's web, where each projected thread is sticky, thin, yet each adjusts and negotiates its needs in relationship with its newly encountered space. In the center of this cobweb, there is Charles. Ignored by his wife, he falls in love with Ana. He is the " skin in love " and hence lasting. He is the catalyst in this dramatic masterpiece. He exhilarates when he is again in love. He goes to Alaska because, as hearsay has it, there is a yew tree there that may cure Ana's cancer. By the time he comes back from his journey, Ana is dead. Charles represents the moment's essence because he lives in and for it. His presence in the play allows us to think how the mind misdirects and transports us perhaps a little bit too dizzyingly from past to present to future. Now let us go back to the title of the play, Clean House. In such a house, there may be order, but there is no joy, fulfillment or excitement. A clean house masks deeper disorders, just as the skin alone is not capable of telling fully (re)covered stories. A clean house is a place where appearances find their perfect place. Finally, a clean house will sooner or later collapse in its own debris, since life is by definition messy. Dialogic stories are unforgettable encounters; although uttered or sometimes hushed in different skin idioms, Lane, Ana, Matilda, and Virginia succeed in having a genuine dialogue about the nature of the human body, its implicit and not explicit meaning that revolves around the word " love. " Like skin, love is elastic, being endowed with the capacity to regenerate itself after a loss, shrinking in times of doubt, and expanding in times of satisfaction. There are days when we perceive our skin as opaque, while our love as liquid; there are other days when our skin seems flexible, while our love stubborn; there may be yet other translucent, crystal clear days when our skin plays the foreplay in the game of love through a touch, an embrace, and a kiss. This essay uses Ruhl's play to develop a phenomenology of skin and love as they envelope each other, like the horizon's lips. The dialogues between skin and love permit a redefinition of the " double referentiality, " an idea that was initially proposed by Maurice Merleau-Ponty. While he focused exclusively on the body (" [w]hen I touch my right hand with my left, my right hand, as an object, has the strange property of being able to feel too. […] I can identify the hand touched as the same one which will in a moment be touching. […] [The body] tries to touch itself while being touched, " 106), this essay goes a step further by proposing a teasing, but necessary, intertwinement between a sensible medium (" skin ") and a conceptual entity (" love "). My main argument will focus on phenomenology and sensuality as the sentimental, social-intimate dialects of our embodied humanity.

“Everybody Wants to Be like Me: Sameness and Difference in Bernard Pomerance’s Play The Elephant Man.” Le Comparatisme comme approche critique/Comparative Literature as a Critical Approach. ed. Anne Tomiche, Paris, Classiques Garnier. 2017 (forthcoming).

I am happy to share with you this short, bilingual piece that I wrote in honor of a teen who died too soon, too tragically. I remember that summer, I could not sleep, I had a visceral reaction to what was shared in the news and what was further exposed. Is the situation better now? I do not know. My lullaby is here with artworks by Dan; and a recording with Katia directed by Leo.

Free PDF here: https://citizentales.org/journal-of-civic-media

Please share this with your friends and dear ones. This workshop is a one-time event that happens in July. Info & registration here: https://writerscenter.org/calendar/flashfiction/
Hudson Valley Writers Center #workshop #creativewriting #flashfiction

I open the latest issue on care of Modern Poetry in Translation and I see these lines... they look familiar. Wait a minute, I wrote them. I laugh.
It's such an honor to see bits from my poem on the edition's frontispiece.
If you want to read it in full and the rest of this issue, you can order it online. https://reader.exacteditions.com/issues/116041/spread/3

"When One Is Missing ..." was originally written as a reaction to Oana Cajal's "picto-impulses" on account of R invading U. The poem along with 3 more will be featured in an anthology 2 b released later this year/early next year. The poem sounds and vibrates differently with me today because I ...

never mind.



Thank you to editors who put together a great new volume.

It can be ordered here: https://lnkd.in/ejSpmUZu



#poetry #civilization #wars #trauma #peace

Today should be declared BECKETT' s DAY and celebrated worldwide. I LOVE Sam. Happy BD! What kind of silence is it "up there"? What kind of "nothingness"? How is God(ot)?
- https://lnkd.in/etDnvTMP
- https://lnkd.in/erKcWcx3
- https://lnkd.in/eW8pRPdJ
and https://lnkd.in/eSwixGf2 Purdue University Pace University Stevens Institute of Technology #silence #nothingness #existentialism #therapy #theater #Beckett

World Health Organization
April 7th World Health Day

Azi aniversăm un an de la premiera spectacolului "Cancer, Coregrafiat" realizat de coregraful Cosmin Manolescu pe baza textului dramatic cu același nume scris de Catalina Florina Florescu, PhD Florescu. Spectacolul, realizat de o echipă multi/disciplinară formata din Cristina Lilienfeld (dans), Alexandros Raptis Art (lumini si sunet), Sabina Ulubeanu (muzica originala), Cinty Ionescu(designer video), Alina Comanescu (navigator de pacienți) & Michael Singer (invitat special la New York și New Jersey), s-a născut la AREAL și a inceput să călătorească prin luma lume la ARCUB pe 7 aprilie 2023. Cele 10 reprezentatii ale anului trecut, care au fost prezentate la București, Romanian Cultural Institute in New York / ICR New York,Jersey City Theater Center, Centrul Cultural Reduta și FABER, au fost vizionate de peste 400 de spectatori, pacienți și doctori oncologi, colegi și prieteni. Mulțumiri tuturor celor care au fost alături de noi, pe scenă sau în culise, artiști și public, producătorilor Fundația Gabriela Tudor, ARCUB si ICR New York și vă anunțăm că prima reprezentație a anului 2024, va avea loc la Teatrul din Baia Mare pe 29 septembrie. Și cum spunea Cosmin, "nu uitați să vă mai opriți din lucru, să mergeți și să vă faceți analizele de screening regulat" și desigur să dansați cu/și pentru cei dragi. Poze realizate de artiști și publicul prezent.

This is a reaction to the many news that have been posted since the 3 Presidents at MIT, Harvard, and UPenn came in the news. What journalists seem to avoid covering, since that would take months of research, is to look at academia and its undeniable problems by inviting not donors and elite schools to this table of discussion but faculty, staff, and students from "all walks of life." Then, the door to change will open. Right now, it is securely closed. This is what I wrote originally on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7143987988870361092/

When I came to the United States, 25 years ago, and when I started my graduate studies, in retrospect, it is bitter-sweet that my first project on US soil was about theater. RUSSIAN one. As. in. Chekhov. I loved him dearly and I will always cherish his body of work. I wish I had focused on Ionesco. I could have found materials on his absurd plays easily. It is HARD to say why I chose to write about “The Seagull.” But when people ask me, "What, Romanian is a Romance language?" I feel in part guilty. Or I least I want to be fully awake now and say loud and clear: Do NOT label literatures as being minor just because giants are still taught in schools and universities. Let these other(ed) literatures exist!

To be perfectly honest, I am actually surprised and frustrated that this is the US's first Women's Health Research Initiative because it is a bit of news that feels ... old and odd.

On her remarks, hashtag#FLOTUS said: “Every woman I know has a story about leaving her doctor’s office with more questions than answers. Not because our doctors are withholding information, but because there’s just not enough research yet on how to best manage and treat even common women’s health conditions. In 2023, that is unacceptable. Our new White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research will help change that by identifying bold solutions to uncover the answers that every woman and her family deserves. We also are calling on congressional leaders, the private sector, research institutions, and philanthropy to join us in taking urgent action to improve the health and lives of women throughout the nation.”

My initial reaction was on my face, but you did not have access to it. My second reaction is as following: The concept of hashtag#intersectionality helped me structure my latest book: https://lnkd.in/dKt-q9Bs

Given a personal encounter with depression, and yes, I deliberately used the indefinite article, coupled with being a white immigrant eventually naturalized woman who could not work for 2 years in her new country, a mother with migraines, a wife with 2 left hands and feet, humor cannot ever escape me, a once-upon-a-time teen who lost her mom to cancer + ignorance, and I can add, but it's preferable to stop hic & nunc, I am fully aware of what FLOTUS said.

These conversations are and feel "funny" not only in a doctor's office.
Try this experiment instead:
1. (at work) Ask your boss if they know about depression as being differently recorded in female vs male identifying persons.
2. (on social media) Ask your friends to describe 2 of their most recent encounters with a doctor and add one re: making an appointment to see a doctor.
3. (intimately) Show your partner A. Dürer's "Draughtsman Making a Perspective Drawing of a Reclining Woman." That was made in the 17th c.

About the initiative: https://lnkd.in/ev8Hfaxd
About the only breast cancer trilogy in the world: https://lnkd.in/eCQGJRJq

Esta vara lui 2018, sunt acasă ca să particip la lansarea volumului meu de teatru. Alături de mine sunt Cristina Modreanu și Nona Rapotan, cât și actorii Katia Pascariu, Rareș Florin Stoica și Ioana Predescu 1. După lansare, mă cinstesc cu o piesă de teatru pe un text total necunoscut mie: Gardenia de Elżbieta Chowaniec 2. Îmi place mult ce văd pe scenă și, pentru că îmi place așa de tare, când ajung înapoi în State și lucrez la programa unui curs nou de scriitură feminină, vreau să folosesc numai texte dramatice contemporane.

COMUNICAT DE PRESĂ "Cancer, Coregrafiat" ultima reprezentație a anului 2023 într-o ediție specială "Cancer, Coregrafiat" este o călătorie emoțională cathartică și participativă între viață, moarte și dans, ce are în centrul atenției viziunile și durerea unui personaj masculin care se confruntă cu boala cancerului de sân. Realizat de coregraful Cosmin Manolescu pe baza textului dramatic cu același nume, scris de dramaturga Cătălina Florescu din New York, spectacolul este un roller-coaster emoțional despre însoțire, prezență viață și moarte, fiind în egală măsură un gest de dragoste adus tuturor celor care se confruntă în acest moment cu această boală. Spectacolul, co-produs de Fundația Gabriela Tudor și ARCUB cu sprijinul Institutului Cultural Româna din New York și prezentat în premieră în aprilie 2023, aduce în prim plan durerea și trăirile unui personaj masculin, care se confruntă cu boala cancerului de sân, o formă rară însă prezentă și la bărbați, dar mai puțin cunoscută și mediatizată în România. Cancer, Coregrafiat nu este un spectacol clasic, ci mai degrabă o întâlnire cu lumea lui Cosmin Manolescu, care ne trece prin dor și ne duce către viață. Și care a poposit în sufletele celor care l-au văzut până acum la București, New York, New Jersey, Brașov și Timișoara. Este o experiență personală și-o întâlnire pe mai multe planuri cu emoțiile umane și dansul contemporan. Un carusel de senzații în care intră spectatorii și rând, pe rând, li se alătură durerea, furia, disperarea, dar și ajutorul și empatia. Spectacolul este dedicat memoriei Gabrielei Tudor, Rodicăi Dan și decanului Universității Pace, dna. Marijo Russell-O'Grady.

My piece is titled "Dissecting Geography" and it is a one-minute play.

E-edition link: https://literaturetodayjournal.blogspot.com/

Paperback Edition: https://www.lulu.com/shop/deepak-and-pradeep/literature-today-july-2023-issue/paperback/product-p2vd5z.html?page=1&pageSize=4

NOTE:
(For 15% discount on paperback edition please use discount code: WELCOME15 . This discount is for everyone who is interested in purchasing a paperback copy and thus supporting our literary project.)

Prezența oamenilor e reprezentată de un cor colectiv construit pe ideea de coparticipare, de a fi împreună într-un moment al vieții care are variante deschise." Interviu cu Cătălina Florescu și Cosmin Manolescu Premiera spectacolului Cancer, coregrafiat de Cătălina Florescu, în regia și coregrafia lui Cosmin Manolescu, a prefațat în 6-7 aprilie premiera new-yorkeză programată la finalul lunii 1. Am explorat tema enunțată în titlu într-un puzzle-interviu care leagă două spații geografice, doi artiști activi în două culturi printr-un performance fără granițe. Cătălina Florescu la New York, Cosmin Manolescu la București răspund întrebărilor iscate de participarea mea la petrecerea de despărțire sau de regăsire a vieții. Oricum ai lua-o, fie ca pe o petrecere imersivă, fie ca un (auto)parastas, concluzia optimistă e că instrumentele sensibilului, proprii artelor, potențează mecanismele științei în lupta de echipă cu cancerul. (Oana Cristea Grigorescu) Oana Cristea Grigorescu: Textul care a inspirat spectacolul Cancer, coregrafiat a plecat din cercetarea pentru teza ta de doctorat susținută în SUA. Care e motivația pentru acest subiect și cum s-a materializat cercetarea într-un text dramatic? Cătălina Florescu: În 2007 când terminam doctoratul, deși reușisem să citesc destul de multă literatură despre cei spitalizați, scrisă de ei, povestită/imaginată de alții, abordată științific de către doctori, mă interesa să creez un personaj feminin tânăr, educat, într-o relație stabilă care nu știe mai nimic despre corpul ei. Pentru mine era vital să creez acel personaj universal care își dă seama, matură fiind, că la școală nu a învățat mai nimic esențial despre corp, fluctuațiile sale, dar nici nu și-a făcut timp să descopere aceste realități de una singură. Personajul creat în 2011, Mia, răspundea acestei nevoi personale pentru a-mi atinge un prim scop: putem da ușor vina pe alții, dar suntem în egală măsură, dacă nu chiar mai mult, responsabili de cât vrem să

https://adevarul.ro/blogurile-adevarul/dragului-meu-baiat-major-de-ziua-copilului-2272267.html

Copilul: Nu e drept. Mama: Ce anume? Copilul: Cum unii muncesc, își petrec toată viața ca să scrie magnum opus și apoi no citește nimeni sau o citesc 5 oameni. Mama: De ce 5? Copilul: Ce?? Mama: Dar acel om ce își dorea: faima sau să schimbe un alt om? Copilul: Nu înțeleg. Mama: Faima poate vine la pachet cu imortalitatea și cum asta nu ne-a fost dată sau nu știm sigur că o avem, nu crezi că ar fi mai bine dacă un om ar vrea să îl bucure sau facă să gândească și să simtă pe un alt om? Nu asta e mai relevant? Copilul: Poate. Mama: Când eram pe la 14-15 ani, îmi aduc perfect aminte de un moment care a venit în 2 secvențe unite. Era vară, era cald așa cum îmi place mie, eram în camera mea și a lui Mari, aveam geamurile deschise, nu aveam aer condiționat atunci, eram la Tulcea și era lungă vacanța de vară, cultural, în oraș nu aveam mai nimic de făcut așa că m-am pus pe citit. Părinții noștri ne dăruiseră multe cărți, așa de multe că în camera mea și a lui Mari aveam 2, nu una, biblioteci pline-ochi de cărți. Și am început să citesc. Nu din programa școlară, nici măcar teatru în vara aia, ci romane. Țineam chiar și un caiet de notițe și desene. Ne ceruse doamna ceva "pe vară",

Developed as a character in 2011, Mia is part of the world's first breast cancer trilogy. Mia i is a personal and professional project because the play's roots are subjective (I lost my mother to breast cancer thirty years ago), as well as objective (I hold a PhD in Medical Humanities with publications at the intersection between the arts and medicine). This article focuses on the many cri(s)es that Mia faces as a woman. She is in her early thirties when she is diagnosed with breast cancer. The treatment is aggressive and, consequently, not only does she lose one of her breasts (via mastectomy), but she cannot keep a pregnancy. We meet Mia outside of the white and somewhat terrifying hospital walls, that is, we meet her at home, and because of that, we have the illusion that she is in a protected space. We soon discover otherwise.

Tickets: https://lnkd.in/gJCfejxk

Synopsis: A phone call helps a woman remember and make a crucial decision.

Characters:
VERSE, female, age 25-40
PROSODY, gender undecided, age 25-40. PROSODY appears in V.O.

Time and setting:
Now.
Outside of a bar.

Other notes:
There are passers-by.
There are lights, shadows, neon signs.
There is traffic.
There is silence.
Pronoun-wise, PROSODY does not like he/she/they, so leave that blank, or add your own.

When we will have an updated poster, we will share that with the world. Since on Feb 4th is #WCD, World Cancer Day, here are some details about our collaborative project:
"Cancer, Choreographed" is a cathartic and participatory emotional journey into life, death, and dance. Created by Romanian choreographers Cosmin Manolescu and Cristina Lilienfeld based on an original text written by Cătălina Florescu, the dance is an exhilarating experience into the last moments of a man dealing with breast cancer. The audience is welcomed into a special birthday-like experience in which the whole story unfolds into a series of performative episodes framed by an original soundtrack by Sabina Ulubeanu, a stunning visual projection by Cinty Ionescu, and live DJ-ing by Alexandros Raptis.

"Cancer, Choreographed" will have its international premiere at Jersey City Theater Center on April 26th followed by a second performance at the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York on April 28th. The dance will also have representations in Bucharest, Timişoara & Braşov -- Romania.

CREDITS:
- Performed as well as an homage to the International Dance Day, which is celebrated worldwide on April 29th, "Cancer, Choreographed" is a unique affirmation of the present moment as we deal and dance with (breast) cancer.
- "Cancer, Choreographed" based on the text with the same name written by Cătălina Florescu; concept by Cosmin Manolescu; choreography and performance by Cosmin Manolescu and Cristina Lilienfeld; original composition by Sabina Ulubeanu; video design by Cinty Ionescu; light design and live DJ by Alexandros Raptis; special guest: Michael Singer, male breast cancer survivor
Dedicated to Rodica Dan, Gabriela Tudor, and Dean Marijo Russell-O’Grady. Produced by Gabriela Tudor Foundation, co-produced by ARCUB and Romanian Cultural Institute in New York. Cultural project co-funded by Administration of the National Cultural Fund and co-presented in United Stated by Jersey City Theater Center and RCINYC.

Have you booked your tickets to Sans Me?
There are two options to join us on December 9th: in person, https://lnkd.in/erzsf4Vn, or live streaming, https://lnkd.in/e6eUBTm7

At the end of the play, I am thrilled that we would have an awesome panelist join us. "Deirdre Barrett, Ph.D. is a psychologist on faculty at Harvard where she teaches courses on dreams and lectures on hypnosis. She is the past President of the International Association for the Study of Dreams and The Society for Psychological Hypnosis. She has written five books including Pandemic Dreams The Committee of Sleep, and The Pregnant Man: Cases from a Hypnotherapist’s Couch, and is the editor of four additional books. In collaboration with computer animator David Lobser, she has created VIVE Dreaming to help people gain greater control over their dreams. This VR dream incubation app will be presented as a demo following the Sans Me performance, allowing the audience to try it out in VR headsets."
#TransformaTheater #ScienceinTheatreFestival
DREAMS DO COME TRUE!

A play where we invent a medical team, or the medical team invents patients, a play where we talk about dreams and fantasies and ways to be together, even when we are apart. A dream come true!

This is my second commissioned play. Its debut, this winter in NYC.

When I was in grad school at Purdue University, I took a class on art appreciation where we discovered how to look at art. The lecture on Jonathan Miller's On Reflection (1998) was particularly enthralling. From Narcissus onward we have been attracted by our double. We all know the tragic, scripted ending to Narcissus' shortly lived self-discovery journey: he was cursed to be alone because he fell in love with his image assuming that was someone else. For centuries, looking at one's reflection had to be done economically and prudishly. The Vanitas series in the art of the 17 th century was a memento of that, as well as a reminder of the brevity of life. But we are not Narcissus. We have lifted his glossy imprint off the water's skin to let him roam freely wherever he wants. Narcissus had to be freed simply because what he was seeing was not another human but his reflection. He had to be told that rather than being used as a scapegoat for our self-infatuation with our imago. It's not Narcissus' fault because, unlike him, we do know! Miller's On Reflection was also an invitation into all reflective surfaces, from the classic mirrors to spoons and all shinny, metallic, and/or polished surfaces. Unaware of what would come via the digital revolution, from as early as possible, we were in an ever-changing carrousel of self-populated micro-universe. And that, back then, was okay because the image would be ephemeral, and it would not be shared, retweeted, liked, tagged, and emojied. And, so, enters into discussion my newly designed hybrid, " fakies. " It's not a miracle cure; it's rather palliative. I created this portmanteau ad-hoc to illustrate the combination between fake and selfies. According to www.dictionary.com, the adjective " fake " was recorded around 1775, if not earlier: " Attested in London criminal slang as adjective (1775), verb (1812), and noun (1851, of persons 1888), but probably older. A likely source is feague " to spruce up by artificial means, " from German fegen " polish, sweep, " also " to clear out, plunder " in colloquial use. […] Or it may be related to Latin facere to do. " Spanning centuries, " selfies " enters our vocabulary first as a joke (ca. 2000), then as a reality (2005). The same site defines " selfie " as a " [p]hotograph taken with a smartphone or other digital camera by a person who is also in the photograph, especially for posting on a social media website. " The example used to illustrate the definition speaks volume of why we are socially targeted to take selfies: " Celebrities sharing selfies on Twitter. " We assume we are all unique, original, and irreplaceable. And that, most likely, still stands true. Do we, however, expose ourselves to excessive replicas of our looks that we have achieved the exact opposite effect? Via selfies, have we become predictable to others? As a consequence this invariably causes us to be more and more annihilated by our own selfies. It is possible that we are now paradoxically invisible to and meaningless for others, another self-centered nut channeling his or her diva moment, wasting his/her time replicating him-/herself? Nonetheless, a selfie has an established reality. We snap photos of ourselves right and left, in private and public places, with a selfie stick or with arms forced to extend so much as to beg and long for an embrace, only that at the other end there is a frightful click. We take selfies when we eat, kiss our significant other, when we do silly things, but the common denominator of these selfies, regardless of their national or international geoposition, is that, oxymoron permitted, they

Staged reading of Catalina Florescu’s Suicidal Dog & Laika. Suicidal Dog & Laika blends the absurd with reality, the political with the historical; it uses fiction to investigate immigration, belonging, citizenship and communism. Through the characters of Laika - the first creature in space - and Dog - a fictional immigrant from the Middle East - the play takes us through the history of Soviet Communism peppered recollections of the violent fall of communism in Romania, and the drama of migrants and refugees crossing the Mediterranean Sea in inflatable boats -- all against the backdrop of the caustic anti-immigration rhetoric surrounding the latest U.S. Presidential elections. Revisiting dehumanizing moments in history via a play helps the audience to deal with the experienced or inherited trauma while at the same time making them more vocal in their own lives.

The event is free and open to all. Please register by 5 December 2019.

La lansare alaturi de actrita Manuela Ciucur la Muzeul Naţional al Literaturii Române (Poza de Dan Marinescu)

Daca doriti sa cumparati cartea mea cu 5 piese de teatru, o puteti face online: https://lnkd.in/eDUrm3vZ si sper in curand si in librarii. A fost tare emotionant tot traseul acestor carti, de la "Vecinele", scrisa in anul centenarului Marii Uniri (2018) pana la "O poveste fara sfarsit" (2023) care intr-un fel continua romanul meu autobiografic. Sper sa va placa.

Hotnews.ro: https://hotnews.ro/diaspora-limbii-romane-teatrul-922568
Scena.ro: https://revistascena.ro/stiri/piese-noi-de-catalina-florescu-lansare-la-muzeul-literaturii/
TVR: https://www.facebook.com/tvrinternational/videos/458805236741673/
Muzeul National al Literaturii Romane: https://mnlr.ro/en/lansare-de-carte-corp-de-teatru-de-catalina-florina-florescu/
Editura: https://www.librariaeikon.ro/teatru/1665-corp-de-teatru.html
Radio Romania Actualitati (link TBA)

"Borderless Thalia" was a fond project that I initiated during the pandemic. The iconic landmark in the US has info about this book, as well as others written & edited by me. https://lnkd.in/eprCd9as
The book had a book launch at The Drama Book Shop. https://lnkd.in/eXkewCdm

This collection includes the following playwrights: Christine Benvenuto, Barbara Blatner, Sarah Congress, Connie Dinkler, Selma Dragos, Tjasa Ferme, Catalina Florina Florescu, PhD, Avery Grace, Jinna Kim, Elena Naskova, Joyce Newman Scott, Ornella Ohayon, Cindi Sansone-Braff, Ellis Stump, Laurie Tanner, and Otilia Baraboi, Ph.D. Robert Gray

There are studies about laughter as medicine, and there's no joke about that: https://lnkd.in/eegnCFis
or National Library of Medicine (NLM)
https://lnkd.in/ePp-F-wY
or
https://lnkd.in/eqWr45wn CNN

IUBESC TĂCEREA.
My monograph (originally written in English) has been translated into 5 languages. If you read Italian, Spanish, German, French or Portuguese, now you have access to my research on silence in the arts in these languages. Check it out on my Author's page on AAmazon.com https://lnkd.in/eJCC6phK
Într-o bună zi va fi tradusă şi-n limba mea maternă. MMuzeul Cărții și Exilului RomânescCCentrul Național al Cărţii
#multilingualism #translations #research #ShareKnowledge #ShareCulture #silence #thearts #medicalconditions #medicalhumanities #writer #author #researcher Purdue University Pace University Stevens Institute of Technology #ontology #philosophy #discourses ARCS Network: Romanian Film, Culture, Heritage And Education Romanian Cultural Institute in New York / ICR New York AGERPRES Neurodiverse Oratory: Florescu's LAB Author: Catalina Florina Florescu, PhD Românii de pretutindeni A doua Românie Ambasada României în Statele Unite ale Americii / Romanian Embassy to US

When I was at Purdue University, there was no dedicated program in Medial Humanities, but I was lucky to be stubborn and push for what made sense to me. When I see my books at the Library of Congress, The New York Public Library, universities worldwide, I remember this: I came to the States with a wound in my bodymind. It is still there, but it is dearly and carefully dressed. Follow your passions despite all odds.
https://lnkd.in/g8ihUeTf

Next week is International Women's Day (March 8th) followed by my birthday. I do not like gifts, but I do have a small favor to ask.

In honor of my last book in English that I will ever write & publish, in honor of the applied #intersectionality concept that I used heavily in this book, in honor of women from various backgrounds and identities, please share this post widely.

While Romanian cinema has managed to travel faster in the world, there is a different story when it comes to contemporary female Romanian dramatic literature. The plays discussed here talk about depression, higher in women, Roma Holocaust, rarely discussed even to this day, LGBTQ+, something that we must normalize respectfully in our discussions, motherhood and equity, marital choices and professional aspirations, displacement, aging, et al.

One ambitious part of this book was to show to the world that Romanian theater is written by playwrights of complex lineages who speak Romanian, Romani, German, Italian, French, US English, etc. The even more ambitious part was to show that we can teach dramatic literature and change our lives through playing games in classrooms and beyond.

If you buy the book directly from the publisher's website, use this code to get a discount: ADC24. https://lnkd.in/dDJD2Pvq

The success of this book will not make me a superstar, but rather make you discover Romanian dramatic literature in a way that you have not yet experienced.

Thank you.

In this collection, the author focuses on several contemporary Romanian female playwrights with residencies in Europe and the U.S.: Alexandra Badea, Carmen Francesca Banciu, Alexa Băcanu, Ana Sorina Corneanu, Mihaela Drăgan, Dr. Cătălina Florina Florescu, Dr. Mihaela Michailov, Dr. Domnica Rădulescu, Saviana Stănescu, and Dr. Elise Wilk.
In their bold works, written by female playwrights who are academics, activists, and performers, we are invited to discover variations in the modus operandi of the dramatic language itself from metaphorical to matter-of-fact approaches. Furthermore, while all these playwrights speak Romanian, they also think and operate in various other languages, such as Romani, German, French, Italian, and American English.
This book facilitates scholars and students to discover contem- porary issues related to Romanian society as presented heavily from a feminine angle and to reveal intersectional issues as seen and applied to dramatic characters in a post-communist country from some authors who experienced communism firsthand. The book is also an invitation to reinvent how we teach dramatic litera- ture by offering 20 interactive, exploratory activities.

To be an author is something that I honestly never thought of becoming. That's the beauty of the necunoscut.

Today, the publisher finally allowed me to access my e-copy. I'm still waiting for its physical delivery and embrace.

To those ladies whose plays I consulted in talking about #intersectionality and creating games/activities for this book, kindly, please ask your university and/or local library to acquire a copy by using this discount: ADC23 (if the purchase is placed at https://lnkd.in/eTes8tUd).

👏Update: Currently, the book's release date coincides with Sfântul Nicolae, so, that's kind of cool.

👏 The book's TOC is the same:
https://www.routledge.com/Female-Playwrights-and-Applied-Intersectionality-in-Romanian-Theater/Florescu/p/book/9780367474140

👏If you'd like to have a quick intro into one of the women that was inspirational for my play and volume as a whole, check out this "crash course" on #Hrotsvitha: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdvIsJF9d9s

👏 I'd be promoting heavily this book because I'm proud and ebullient. 2024 will be deservedly fabulous!

👏 This volume is also proof that Romanian Literature is anything but minor, that this adjective should be revised as we are also striving to improve our literary and cultural complex identity globally. In this volume, in addition to the omnipotent English, there will be variations to it, so, #Englishes, and more: excerpts in Romanian, Romani, German, Italian, and French  -- so, join me in saying that we are not minor, marginal, but in fact quite fabulous.

👏 This is also the "story" of two "sides," i.e., 5 women who  stayed home, and 5 women who emigrated. Together we are a whole.

After an amazing time at the iconic Drama Book shop, I will make a personal stop to promote this exceptional collection in London, where the small, but vibrant publisher is based. Right now we have a poster and the location, The George, equally wonderful and full of history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_George_Inn,_Southwark

Book launch NYC: https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/The-Drama-Book-Shop-to-Host-Catalina-Florina-Florescu-and-the-Authors-of-BORDERLESS-THALIA-20230512

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/borderless-thalia-a-multilingual-pandemic-comic-collection-tickets-582429070027?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

Borderless Thalia: A Multilingual, Pandemic Comic Collection
Library of Congress: https://lccn.loc.gov/2022362629

About the event:
Conceived during C-19 as a coping mechanism, the collection contains plays written exclusively by female identified playwrights. In addition to the plays' full version in English, all have been partly translated into various languages. By so doing, readers immerse themselves theatrically into several languages, and, for a few moments, they forget about borders, politics of separation, and nonsense. My ultimate goal was to put Thalia, the goddess of comedy, on the spotlight. Similarly, the female playwrights empower themselves and others through the healing powers of laughter, relaxation, and joie de vivre.
Joining the discussion are authors Barbara Blatner, Sarah Congress, Tjaša Ferme, and Ornella Ohayon.

Catalina Florina Florescu's Ph.D. is in Comparative Literature with a focus on Medical Humanities. She teaches undergraduate courses at Pace University and graduate courses at Stevens Institute of Technology. Dr. Florescu curates the new play festival at Jersey City Theater Center. More about her: http://www.catalinaflorescu.com/

When the world turned its back to us, I decided to stay happy, above the water, and get off of bed no matter what. I just could not end myself then and there -- no matter how tempting endings are. The collection is a multilingual volume. All playwrights are female identified. 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️ ⚥

Vreau ca ultima mea carte sa fie un cadou limbii romane.
TOC:

FEMEIA CARE TOT UITA SĂ SE NASCĂ
Finalistă la Concursul “Piesa anului – UNITER” 2019
Finalistă în cadrul proiectului Lecturi3, Lectură dramatică, TN Iași, 2021



AM AFLAT… ACUM
Locul al doilea la Concursul de Comedie, 2019
Interpretata dramatic la Constanta, regia Iulia Enache

VECINELE
Original publicat pe LiterNet, introducere Mircea Morariu
(dedicată colegilor mei de liceu)


O POVESTE FĂRĂ SFÂRȘIT
(dedicată tatălui meu)


ULTIMA BACANTĂ
(mi se pare firesc sa termin ce am avut de dăruit limbii materne cu aceasta "comedie imperfectă")

This is a teaser for a project to be released next year:

As I am making my promised steps outside of the publishing arena, my last book covers are going to be very personal. Take this one for example. My son completed it a few years ago during a school art project. It represents the sun, which happens to mean a lot to me. But it could just as well mean another star in this too little understood and explored universe. Since this is a volume on comedies, the vibrant colors match the plays' intensity and, more, confirm the well known, unmatched women's force.

Borderless Thalia: A Multilingual Comedic Collection (UK based publisher). TOC (in alphabetical order):
1. Christine Benvenuto, You Are Muted (Italian)
2. Barbara Blatner, Spell
3. Sarah Congress, A Thanksgiving to Remember (Spanish)
4. Connie Dinkler, Quarrel-Tine (Spanish)
5. Selma Dragos, Mileuri mici de gheata (Romanian)
6. Tjaša Ferme, Two Lovers and a Bear (Slovenian)
7. Catalina Florina Florescu, Rehearsing lines (Greek)
8. Tavi Juárez, The United States of Huevos (Spanish)
9. Jinna Kim, A Turkey Is not a Rooster (Korean)
10. Elena Naskova, Bottle Man (Macedonian)
11. Joyce Newman Scott, The Bra Bust
12. Ornella Ohayon, What Comes after Sorrow (French)
13. Ellis Stump, The People’s Toast (some words in Czech)
14. Laurie Tanner, Sex Ed for Mom (Italian)
15. Cindi Sansone-Braff, To the Zoom and Back (Spanish)

9 books, 9 babies, 9 projects to talk about what matters/what I love:
"Transacting Sites of the Liminal Bodily Spaces" #cancer, #AIDS, #medicalhumanities
"Inventing Me/Exercitii de retrait" #memoirr, #exile, #mothertongue
Cover credit: Ileana Luchian Giușcă
"Disjointed Perspectives on Motherhood" #inequity, #motherhood
Cover credit: "The Unnoticed Incident" by Lynda Fay Braun
"Transnational Narratives in Englishes of Exile" #Englishes, #immigration
Cover credit: "La dérive des continents" par Antoine Josse
"Teatru" #limbaromana, #teatru
Cover credit: Hajdu Tamás
"Of Silences: In Munch, Hopper, Beckett, and Hanson" #philosophy, #silence #language #thearts
"The Night I Burned My Origami Skin" #poetry, #creativewriting
Cover credit: Anna Faktorovich
"The Rebelled Body Plays" #theater, #medicalhumanities, #cancer, #immigration, #mentalhealthmatters
Cover credit: I@ulia Iulia Schiopu
"Staging Breast Cancer Trilogy" #breastcancerr, #femininity, #masculinity, #healthcrisis, #medicalhumanities, #therapy, #theater, #healing
Cover credit: Jamie Shombert

"Does my country care if I die? The trilogy reminds us that assumptions about the value of a human being are at the heart of every rule and piece of legislation, "Dr. Elena Gabor, Professor

"Just as Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart is more than an “a play about AIDS,” Snowdrops & Chlorine is so much more than just “a play about breast cancer," Caroline Stefanie Clay, actress

"As a cancer survivor, Snowdrops and Chlorine destigmatized my own feelings on the subject," Christopher Bailey, World Health Organization, Lead

"So many men are embarrassed to talk about cancer. Male breast cancer is a real disease and much more needs to be researched," Michael Singer, Male Breast Cancer Coalition

"The choir of the ten women in Cancer, Choreographed forecasts, explains, and solves dilemmas. It’s like a choir from the Greek tragedies, but the tragedy is cancer," Dr. Ioan Ardelean, Professor

"What Vagina Monologues did for vaginas, Mia does for breasts. Catalina gave women a voice to speak about their bodies being politically regulated" – Tjaša Ferme, Director, Transforma Theater

"In Mia, Catalina touches the nerve of pain, suffering, and conformity through the mélange of resilience and escape," Mihaela Campion, Psychotherapist

"Breast cancer is a crisis, both for women and men, femininity and masculinity, and Catalina invites us to rewrite our old misconceptions and treat the body with dignity," Dr. Oana Chivoiu, Professor

"Jamie Shombert is a photographer/artist born and raised in New Jersey. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer, she picked up her camera. She knew immediately she was going to document her progress from start to finish, wherever that “finish line” would be. From the very first photograph she had no interest in producing sanitized – or what she called “pink washed” – work. In her mind, this would be a disservice, not only to her own experience, but also to other patients, spouses, and families who would one day face a diagnosis of their own. Cancer is a brutal disease and Jamie wanted to acknowledge that brutality through her artwork. She proceeded to produce a body of work that encapsulated chaos, fear, and helplessness – a quite often-overlooked part of the breast cancer experience. Jamie’s other work has been shown at Arts on Division Street Somerville, NJ; Guild of Creative Art Shrewsbury, NJ, and Alfa Art Gallery, New Brunswick, NJ."



"Dedicated to my mother who introduced me to life and cancer. Dedicated to Jo Spence, Audre Lorde, and all the men and women who some died because of, some survived breast cancer. I did not want to stay silent. [...] In these plays, I observe how, regardless of gender, breast cancer breaks a body; how cosmetic surgery continues the job done by oncologists and how patients (may) have conflicting reactions about it; how the market is saturated with products “for” breasts; how information is sometimes manipulated and how isolation and lack of education and funds contribute to an accelerated decline in the recovery status of many patients. Having lived for 2 decades as a hyphenated human (Romanian born, U.S. scholar), I am interested to notice how communities in Romania and the U.S. differ in their theatrical approaches to pain and management of information. Thus, I invite my global audiences to add their respective points of view. Moreover, techniques from well established schools, such as Theater for Social Change, Playback Theater, and Forum Theater can facilitate a discussion about empowering patients, as well as educating the medical community. Lastly, I want all of us to stop assuming the body is a tool. The body is our home. Treat it with love," Catalina Florina Florescu, PhD

Thalia’s Daughters: An International Volume on Laughter
Coordinated by
Dr. Catalina Florina Florescu in collaboration with The International Centre for Women Playwrights


This international volume is hoped to be multi-lingual, thus giving each playwright a chance to submit a short piece in their mother tongue and its translated into English version.
Submissions from the United States/UK/Australia/Nigeria/etc. shall remain in original unless the author knows and speaks fluently another language or can work with a translator.

FYI:
1. the play must be a comedy (because the doctor is in the house and she has prescribed laughter),
2. the script must be written by a female identified playwright (because the volume is coordinated/commissioned via an organization dedicated to womxn playwrights exclusively),
3. the script must be short, i.e., no longer than 20-30 pages (because I, like you, crave for comedic essence),
4. the script must be composed during “the longest year of our lives,” or how I call 2020-21 (because the intention is to see how womxn have used laughter as a coping mechanism during the pandemic),
5. hence, it can be realistic, symbolic, absurd: you choose, you are free! It could have had a reading, two readings, or 1,000 readings on Zoom.
6. Our main goal is to see how we understand and produce comedy worldwide and how we tap into our creative resources to deal with the trauma of a pandemic via mild to strong laughs.


Submit your piece by New Year’s Eve of 2021 to fflorescu@pace.edu
with the subject line “Thalia’s Daughters.” The process of reading, evaluating, and making a decision will commence with a good wine, a great laughter, and a chance to see womxn in their full, vibrant potential. Info about the publisher and how to devise our own apotropaic masks will be announced at a later date.


About the coordinator: Catalina Florina Florescu was born in Romania, earned her Ph.D. from Purdue University, and lives on the East Coast of the U.S. She
has published and/or edited 8 books on immigration, hospitalization/health, motherhood, and more. She teaches at Pace in New York. She organizes a festival of new plays and is the coordinator for “Voices,” an international festival of plays both organized by JCTC. Her CV and other info can be found here: http://www.catalinaflorescu.com/

About the image: Thalia, Muse of Comedy (1739)by Jean-Marc Nattier



May Θαλεια bless and guide our journey!

Staging Breast Cancer Trilogy, a bilingual volume, is going to be released in 2021. As of today, it has a PERFECT cover. Powerful stories are never edited. Powerful stories are raw. Powerful stories are about beautiful people, like Jamie Shombert, the photographer and a breast cancer survivor.

I feel loved, loved, loved -- and mother smiles inside my heart. More, soon.


Blurbs (back cover)


Does my country care if I die? The trilogy reminds us that assumptions about the value of a human being are at the heart of every rule and piece of legislation, Dr. Elena Gabor, Professor

Just as Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart is more than an “a play about AIDS,” Snowdrops & Chlorine is so much more than just “a play about breast cancer,” Caroline Stefanie Clay, actress


As a cancer survivor, Snowdrops and Chlorine destigmatized my own feelings on the subject, Christopher Bailey, World Health Organization, Lead


So many men are embarrassed to talk about cancer. Male breast cancer is a real disease and much more needs to be researched, Michael Singer, Male Breast Cancer Coalition


The choir of the ten women in Cancer, Choreographed forecasts, explains, and solves dilemmas. It’s like a choir from the Greek tragedies, but the tragedy is cancer, Dr. Ioan Ardelean, Professor

What Vagina Monologues did for vaginas, Mia does for breasts. Catalina gave women a voice to speak about their bodies being politically regulated – Tjaša Ferme, Director, Transforma Theater


In Mia, Catalina touches the nerve of pain, suffering, and conformity through the mélange of resilience and escape, Mihaela Campion, Psychotherapist

Breast cancer is a crisis, both for women and men, femininity and masculinity, and Catalina invites us to rewrite our old misconceptions and treat the body with dignity, Dr. Oana Chivoiu, Professor




Bio:
Dr. Catalina Florina Florescu holds a Ph.D. in Medical Humanities and is actively interested in issues related to the body as seen through immigration, LGBTQ, and interdisciplinary lenses.

This chapter is about the first play in Staging Breast Cancer Trilogy, "Mia." It offers exercises that can help us deal with a tough diagnosis.

About the entire collection: This book establishes play as a mode of humanistic inquiry with a profound effect on art, culture and society. Play is treated as a dynamic and relational modality where relationships of all kinds are forged and inquisitive interdisciplinary engagement is embraced. Play cultivates reflection, connection, and creativity, offering new epistemological directions for the humanities. With examples from a range of disciplines including poetry, history, science, religion and media, this book treats play as an object of inquiry, but also as a mode of inquiry. The chapters, each focusing on a specific cultural phenomenon, do not simply put culture on display, they put culture in play, providing a playful lens through which to see the world. The reader is encouraged to read the chapters in this book out of order, allowing constructive collision between ideas, moments in history, and theoretical perspectives. The act of reading this book, like the project of the humanities itself, should be emergent, generative, and playful.

2020 ends on a positive note because I am a fighter. 2021 will be all about theater, the way I want to make and share it with others. A quick update on my project under contract with Routledge. Two contributors are not part of the project anymore, but a new one has joined it. The scope of this volume stays the same: to introduce to my global audience our multilingual, multimedia, transcending borders work. More, to introduce our bold work because all the ladies who are part of this volume are fighters like me and very vocal on issues that matter. Finally, because I have become very confident in my skin as a woman, this is a volume that will have my mark, i.e., it is a mix between being analytical and creative, tough and playful, lyrical and sarcastic.
Playwrights: Alexa Alexa Băcanu, Banciu Carmen-Francesca, Alexandra Badea, Saviana Stanescu, Elise Wilk, Ana Sorina Corneanu, Domnica Radulescu, Mihaela Michailov, Mihaela Drăgan, and Catalina Florescu.

PS: This is also my exit book.

I started this project before C-19 because I wanted the (academic) world to know about female playwrights who some live in Romania, while others outside of its territory. I started this project knowing very stubbornly that I would NOT use any secondary materials at all (i.e., extensive quotes from fellow critics), but I would trust my "gut" as a female author in diaspora. I started this project knowing for a fact that unless we were willing to play games inside classrooms and really learn how to listen, we would have failed our students. I started this project very proud of my #Englishes and having a very clear idea in mind about the book's multilingual dimension.

During the pandemic, however, I requested an extension because I was mentally exhausted. I was granted that, so, today I received the blurb created by #Routledge, the publisher. This would be "baby no. 11," as I call my books affectionately.

Unless I manage to publish a second volume of plays in Romanian (that seems to be quite difficult), this "baby" will be my last book. So, the question that remains is: Will the total number of my "babies" be 11, or how many players from one team start a game of soccer, or 12, or how many months are in a year?

Mia, a play about a survivor and a previvor of breast cancer, femininity, relationships all revolving breast cancer. The play will have its world premiere this fall at HERE: Arts Center, NYC.

Suicidal Dog and Laika is a political parable discussing issues related to citizenship, borders, and nationality in what is advertised as an increasingly globalized world. The play is also a reflection on what politics can do to us and so, in that regard, it's a warning. The play is in discussions to have its world premiere this fall in London at the Gate Theater.

Three as in Tri-Angle, or the Aftertastes of Life is a play about masculinity and isolation as well as about mental health and the need to open up civically about what hurts when we draw the line between genders.

Should anyone be interested in reading parts of the plays, please contact me privately.

Piesa de teatru scrisa cu ocazia Centenarului Marii Uniri, scrisa cu mult dor de limba romana, de blocul in care am copilarit, dar si cu durere ca suntem o tara cu mult in urma si ca si eu scriind piesa asta atat de departe probabil ca nu ma apropii de tara. Raman in cuvinte. Luati-ma. Introducere scrisa de Mircea Morariu. Coperta Vlad Basca. Redactor Razvan Penescu, editura LiterNet.

https://editura.liternet.ro/carte/362/Catalina-Florescu/Vecinele.html

Teatru. Editura Tracus Arte. Bucureşti, Romania (2018) (in Romanian). Introduction by Oana M. Chivoiu.  Foreword by Cristina Modreanu. Afterward by Nona Rapotan. Endorsed by Andrei Şerban and Domnica Rădulescu; Cover by Hajdu Tamás

Publicity/Press:
Goethe Institute Interview: http://blog.goethe.de/dlite/archives/597-Trupul-are-o-poveste-care-se-termin.html?fbclid=IwAR1uKG-iCr6ZpYdCeHsiajCbUmegphpi0GGkSxnGldBZdIjZP1XhEHtQrQc
Recenzie, Mircea Morariu: https://yorick.ro/teatrul-catalinei-florina-florescu/
Bookaholic interview: https://www.bookaholic.ro/catalina-florina-florescu-nu-stiu-cine- as-fi-devenit-daca-as-fi-ramas-in-tara-interviu.html
Carturesti interview: https://blog.carturesti.ro/catalina-florina-florescu-cuvintele- trebuie-respectate-si-folosite-ca-atare/
Romanian TV NY Interview (in Romanian): Mirela Roznoveanu (journalist); Cătălin Stelian-Shanks (actor): https://youtu.be/Rng4roOzcE0;
Elle Magazine Interview: https://www.elle.ro/people/interviu-cu-catalina-florina- florescu-autoarea-volumului-teatru-606870/
Adevărul Interview: https://adevarul.ro/cultura/carti/scriitoarea-catalina-florina- florescu--profesoara-pace-university-new-york-In-ultimul-an-liceu-murit-mama-cancer- m-a-salvat-teatrul-1_5b2b6991df52022f755e2ace/index.html
Verbs Describes Us Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HrHE2vukZc&feature=share
Radio France Internationale Romania Interview: https://youtu.be/yNAq_SHBRRQ
Mini-recenzie: https://bombitaluivladmusatescu.blogspot.com/2018/07/catalina-florina- florescu-teatru.html?m=1

Book Launches: Casa Avramide, 22 June 2018, Tulcea; Teatrul de Stat Constanța, 25 June 2018 – Festivalul “Miturile Cetății”; Cărturești (Carusel), Buchrarest, 30 iunie 2018;
Readings: “All for theater” hosted by the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest, 19 June 2018
http://www.tracusarte.ro/teatru/833-teatru-catalina-florina-florescu-9786066649285.html

U.S. Libraries: New York University; Indiana University; University of Chicago

Today is the first day of Lent for Orthodox Christians and Constantin Brâncuși's birthday. Today I also received the covers of my 7th book. This is a volume of three plays and it is the one I am proudest since theater has helped me understand who I am, what I dream about, and what I need to fight for. This is also a volume to which many have contributed in one way or another and I want to thank you all for what you have done to inspire me and to promote the volume.
I thank Oana Chivoiu, Nona Rapotan, Cristina Modreanu, Ana Margineanu, Andrei Serban, Catalina Matei, Hajdu Tamás, Handan Ozbilgin Bromley, Thedra Cullar-Ledford, Domnica Radulescu, Floarea Tutuianu, Alexandru Nagy, Carla Teaha, Hurduc Mihai, Radu Catana, Ștefan Pavel, Ioan Suhov, Simona Chitan, Razvan Ionescu, Iulia Pana, Vassiliki Rapti, Mona Momescu, Marcy Arlin, Rania Rashoodi, Gilda Conon., Madalina Constantin. With love to my family, John Florescu, Dunaev Mariana Carmen, Mimi Noel. To Elena Stanuta because we were once young and in love with theater. Wait a minute, we have remained young and in love with theater. To Liviu Olteanu because back then when we were writing to each other epistles, I did not know that I would end up publishing books. To M, with whom I improvise on a daily basis. And to all others who may want to continue to promote this volume of three plays. Now available in my birth language, Romanian, but later this year to appear in English, too, so thank you to Banciu Carmen-Francesca and Catharine J. Nicely

Editura TracusArte
Society for Romanian Studies: along with six students from U of Bucharest, I will read passages from the volume at its upcoming conference.
#ICRNewYork

Three of my books published this year. Clockwise,

1.) Transnational Narratives in Englishes of Exile
https://lnkd.in/gUAFSXc

2.) The Night I Burned My Origami Skin
https://lnkd.in/gA9NbA5

3.) Of Silences: In Munch, Hopper, Beckett, and Hanson (A Monograph)
https://lnkd.in/g3xf2WZ

The Night I Burned My Origami Skin (poems/creative writing), Anaphora Literary Press, December, 2017. Endorsed by: Christine Hamm, author of Echo Park; Charlie Samuya Veric, author of Boyhood: A Long Lyric; and Frank Morrelli, author of No Sad Songs. With a Foreword by Kirsten Miles, National Director of the Tupelo Press 30/30 Project

Public Reading: 04/13, Symposia Bookstore, Hoboken, NJ; Showcased at the 2018 Poets House Showcase, New York, NY; and the 70th Anniversary Philadelphia Writers’ Conference, Philadelphia, PA Author reading poems: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTFbJM_BZ5g&index=1&list=UUra7jQXJvN6AIglLDzX0X0A
Library of Congress link: https://lccn.loc.gov/2017954204
Book Review: https://readersfavorite.com/book-review/the-night-i-burned-my-origami- skin

http://www.worldcat.org/title/inventing-me-exercitii-de-re-trait/oclc/786285592&referer=brief_results


Inventing Me/Exerciţii de retrăit (in Romanian). (non-fiction/memoir). Editura Scrisul Românesc, Craiova, Romania, 2011

Press release: Biblioteca Judeteana Alexandru si Aristia Aman, Craiova, July, 2011
http://reteaualiterara.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lansare-de-carte-la-craiova
http://www.totpal.ro/catalina-florina-florescu-%E2%80%9Einventing-me-%E2%80%93- exercitii-de-re-trait%E2%80%9D/
Review: “Directia superioara a spiritului creator” by N.N. Negulescu, Constelatii diamantine 2.3 (7) 2011
Editorial:https://www.academia.edu/34077427/Despre_cartea_mea_de_memorie_editori al
U.S. Libraries: New York University; Indiana University; University of Chicago

Library of Congress Call Number: PN56.B62 F56 2011
Cited in Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, Oxford Journals, 64.4 (2009), www.jhmas.oxfordjournals.org


Transacting Sites of the Liminal Bodily Spaces (literary criticism; medical humanities; attitudes toward death). Cambridge Scholars Publishing, London, U.K., 2011, Electronic version accessible at http://search.ebscohost.com/

Library of Congress Call Number: PN56.B62 F56 2011
Social Media Site: https://www.facebook.com/Dr.CatalinaFlorinaFlorescu/
National Institute of Health ID: NLM ID: 101609083, Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/101609083
National Library of Medicine Call Number: 2013 G-172, Link:
https://locatorplus.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&v1=1&ti=1,1&Search_Arg=101609083&Search_Code=0359&CNT=1&SID=1

🎉 WORLD PREMIERE 🎉
MAP OF T/ERROR by Dr. Catalina Florina Florescu
May 20th Cervantes Institute, Chicago (More info TBA)

International Voices Project
Mission: “The International Voices Project (IVP) champions the work of global playwrights by creating opportunities to experience new and contemporary international plays on Chicago stages. IVP debuts voices from the world's stages through commissions, translations, and productions.” (https://lnkd.in/eiW4RQvB)

Play: Map of T/Errors has been invited to participate in the festival’s 14th edition and it is scheduled for its world premiere as a staged-reading performance and a talkback. The play is a political allegory with several characters. Connected by THE GHOST OF A HISTORY TEACHER, two teens and their respective grandpas from Romania and the United States have a chance to break all walls and look at the map of the world via theatrical devices and chance encounters. Is THE GHOST OF A HISTORY TEACHER the scapegoat for the repeated “never again” slogan? Come on May 20th to find out.

Image: by #Didssph

BORDERLESS THALIA edited by yours truly.

Book launch details: The meeting room inside The George Inn called the Winchester, 27 December from 4-6 pm. Address: 75 Borough High St, London SE1 1NH, United Kingdom

"The George Inn, built in 1676, is London's only surviving galleried inn. To this day we reign as the London Bridge pub to savour British ales and Shakespeare's tales."

A big thank you to Solis Press: https://lnkd.in/eu3WknPt
A big thank you to collaborators!
A big thank you to special guests and wonderful friends.