It’s time to move beyond Roma jokes and reclaim the weapon of humor! Roma people often turn to laughter to cope with the everyday challenges they face. In most theaters, however, humor is still merely a servant of drama. At the 8th Roma Heroes International Theater Festival, we are breaking with this tradition. This year, we are setting the narrative of victimhood aside and we are going to laugh.
The festival will take place between May 5–9, 2026, will once again be co-organized by the Eötvös10 Cultural House. On the final two days programs continue at the Ferencvárosi Pinceszínház. At both venues, we welcome visitors with special stand-up and monodrama performances, exhibitions, performances, musical programs and meet-and-greets.
Performers from the UK, Germany, Italy, Romania, as well as local Roma and Traveller artists will take the stage at both venues. They share their traumas and joys through their own stories, while also raising important questions about our common world. The productions do not ask for permission to say what many would rather keep silent.
The personal stories are true, and that is precisely why they are liberating.
More than a dozen European Romani theater artists make us laugh through stand-up performances and satirical monodramas, while revealing their own stories and holding up a distorted mirror to the world we live in. As playwright D. W. Griffith said: “The source of humor is not happiness, but pain.” We believe that being courageous enough to face our difficulties, talk about them, and even joke about them, is an important step toward overcoming them.
The performances will be shown in their original languages with Hungarian and English subtitles, followed by a Q&A session. The festival program is complemented by concerts, because music – just as laughter – gives us plenty of strength to put our burdens aside for a little while!
The festival is co-funded by the European Union.
The main organizer is the Independent Theater of Hungary. Co-organizers are the Eötvös10 Cultural Center and the Pinceszínház.
