We were connected by something intangible but powerful - perhaps the desire to create and express ourselves, or simply the feeling that we could do something good even as children. All this was made possible by Irena - a wise, gentle and sincere mentor who knew how to listen to us and bring out the best in us with her vision.
An idea was born. A performance. Not just a play for parents or for school celebrations, but a real theatrical experience - a story with a message. The central theme: forest and environment. The nature that surrounds us, nourishes us and calms us, but we so often take it for granted. We wanted nature to speak. In the play we gave voice to the trees, the animals, the river and the sun. As children, we used simple language to talk about complex things. About responsibility, about coexistence, about the consequences of human actions.
We have performed in nursing homes, institutions for people with disabilities, institutions for people with mental and personality disabilities. Every performance has been different. But we always had the feeling that we were doing something great. Not because of the applause or the praise, but because of someone who smiled after a long time. A tear in the eye of an old lady who, seeing a tree losing its leaves, whispered softly: "That's how it was with me." Because of the little girl who didn't speak, but who came up to me after the show and squeezed me like she understood everything.
Every rehearsal, every scene, every costume made of fabric, cardboard or coloured paper was part of something really big. Even then we were learning to work together, to listen, to empathise. We were learning how to convey a message without words, how to be the voice of those who cannot speak - nature and people who are often overlooked.
The years have passed. Our faces have changed, our paths have taken each of us into our own world. But that part of us - that flame ignited by our shared creativity, underpinned by Irene's sincere dedication - remains. We have grown into people with values. People who believe in the power of community, in the importance of compassion, in the beauty of nature and our responsibility towards it. People who remember that change is possible - even if it starts with a bunch of kids at the gym practising how to be a tree.
When I think about that time today, I feel warm. It was a performance that may have lasted only a few minutes, but it carried an eternity. It represented all those values that we carry today as adults. And when I look around me, I see that we have grown from those childhood roots into people who, despite everything the world brings, remain true to what we felt then: that you don't have to be great to do something great.
Zala Krupljan, 4 May 2025
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