Behind the now gloomy facades of many community centers in this country, there are people still working in the cold halls; visitors gathering and participating in various amateur groups and winning awards for their talent. They all deserve better conditions to develop their activity and to keep the flame of Bulgarian traditions and folklore blazing. Even if this may not seem possible, we should not lose hope that one day the situation will improve. The work of our countrymen helping the revival of Bulgaria, supports this hope.

Reviving a derelict community center in the village of Tatarevo near Plovdiv is an inspiring cause. It united the efforts of many Bulgarians and foreigners who wanted to fulfill the dream of their friend Nasko Atanasov to see the theatre hall once more full of people. When he first went to study acting in the US, he told his new friends that in his village in Bulgaria, there was "something like a theater" he would like to restore. About15,000 US dollars was needed and the money was collected with the help of a US foundation and volunteers to return the former glamor to the community center and its stage. In its lobby, they have arranged a small museum with objects found in the storehouses of the building on display. With the help of an American friend, Nasko was able to shoot a documentary, too. But who is this mysterious American?

“The name of this American is David Roston and I am extremely grateful to him. He is one of the first people I met in Los Angeles,” Nasko Atanasov says. “He was one of the people whom I managed to persuade to come to the village of Tatarevo and experience this adventure with my friends from Bulgaria. The restoration of the stage was divided into 4 stages – renovation through volunteer work, organizing an opening symbolic concert, creating a cinema in the hall, and filming a documentary about the whole process. The film was welcomed extremely heartily by the audience, as they were able to see themselves on the big screen of the stage where their relatives and families used to play and organize concerts in the past. The official premiere of the film took place last summer during The Quarantine Film Festival in Varna.”

English: Alexander Markov