Estonian summer play "Now I Study" retells technical university's history through 123 volunteers
Producer Birk Rohelend writes about volunteering on the Mustamäe summer production "Now I Study," which tells the history of Tallinn's technical university with the help of 123 people, most of them volunteers. She reflects on generational gaps, Soviet-era memory and the relationship between science and art.
In a personal essay published by ERR News, producer Birk Rohelend describes her experience helping create the summer theatrical production "Now I Study" in the Mustamäe district of Tallinn. The idea for the play, which tells the history of the city's technical university, came from Andra Teede. The project ultimately grew to involve 123 people, most of them volunteers.
Bridging generations
Rohelend writes that the production spoke to questions she had long pondered about how different generations relate to history and to each other. She draws a parallel between her own teenage daughters, who sometimes tell her she "doesn't understand," and her relationship with her late mother, who was born in 1941 and studied at the same university whose history the play now tells.
She recalls her own childhood in the Soviet Union — red stars, parades, street signs in Cyrillic — and notes that many family histories, including relatives who suffered repression, were rarely discussed openly at home. Rohelend reflects on a broader pressure to remember the past only through one simplified, heroic narrative, rather than acknowledging its full, contradictory complexity.
Science meets art
The essay also touches on why people choose demanding paths such as scientific careers, which require decades of patience and carry responsibility for society's future. Rohelend argues that while art can endlessly ask questions without providing answers, it can also honor scientists by portraying their human struggles — work that underpins the production itself, from stage construction to sound and lighting technology.
