All the faire is our stage...

Welcome to the Paramitsha Kumpania and the world of playing Rom at Faire.

Paramitsha means “fairy tale” or Story Tellers. We are portraying a caravaning group of story telling Gypsies who entertain the Gaje (Non-Gypsy), beg and steal to get by (for the purposes of theater no actual stealing will occur - stolen items, women and children must be returned to their rightful owners). The Paramitsha includes musicians, dancers, jugglers, palm readers, fortune tellers, herbalists (medicine women) and various other street performers.

The Kumpania is our traveling group, basically extended family. Everyone in the Kumpania is somehow related. Everyone is your cousin whether blood related or not. In the Kumpania, we are all Rom.

Rom means “the People” and is what the Gypsies call themselves. Our Gypsies can trace their lineage from India, through the Middle East and to Europe. Being Rom at faire means we are foreigners to this English Land. We dress, talk and act slightly different from the other Players. We are very superstitious and look for signs in everything. The wind blows it is a sign, someone sneezes it is a sign, someone trips it is a sign. Make a big deal about this because we don’t wish to attract any evil spirits while traveling in this strange land. We have different customs and do not have to bow to the Gaje Queen unless you think she’ll give you something, like money. We do not have to kiss the hands of nobility unless of course you think you might get away with one of their rings.

The Gypsies do have a King. For the purpose of playing Faire the King of the Gypsies is a Fool who basically takes the blame for anything that goes wrong. This can be a real or imagined person for playing street gigs. This is a great role to play for someone who likes raising havoc and pretending to be Royalty (putting on airs). the King has no real power.

Please remember, this is supposed to be fun. What one does reflects on us all. No Public drunkenness! (Play acting drunk is O.K. real drunk is not). Stealing is fine as part of a gig but be sure to give the items back. Kidnapping is also O.K. as long as it is done in public with the other player’s permission. If things get out of hand, break character and talk straight with the people involved. If someone starts to freak out it is our job to keep the situation under control. This is theater and not reality. As long as everybody plays it safe and smart we can all have a great time playing faire.

Those interested in playing a rom character will also want to look over the Rom Costuming Guidelines and the Reccomended Rom Reading pages.

Contact Information:

Guild Director: Jawahir, jawahir@attbi.com

Artistic Consultant: Sa'ida, saidaalaziz@yahoo.com

Dance Instructor: Ali Alim, tiggerboi81@aol.com

Music Director: Nicholi, erik_d_brown@yahoo.com