Dijana Milosevic wants to talk tea.
She flew across Europe, above the Atlantic and over several states to direct a play about three women talking tea.
But it's more than just tea. It's about its history. A rich history. A history that spans from the dawn of civilization, highlighting the greatness of humanity: how man achieved flight. And also the wickedness: how thousands of Muslim boys and men were slaughtered in Eastern Europe in the '90s.
"It's like a five 'o clock chitchat about the history of tea," she said.
"We offer something light, the story of tea. But, in fact, it's not light at all."
Milosevic and her company, DAH, traveled from Serbia to perform "The Story of Tea" at the Revolutions International Theatre Festival. DAH is one of nine theater companies that will perform at the festival, which started last week and ends Feb. 2.
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The festival brings a mix of people together to get a taste of other cultures, other ways of life, said Joe Peracchio, founding artistic director of Tricklock Company.
Peracchio started the festival nine years ago. He came up with the idea after backpacking through Europe, where he banged on theater doors in Poland, Serbia and Hungary looking for work.
And there he found inspiration. He saw acts he had never seen or heard before: clown theater, dance theater, circus theater - theater that escaped the imagination, he said.
After a couple of years in Europe, he decided it was time to share what he had learned, and that's when the festival was born.
"It can truly revolutionize a community and a person when you see something from a foreign culture, from a (theater) form never seen before," he said. "It can make you think about your own culture differently."
The festival has taken big steps since it first started. It's catching more press. Newspapers across the United States and Europe have written about it. Most recently, American Theater Magazine featured the festival.
It's beginning to pay off. There will be more than 35 performances in Albuquerque and Santa Fe at this year's festival. It will feature companies from across the Atlantic: Serbia, Israel and Poland. Others are from across the country: New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago.
Some performers are big hitters: John Fugelsang, who has appeared on several television shows including "America's Funniest Home Videos," will perform a comedy sketch about the son of a Catholic nun and Franciscan brother.
And then there are the local acts - like Alex Knight.
Knight, a graduate of UNM and member of Tricklock, is performing a "bittersweet comedy play" about a man who has trouble holding relationships, romantic and platonic.
Knight said the show takes place in an unlikely setting: the living room of an apartment near Carlisle and Lomas boulevards. It's something he's trying to adjust to.
"It's scary being right there with your audience and talking with them," Knight said.
"It's putting these people in interesting and awkward positions because they know they are being watched as well."
The play is a work in progress, an experiment, but that's the point of the festival.
Peracchio said he wants to introduce the audience and the performers to new forms of theater and culture. The festival will showcase plays that have comedy, acrobatics, clowns, puppets, dance - a play for everyone, he said.
"There are many more styles of theater out there than just Broadway musicals," Peracchio said. "We're trying to capture every last student that thinks theater is not for them and just expose them to more."
And since Tricklock is affiliated with UNM, the performers will guest lecture on campus at least once during their stay. So if you're taking a comedy-writing class, chances are you will get to hear from Fugelsang and other comedians.
"It's inspiration for them," Peracchio said. "That's the whole point in bringing American artists and these Polish artists and Israeli artists and Serbian artists - to get to know each other, to learn each other's works and spend time with each other."
Milosevic, who directs "The Story of Tea," said bringing people together is how you solve problems. She's trying to get that across by serving her audience tea - and talking about it, of course.
"We started to communicate through all of these incredible technological advances and devices - this is all very great. But on the flip side of the coin, we stopped being together," she said. "And we don't know each other's faces. And we forgot how to share with each other."
Tricklock's Revolutions International Theatre Festival
Through Feb. 2
Performances at various theaters, including UNM's Rodey Theatre and Theatre X
Visit www.tricklock.com for more information.
