SPRING 2006 progams
International/World theatre series
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SPRING 2006 progams International/World theatre series |
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AN EVENING WITH JAPANESE THEATRE ARTIST ORIZA HIRATA AND PLAYWRIGHT CHARLES MEE Award-winning playwright and director Oriza Hirata discusses his work and his theatre company Seinendan. The evening features a reading in English of excerpts from The Yalta Conference by New York actors, video excerpts from Oriza Hirata’s productions, and a discussion between Hirata and leading New York playwright Charles Mee (Vienna Lusthaus, Big Love). Oriza Hirata is the playwright, director, and leader of Seinendan Theatre Company and the Artistic Director of both the Komaba Agora Theatre and the Fujimi Culture Hall KIRARI FUJIMI. Hirata’s “contemporary colloquial theatre theory” is new and practical. His theatrical practice, explained in books like Gendai Kogo Engeki no tameni (For Contemporary Colloquial Theatre), has had a profound impact on the current theatre scene in Japan. At present, he is associate professor at Obirin University. His awards include the 39th Kishida Kunio Drama Award (1998) for his production of Tsuki no Misaki (The Cape of the Moon) by Masataka Matsuda; the Association Internationale des Critiques de Théâtre Award (2002) for his book Geijutu Rikkokuran (Arts as the Basis of a Nation); the Yomiuri Theatre Award for Outstanding Production (2002) for Ueno Dobutsuen Sai-sai-sai-Shugeki (Attacking Ueno Zoo for the Fourth Time), which he wrote and directed; and the Grand Prix of the Second Asahi Performing Arts Award (2003) for Sono Kawa wo Koete, Gogatsu (Across the River in May), which was an event for the Year of Japan-ROK National Exchange in 2002. Charles L. Mee is one of the most important American playwrights and authors. He was born in Barrington, Illinois in 1938. His plays include: The Imperialists at the Club Cave Canem, Full Circle, The Trojan Women: A Love Story, Snow in June, Big Love, Vienna Lusthaus, bobrauschenbergamerica, and Wintertime. All of his plays are available on his website www.charlesmee.org with an invitation to other artists to use them, copyright- free, as the bases for other works of art. Reading directed by Yehuda Duenyas, New York. Cosponsor: The Japan Society 6:30 p.m., Friday, February 10, 2006, Martin E. Segal Theatre Res. Code 6424. Free |
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THOUSAND YEARS WAITING Excerpts from the performance of the play Thousand Years Waiting featuring Japanese Otome Bunraku Puppetry and American actors This evening excerpts from Chiori Miyagawa's new play Thousand Years Waiting featuring the rare traditional Japanese Otome Bunraku. Thousand Years Waiting is composed of three simultaneous realities: present-day New York City, Japan circa 1000, and inside The Tale of Genji—the world's first novel. This unique collaboration of women artists—a Japanese-American playwright, an expatriate Japanese director, and a traditional artist from Japan—brings together three different perspectives on Japanese and American theatre. In Otome Bunraku, an early twentieth-century offshoot of the seventeenth century Bunraku, a lone female manipulates a four-foot puppet, instead of using the sanctioned three-man method of operation. The result is a more sensual and intimate movement of the puppets. Today, it is a near extinct art form: only three women in the world perform Otome Bunraku. This presentation of excerpts from the play at Martin E. Segal Theatre Center marks the first appearance of an Otome Bunraku artist in an American play. The full production of Thousand Years Waiting, produced by Crossing Jamaica Avenue, can be seen at P.S.122, February 23—March 12. Visit www.ps122.org and www.crossingjamaicaavenue.org for more information. With moderator Claudia Orenstein, Associate Professor of Theatre at Hunter College, City University of New York. 6:30 p.m., Friday, February 17, 2006, Martin E. Segal Theatre Res. Code 6769. Free |
An Evening with Swiss Playwright Metin Arditi Meet Swiss playwright sensation Metin Arditi and come for a reading of his first play, Last Letter to Theo (Derni ère lettre à Théo), published in 2005. In the play Vincent Van Gogh, in his lodgings in Auvers-sur-Oise, near Paris, decides to write a last letter to his brother Theo one hour before committing suicide. Metin Arditi, a Swiss citizen, was born in Turkey and lives in Geneva. He holds degrees in physics and nuclear engineering from the Swiss Federal Instiute of Technology, is the founder and chairman of the Arditi Foundation, the chairman of the world-famous Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, member of the strategic advisory board of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and the founder and chairman of the Association of Academic Foundations in Geneva. Arditi is the author of several philosophical essays on La Fontaine, Machiavelli, Nietzsche, Van Gogh, as well as several novels. The reading will be directed by Stephen Willems, Literary Manager of the MCC Theater, New York. Co-sponsored by Consulate General of Switzerland in New York. 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 8, 2006, Martin E. Segal Theatre Res. Code. 6795. Free |
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Memorial for Egyptian playwright Alfred Farag (1929-2005) Join us in a celebration of late playwright Alfred Farag, one of the greatest cultural figures of Egypt and the Arab world. Farag, who died at the age of 76 on December 4, 2005, was the most important Egyptian playwright of his generation and one of the most eminent in the Arab world. Building upon a thorough knowledge of the European theatre, he successfully combined this with the resources of the Arabic literary heritage, producing a large body of dramatic works in a variety of styles that enjoyed great critical and popular success. Among these were The Caravan (1956), The Barber of Baghdad (1964), and Messages from the Judge of Seville (1975). His many special qualities as a dramatist stem from his ability to write plays of profound philosophical contemplation that at the same time abound in well-conceived dramatic action; they work as both intelligent dramatic literature and engaging stage performances. Farag frequently blended reality with illusion, prose with poetry, present with past, and the conscious with the unconscious. Thematically, he generally concerned himself with the human condition when subjected to severe oppression. He seemed always to be writing about the struggles of insignificant, non-heroic people faced with political, social, or economic abuse. He was particularly fascinated with the relationship between oppressor and oppressed, master and servant. Farag was a dedicated political writer, whose outspoken defense of literary and human rights caused him to suffer both imprisonment and exile. Nevertheless, Farag has been frequently produced at the Egyptian National Theatre, which is currently offering his final play, The Princess and the Vagabond, and he has received a number of important national and international honors, including the Egyptian State Merit Award in 1993, and, in 2002, the Jerusalem Award given by the General Union of Arab Writers. The memorial will be hosted by Sidney E. Cohn Distinguished Professor in Theatre, CUNY, Marvin Carlson and Ph.D. candiate in Theatre Dalia Basiouny. With Isis Saratial Misdary and readings by Nibras Arab-American Theater Collective, directed by Leila Buck. 6:30 p.m., Monday, March 27, 2006, Martin E. Segal Theatre Res. Code 6870 |
| An Evening with Belgian Playwright Kamiel Vanhole Kamiel Vanhole was born in 1954 and spent his childhood in a small village near Brussels. He has a degree in Germanic philology, worked in the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels, and began working in an animation studio as a script writer. In 1990 he published A Demon in Brussels, a collection of travel stories. In 1992, the Speeltheater in Ghent commissioned him to write his children’s play, Laura's Landscape (1992), which was successfully staged in Belgium, the Netherlands, Frankfurt, Montreal, and Athens. In 2000 Vanhole initiated Bloom in Brussels, a project bringin together 24 French- and Dutch-speaking Belgians to create a peregrination throughout the city, from the slaughterhouse in the west to the European Parliament in the east. The Book—a polyphonic novel—was simultaneously published in France and Holland. In 1997, The Region of the Heart premiered in a coal mine. Other plays include Reeuw, The Night of Margaretha, Offspring, and the trilogy Barbaroi. Peter Anthonissen (1969) has been a theatre critic for the Belgian/Flemish newspaper De Morgen. Currently, he works as a dramaturg for the Dutch Theater Artemis, which commissioned Kamiel Vanhole's latest piece, De Sjeik is Rijk (The Rich Sheikh); and Fabuleus (Leuven), for the Belgian/Flemish production platform for young theatre and dance makers. Jessa Wildemeersch, director, got her acting degree at the Studio Herman Teirlinck in Antwerp/Belgium and received her master’s degree in acting from the Actors Studio Drama School in New York/USA, where she became a lifetime member in 2005. With Kamiel Vanhole, Jessa Wildemeersch, Peter Anthonissen, artistic director
of the Ohio Theatre Robert Lyons, Professor Lenora Champagne of SUNY
Purchase and actors from the Ohio Theatre. 6:30 p.m., Monday, April 3, 2006, Martin E. Segal Theatre Res. Code 6770. Free |
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an evening with Armando Nascimento Rosa Join us for an evening with Armando Nascimento Rosa, one the most successful living playwrights in Portugal. Armando Nascimento Rosa’s first staged play, Lianor in No-battery Land (2000), is, according to Eugénia Vasques, "a historical landmark in contemporary Portuguese theatre." He received in 2000 the prestigious Revelation Theatre Prize Ribeiro da Fonte, awarded by the Portuguese Institute for the Arts, and since then he has had some nine different theatre productions of his plays throughout his country, and recently also in Spain. Rosa (Ph.D. in Dramatic Literature) is the author of seven books of plays and essays on theatre and teaches playwriting and theory of the theatre in the College of Dramatic Art in Lisbon. This evening includes readings from three of his plays, translated by Luis Toledo: An Oedipus—The Untold Story (2003), which is going to be published in the USA by Spring Journal Books in 2006; Tunnel of the Rats (2004), a dark comedy in two acts for seven characters; and Mary of Magdala—Gnostic Fable (2005). Dr. Rosa will also show images from several theatre productions of his plays. An introduction to the author's work will be provided by Marvin Carlson (CUNY) and by António Mercado (Portugal: Escola Superior de Educaçao de Coimbra/ Superior School of Education of Coimbra). The reading will be directed by Alex Roe, Artistic Director of The Metropolitan Playhouse. 6:30 p.m., Monday, April 17, 2006, Martin E. Segal Theatre Res. Code 6771. Free |
An Evening with Italian Playwright Dacia Maraini Join us for readings from Mary Stuart, Dialogue of a Prostitute and her Client, and other plays by Dacia Maraini. Plus a short visual presentation and a panel discussion with experts on her work, including Judith Malina and Hanon Reznikov, co-directors of The Living Theatre. Dacia Maraini, is a prolific writer and prominent feminist who has written novels, poetry, plays, screenplays, investigative studies, essays, and political and social commentary. She co-founded the Teatro del Porcospino in the 1960s and, in 1973, established the well-known feminist experimental theatre, Teatro La Maddalena, in Rome. Her plays are widely produced and include Mary Stuart, The Dreams of Clytemnestra, Dialogue between a Prostitute and her Client, Stravaganza, and Marianna Ucria. Several films have been made based on her books, and she has written screenplays for such directors as Pier Paolo Pasolini, Marco Ferreri, Carlo Di Palma, and Margarethe Von Trotta. The Living Theatre, a unique avant-garde enterprise deeply committed to theatre as a medium for social change, was founded in New York City in 1947 by Judith Malina and Julian Beck. The company has staged more than 80 productions in eight languages in 25 countries on four continents—in traditional as well as non-traditional venues such as prisons, steel mills, slums, and schools. Since the death of Julian Beck in 1985, Judith Malina and company veteran Hanon Reznikov have been co-directors of the company. Jane House, actress, translator, and director, founded Jane House Productions in 2000 to make available to American audiences the rich array of Italian drama, through premier dramatic readings. Presentations have included works by Eduardo De Filippo, Natalia Ginzburg, Luigi Pirandello, Manlio Santanelli, and Raffaele Viviani. Jane House earned her Ph.D. in Theatre from the CUNY Graduate Center. Produced by Jane House Productions; co-sponsored by Istituto Italiano di Cultura, New York Doctoral Specialization in Italian, Ph.D. Program in Comparative Literature, CUNY Graduate Center; and The Living Theatre. 6:30 p.m., Wed., May 3, 2006, Martin E. Segal Theatre Res. Code. 6772. Free |
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BAiT / Argentinean Theatre: Buenos Aires in Translation Join us for an evening with Argentinean playwrights Lola Arias, Federico León, Rafael Spregelburd, and Daniel Veronese; US-based directors Brooke O’Hara, Yana Ross, Juan Souki , and Jay Scheib; translator Professor Jean Graham-Jones, Ph.D. Program in Theatre, CUNY; Performance Space 122's Artistic Director Vallejo Gantner; and BAiT's Creative Producer Shoshana Polanco. This fall, BAiT will bring together four of the most dynamic playwrights from Buenos Aires, Argentina, with four American theatre companies on the cusp of the avant-garde to perform four newly translated plays in one of New York's leading cutting-edge theatres, Performance Space 122. This evening will present a reading of excerpts from the plays that will be fully produced in the fall. A discussion with the audience about the work of the translator will follow. BAiT is an initiative of Salón Volcán, co-sponsored by Performance Space 122, Instituto Cervantes, and the Consulate General of Argentina in New York. Lola Arias is a performer, director, and playwright with a B.A. in Playwriting from the Escuela Municipal de Arte Dramático. Her play La escuálida familia has been published recently. She has directed her plays in Buenos Aires and France. Federico León is a playwright, director, actor, and producer who has gained recognition worldwide and who has been selected by Robert Wilson as a protégé through the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. His award-winning dramas have been staged at international arts festivals in Europe, Canada, South America, and Australia. He recently published a collected edition of his works. Rafael Spregelburd is an award-winning playwright, director, actor, and translator, as well as the founder of the theatre company, El Patrón Vázquez, with which he has traveled to numerous international festivals. He has written 30 plays, many of which have been translated into German, English, French, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Portuguese, and Czech. Daniel Veronese, an accomplished author and director, is a co-founder and coartistic director of the theatre company El Periférico de Objetos. His plays have been translated into Italian, German, French, and Portuguese. He has received numerous awards, and his work has been presented in many international theatre festivals, including BAM's Next Wave Festival in 2000. 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, May 24, 2006, Martin E. Segal Theatre. Res. Code 6773 |
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 Lola Arias Photo © Lorena Fernandez |
 Federico León Photo © Nora Lezano |
 Rafael Spregelburd Photo © Patricia Di Pietro |
 Daniel Veronese Courtesy of Daniel Veronese |
Two Evenings with Emerging Romanian Playwrights After the Fall: Reality and the New Romanian Theatre will present readings of three
of Romania's most promising young playwrights: Gianina Carbunariu, Bogdan
Georgescu, and Vera Ion. Readings directed by Marcy Arlin, Kaipo Schwab, and
Daniela Varon. Gianina Carbunariu is an award-winning playwright who is pursuing a master’s in playwriting at the National University of Theatre and Cinematography in Bucharest. Carbunariu’s plays have been produced in theatres in Romania and abroad since 2000. Bogdan Georgescu is a Soros Open Society Fellow at the University of Vermont
whose plays include D.W. and Romania, Kiss Me. Georgescu has received various
awards, including First Prize for Playwriting from the Romanian Contest Tinere Veronica Ion is a member of the Faculty of Theatre at the National University of Drama and Cinematography in Bucharest. Her plays include We Build the Future, Radical, A Sip of Sin, A Bit of Music, and Jimmy the Prophet. She has won awards for her practical work in theatre, and published poetry in addition to plays. In collaboration with The Immigrants' Theatre Project, the Trust for Mutual Understanding and the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York. Monday, July 10: Gianina Carbunariu Res. Code. 6775. Free Tuesday, July 11: Bogdan Georgescu and Vera Ion Res. Code. 6776. Free |
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 Gianina Carbunariu Courtesy of the artist |
 Bogdan Georgescu Courtesy of the artist |
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