Hi Everyone,
As we are preparing for the New Voices @ New Rep reading of DEPORTED / a dream play, Joyce has been rewriting the script based on our discoveries in the Boston University New Plays Initiative Workshop (please see my earlier entries).There are some major, exciting changes a-brewing! The dream-like quality of the play is growing and characters deepening and changing. I am so looking forward to sharing these changes with you in a public setting!
We have also confirmed the majority of our panel for discussion after the reading about the place theater has in the public discussion and processing on the issue of the Armenian Genocide. We are thrilled to have some wonderful members of the Armenian community on our panel including Ruth Thomasian (Founder and Executive Director of Project Save, the Armenian Photo Archive), Dr. Martin Deranian (the real life son of one of the principle characters in DEPORTED), Mariam Stepanyan (Executive Director, Armenian Library and Museum) and Tina Sajonian (President, BU Armenian Student Association).
We hope you will join us on Monday, May 4th at 7:30 pm for the reading of DEPORTED / a dream play!
Best,
Judy Braha
Director
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Discovering Cultural Components
Hi Everyone,
In February, we had a very exciting experience with DEPORTED / a dream play! Boston University New Plays Initiative gave us the opportunity to work on further developing an already strong script via a workshop production of the play with BU School of Theater students. Joyce and I spent 5 weeks working on the play in rehearsal with 9 BU actors and 3 designers. This rehearsal and performance process was invaluable to us! We learned a huge amount about the world of the play, the characters, the style and the use of Armenian dance, music and film images.
We had the extreme pleasure of collaborating with Apo Ashjian, Artistic Director of SAYAT NOVA DANCE COMPANY. Apo taught the actors in the workshop traditional Armenian dance that wove throughout the scenes of the play. We made some wonderful discoveries about how essential these cultural components were in weaving the play together and evoking a whole culture in a very private world. It became clear that these elements gave us a real link to finding the universal in the particular, to linking the vibrancy of the Armenian culture to the difficult memories of the genocide. It has been most important to us that we speak for life in this play and the opportunity to work with Apo and sound designers Liz Wallbridge and GW Roderigez in adding the dance and sound of historic Armenia to the play helped us immensely!
The reading for the New Rep will be the first reading of the newly revised script based on our discoveries from the BU New Plays Initiative workshop!
Best,
Judy Braha
In February, we had a very exciting experience with DEPORTED / a dream play! Boston University New Plays Initiative gave us the opportunity to work on further developing an already strong script via a workshop production of the play with BU School of Theater students. Joyce and I spent 5 weeks working on the play in rehearsal with 9 BU actors and 3 designers. This rehearsal and performance process was invaluable to us! We learned a huge amount about the world of the play, the characters, the style and the use of Armenian dance, music and film images.
We had the extreme pleasure of collaborating with Apo Ashjian, Artistic Director of SAYAT NOVA DANCE COMPANY. Apo taught the actors in the workshop traditional Armenian dance that wove throughout the scenes of the play. We made some wonderful discoveries about how essential these cultural components were in weaving the play together and evoking a whole culture in a very private world. It became clear that these elements gave us a real link to finding the universal in the particular, to linking the vibrancy of the Armenian culture to the difficult memories of the genocide. It has been most important to us that we speak for life in this play and the opportunity to work with Apo and sound designers Liz Wallbridge and GW Roderigez in adding the dance and sound of historic Armenia to the play helped us immensely!
The reading for the New Rep will be the first reading of the newly revised script based on our discoveries from the BU New Plays Initiative workshop!
Best,
Judy Braha
Monday, April 06, 2009
DEPORTED/ a dream play
Hi New Rep Bloggers!
I am the director of the upcoming play in NewVoices @ New Rep's reading series, DEPORTED / a dream play. The play will be read at 7:30pm on Monday May 4, 2009! I have been working with playwright, Joyce Van Dyke (A GIRL’S WAR), and a company of ten actors for over two years to create a play based on Armenian genocide survivor stories. Using survivor oral history interviews from the Armenian Library and Museum (ALMA) as well as documents, letters and personal reminiscences by survivors and their descendants, we began holding improvisational workshops based on this material, developing characters, theatrical images and story lines. We began without a script and the script grew out of our collaborative process. The actors in our developmental company include some New Rep favorites, Bobbie Steinbach and Ken Baltin!
The play is a true story based on that of 2 friends— the playwright’s grandmother, Elmas and her close friend, Varter Nazarian Deranian. In dreams and memories, the play conjures worlds of the past as well as the future. It covers events from 1915 to beyond 2015!
We look forward to reading the play at New Rep! This will be our first public reading of the newest version of the play, which continues to evolve! I will be posting thoughts and information about the project regularly! We look forward to hearing from you on this blog and starting a conversation!
Best,
Judy Braha
Director, DEPORTED / a dream play
I am the director of the upcoming play in NewVoices @ New Rep's reading series, DEPORTED / a dream play. The play will be read at 7:30pm on Monday May 4, 2009! I have been working with playwright, Joyce Van Dyke (A GIRL’S WAR), and a company of ten actors for over two years to create a play based on Armenian genocide survivor stories. Using survivor oral history interviews from the Armenian Library and Museum (ALMA) as well as documents, letters and personal reminiscences by survivors and their descendants, we began holding improvisational workshops based on this material, developing characters, theatrical images and story lines. We began without a script and the script grew out of our collaborative process. The actors in our developmental company include some New Rep favorites, Bobbie Steinbach and Ken Baltin!
The play is a true story based on that of 2 friends— the playwright’s grandmother, Elmas and her close friend, Varter Nazarian Deranian. In dreams and memories, the play conjures worlds of the past as well as the future. It covers events from 1915 to beyond 2015!
We look forward to reading the play at New Rep! This will be our first public reading of the newest version of the play, which continues to evolve! I will be posting thoughts and information about the project regularly! We look forward to hearing from you on this blog and starting a conversation!
Best,
Judy Braha
Director, DEPORTED / a dream play
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