2023-24: A season of new play development- EVENTS
Directed by Kate Bryer
VFP presents a fourth evening of readings from Israel/Palestine at this precarious moment, with plays freshly written since the outbreak of war in October, 2023.
For one night only, a post-October 7 (and post-October 27 ground invasion) collage from Israeli playwright Maya Arad Yasur and Palestinian poet/author Tariq Jarrar.
Followed by discussion with participants from DC Supporters of Standing Together, Heart Beat, Am Shalom, The Peace Cafe and more.
How to Remain a Humanist After a Massacre in 17 Steps
A play by Maya Arad Yasur
Translated from Hebrew by Shir Freibach
Directed by Kate Bryer
Capturing a moment in time; the moment after the moment when the ground drops under your feet and the traumatic events of an atrocity threaten to destroy the cornerstones of a progressive consciousness. The outbreak of struggle between reason and survival: how to remain humane? An Israeli woman's guide to herself. The show, by one of Israel’s most produced young playwrights, is currently being presented at the Jaffa Theatre in Israel and 10 theaters across Germany.
Live From Jenin: Lessons From The War
A Play by Tariq Jarrar
Co-Directed by (and featuring) Raghad Makhlouf
and Kate Bryer
Three Palestinian men watch the war from a library café in their West Bank city of Jenin. The story of a mother whose son goes missing unfolds as the men comment and theorize, while a reporter stays close to her subject during a long night of the soul... for everyone. A study of contrasts between the act of witnessing and experiencing loss while still holding out hope for release and transformation, the play is newly commissioned by VFP and marks the playwriting debut of a well-traveled poet, novelist, and Palestinian peace-activist.
MEET THE ARTISTS
Featuring actors Tessa Klein, Rachel Manteuffel, Raghad Makhlouf, David Bryan Jackson, Nathan Peterson, Timothy Andrés Pabon, and Marvin Brown. Stage Manager, David Elias
About the Directors
Kathryn Chase Bryer (director) is the Associate Artistic Director of Imagination Stage. She is a theatre artist with a background in directing, acting, dramaturgy, teaching, and administration and holds a B.S. from Northwestern University. For Imagination Stage, Kathryn has directed over 50 productions in the last 25 years and has helped to develop and commission over a dozen scripts. In addition, she has worked at many theatres in the DMV area to develop and direct new scripts, including Breast in Show by Joan Cushing and Shoah Business by Jennie Eng. In 2014, she directed The BFG which won the 2014 Helen Hayes for Best Scenic Design and Best Production, Theatre for Young Audiences, and in 2015 her production of Wiley and the Hairy Man won the 2015 Best Production, Theatre for Young Audiences. In 2018, Kate won the Helen Hayes for Best Director of a Musical for her production of Wonderland, Alice’s Rock and Roll Adventures which also won Best Production Theatre for Young Audiences. At Imagination Stage this past season she directed Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed the Rock Experience (winner 2021 Helen Hayes Best Production for Theatre for Young Audiences), and The New Kid In addition to her duties at Imagination Stage, she has directed Scapin (2014) and Peter and the Starcatcher (winner of Helen Hayes 2018 Best Ensemble, Musical) and The Last Five Years at Constellation Theatre Company, The Late Wedding (2017) at the Hub Theatre and Fly By Night (2018) at 1st Stage, VA (nominated for 11 Helen Hayes Awards winning 5 including Best Director of a Musical, Hayes), The Wolves at Next Stop Theatre in Herndon, Va., The Oldest Boy at Spooky Action Theatre, American Spies and other Homegrown Fables at the Hub Theatre, A Doll House, The Late Wedding at UMD and Dracula a Feminist Revenge Tragedy at UMBC. Upcoming: Urinetown at American University
About the Playwrights
Maya Arad Yasur is a dramaturg and playwright. She holds an M.A. In Dramaturgy from the University of Amsterdam where she graduated with distinction. Maya has been working as a production dramaturg in Europe and in Israel, specializing in devised and documentary theatre. She has been the dramaturg on several award-winning theatre performances which tour in festivals around Europe. As a playwright, her plays so far center on issues of identity, exile and war. Her play God Waits at the Station was commission by UTE (Union de Theatres de l’Europe, an EU initiative) for their TERRORism project. Her play Ten Minutes from Home was commissioned to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Yitzhak Rabin's assassination. Suspended (previously titled Diamond Stars) won the first prize of the international playwriting competition of ITI–UNESCO in 2014. Maya received the Habima Award for emerging artists in 2014. Her latest play Amsterdam won the Jury Prize at Stueckemarkt 2018, held as part of Berliner Theatertreffen.
About Tariq Jarrar: Born in Nazareth and a resident of the West Bank city of Jenin for much of his life, Tariq Jarrar is a lifelong activist, artist, writer and poet. Tariq holds a degree from the American University of Jenin, where he served as editor of its English language journal and was an active member of the university’s Nonviolence Resistance Club. Having lived for a decade in Dubai and briefly in New York during his youth while growing up in Jordan where he attended school, Tariq incorporates a broad sociopolitical and psychological worldview of conflict into the lens through which he views the world—that of a Palestinian seeking peace from the battle-weary city Jenin. Through careful observation and engagement with the land and people of his homeland and beyond, Tariq has used the written word and now, in particular, theater and artistic expression, to help further justice, understanding and hope in the face of despair. “Live from Jenin: Lessons From the War,” is based on Tariq’s personal experiences across ongoing and often overlapping wartime sequences, including the current conflict in Gaza. The play represents his American theater debut
Click for previous offerings in this year’s
Voices From a Changing Middle East Festival: At War • Before • & After:
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