On the world stage, drama seeks to open a dialogue
By ROBERT DOMINGUEZ

The New York Daily News
May 6 2005

DAILY NEWS FEATURE WRITER

Inviting the prime minister of Turkey to a play about the Armenian
genocide of 1915-23 could be touchy.

The Turkish government has denied that a state-sponsored elimination
of up to 1.5 million Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire ever
took place.

But that didn’t stop theater producer David Grillo from inviting
Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan to last week’s opening of “Beast
on the Moon.”

Richard Kalinoski’s drama, which made its New York debut at Century
Center for the Performing Arts, deals with Armenian survivors in
1920s Milwaukee.

By sending the invitation to Erdogan, Grillo says, he wanted
“Beast” to help “open a dialogue” on the issue – and involve the
Armenian-American community.

“I didn’t begin this as a political crusade,” says Grillo. “I love
this play because it’s a masterful piece of writing about humanity
and survival, and love as a healing tool.

“But the more I dug into the history of the Armenian genocide, the
more I recognized a great historical omission,” he adds. “The play
is a good place to begin a discussion.”

The Turkish government has not responded to Grillo’s overtures, and
he knows the chances are slim – especially since “Beast” has been a
burden to Turkey in the past.

The play has been produced in 17 countries and 12 languages over the
last 12 years, and has won dozens of international theater awards.

But Turkey has twice forced the cancellation of productions,
including last year’s European Culture Days Festival in Germany.
“Beast” was pulled from the schedule after government pressure,
according to Kalinoski.

While Grillo insists his motives aren’t political, he has generated
plenty of publicity for the play by inviting Armenian-American
audiences, and timing the production to coincide with the 90th
anniversary of the start of the tragedy. Turkey has long claimed that
the Armenian rebels’ siding with Russian forces resulted in the death
of half a million Armenians, not 1.5 million – and that just as many
Turks died in the bloodshed.

But the government’s stance seems to be softening. Omer Onhon,
the Turkish consul general in New York, tells the Daily News that
Erdogan reached out to Armenian President Robert Kocharian last month
“to propose a joint commission of Turkish and Armenian historians to
look into the issue.”

Diplomatic overtures have nothing to do with “Beast,” he adds. “To
find a connection would be misleading,” says Onhon. “I can’t say
anything about the play itself, except that of course we totally
disagree with the story surrounding it.”