PANEL ON GENOCIDE DRAMA AT CUNY GRADUATE CENTER ARTS CONFERENCE IN NYC, FEB. 13-14

AZG Armenian Daily
14/02/2009

Culture

Taking place at the CUNY Graduate Center (365 fifth ave. NYC) on Friday
February 13 and Saturday February 14, this two-day conference is the
third incarnation of a live forum for the exchange of work and dreams
among the far-flung members of a virtual network between theatres
and the academy – a band of playwrights, directors, actors, producers
and musicians from across the United States called No Passport.

The conference curators are Caridad Svich (founder), Randy Gener,
Patricia Ybarra (Brown University) and Frank Hentschker, with the
support of The Armenian Dramatic Arts Alliance, The Internationalists,
Theatre Without Borders and Frank Hentschker. To RSVP, call
212.817.8215 or send an email to JStenzel@gc.cuny.edu.

The conference will focus on a wide range of contemporary works
for theatre and performance, viewing historical memory, legacy and
r/evolutionary art from a variety of formal perspective. Topics that
will be addressed in panels and works-in-progress include: US Latino/a
and African-American theatre history and cross-generational paradigms
for artistic production, conflicts and mis-readings of aesthetic
diversity vis-a-vis identity politics and post-racial sensibilities,
migration and exile as they affect content and form; genocide drama
and the representation of sacrifice on stage; the ecologies of theatre
criticism in the US; queer dis-identifications in Latino/a theatre;
new media, dramaturgy and hybrid performances, and the unfixing of
international theatre. There will also be a book launch for four new
volumes from NoPassport Press.

The "Genocide Drama" panel which will be led by president of the
Armenian Dramatic Arts Alliance, playwright Bianca Bagatourian, will
take place on Saturday, Feb. 14th from 2:30-3:30 pm in the Martin
Segal Theater and is open to the public. The panelists include Marcy
Arlin, Artistic Director of Immigrants’ Theatre Project in NYC; Stacie
Chaiken, writer-performer and instructor at the USC school of theater;
Alexander Dinelaris, playwright and author of the play Red Dog Howls;
Catherine Filloux, award-winning author of the play Lemkin’s House;
J.T. Rogers, whose last play The Overwhelming was seen at the NFT and
the Roundabout theater; and Kelly Stuart, playwright and faculty member
at Columbia University. Various angles on the topic of "Genocide"
and how it is portrayed in drama today will be discussed as well as
the relevance of theater as an art form that reflects the current
dialogue of today.

NoPassport, founded by Caridad Svich as a Pan-American theatre
alliance & press devoted to action, advocacy, and change toward the
fostering of cross-cultural diversity and difference in the arts with
an emphasis on the embrace of the hemispheric spirit in US Latino/a
and Latin-American theatre-making.

The Armenian Dramatic Arts Alliance strives to fulfill its mission
of projecting the Armenian voice on a world stage through theater
and film by offering contests for new writing, play readings and
various educational programs. For more information, please see