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PRESS RELEASE

Thursday, May 21, 2009

AGBU High School Pasadena Students Perform "Smile & Laughter," A
Trilogy of Farces

On March 27, 2009, 25 aspiring actors in AGBU High School Pasadena’s
drama group performed three farces under the title "Jbid yev Dzidzagh"
(Smile and Laughter) at the AGBU Manoogian Center in Pasadena,
California. The program was organized by the school’s Armenian Studies
department.

The author of the first play, "Tiv 5 Khelakar" (Lunatic Number 5), is
unknown, while the second and third plays, "Shoghokorte" (The
Flatterer) and "Arevelian Adamnapuzhe" (The Oriental Dentist), were
written by 19th C. Constantinople (Istanbul) Armenian satirist Hagop
Baronian.

Drama program chair Laura Kuyumjian welcomed the audience and offered
some background for the plays performed that night. The first farce,
whose language is a mixture of Armenian and Turkish, is the story of a
peasant who, having been engaged since he was an infant, comes to town
to look for his fiancée but ends up in an insane asylum. In speaking
about the Baronian works, she explained that they reflect the manners
and mores of Constantinople Armenians during Ottoman rule. Despite the
passage of over a century, their popularity hasn’t waned, in that the
behaviors satirized still persist today.

Kuyumjian thanked the executive committee of Ardavazt Theater Company,
Krikor Satamian, and AGBU office staff for their efforts to make this
production possible. The production’s dress rehearsal took place the
previous day in front of an audience of eighth graders from three
local Armenian schools.

Established in 1906, AGBU () is the world’s largest
non-profit Armenian organization. Headquartered in New York City, AGBU
preserves and promotes the Armenian identity and heritage through
educational, cultural and humanitarian programs, annually touching the
lives of some 400,000 Armenians on six continents.