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Submitted by: Peydah Theatre Company
Artist's Project Description: This piece was created, dreamed and devised by many people in very close collaboration. They include:
Peydah Theatre Company Founding Members:
Shadi Ghaheri - Director/ Co-Choreographer/ Performer
Abraham Makany - Perfomer
Bahar Beihaghi - Performer
Keivon Akbari - Perfomer
Vida Tayebati - Performer
Sade Namei - Performer
Hassan Nazari-Robati - Perfomer
Sam Khazai - Performer
Peydah Theatre Guest Artists:
Farideh Sakhaeifar - Visual Artist/ Co-Choreographer
Sadra Shahab - Composer/ Musician
Caitlin Cawley - Percussion
The footage is an 8 minute 46 second excerpt of a bigger project. It is an experiment, an experience; it is a collection of movements in space bared from its own context and politics. It is our attempt to embody a fraction of the dismissed and untold stories in countries around the world.
The cruelty in the images of people who are in the conflict zone is not something to be easily dismissed, however these documentations often become commodities that are acquired by big agencies to accompany their reports on the numbers and statistics of the dead and displaced.
This piece is an embodiment of the pain experienced through a series of movements to immerse the audience in the act of violence. It is an attempt to translate the sensation of loss, pain, humiliation, invasion, struggle, kinship, and failure through movements.
The digestion and translation of other people's suffering into performance is often lost in translation. When in the state of distress, either mentally or physically, language is dried out and unable to communicate. Our understanding of pain when looking at cruel images is limited to our collective or individual experience of pain and is often mixed with guilt. To quote the artist Oraib Toukan: "The guilt of watching it, seeing it, looking at it, partaking in it, defending it, avoiding it."
We would like to take this moment and opportunity to acknowledge the systematic violence and all the past and current uprisings that are happening in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Chile, Columbia, Syria, Yemen, Palestine, America and in many other countries. Special thanks to Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre for allowing us to workshop this piece at their last DirectorJam where this excerpt was filmed. Thank you all for your presence and your attention.
Artist's Bio: Based in NYC, Peydah Theatre Company is a collection of professional Iranian and Iranian-American actors and theater makers who have gathered with the shared goal of creating work that tells our stories without apology, reservation, or limitations. Peydah is committed to voicing stories from all aspects of Iranian life, particularly those of women and marginalized communities, and seeks to create and manifest theater related to the rich and nuanced Iranian experience.