"The Land" : Iraq/US theatrical collaboration; workshop production presented by FPTC

BOSTON - April 20, 2013 - PRLog -- Fort Point Theatre Channel presents The Land, a new play written by Jessica Litwak, with Amir al-Azraki. Directed by Marc S. Miller, production design by Anne Loyer. Workshop performances: May 16-18, 2013, Thurs.-Fri. at 8 pm; Sat. 7 & 9 pm. Tickets: free, donations welcome. Held at 10 Channel Center Street, Fort Point, Boston, MA 02210. Wheelchair accessible. For general information, http://www.fortpointtheatrechannel.org/, 617.750.8900.

The Land is a new play by Jessica Litwak, a U.S. playwright, with Amir al-Azraki, an Iraqi playwright. The first script collaboratively developed by U.S. and Iraqi theater artists, The Land is being workshopped as part of the development of the work toward future full productions. The play is based on an idea by Litwak and al-Azraki.

The story for The Land merges the fantastic and the realistic as it moves across time and geography and traverses the worlds of the living and the dead. It is a tragicomedy about two soldiers, one from Iraq and one from the U.S. Although both have been killed, they come to see the horror and humor of their lives while a gravedigger poet buries them. As the gravedigger rushes through his job, they go over their lives, from history to religion to the women they love and will miss. They come to a reconciliation and are motivated to make peace in the afterlife. Meanwhile, their mothers, on opposite sides of the world, come to terms with sorrow, rage, and regret. They meet years later to ask each other: Is understanding possible? Is forgiveness possible? Is peace?

The Land, part of the overall “Tamziq: Scattered and Connected” project, is being developed by Fort Point Theater Channel (FPTC) in conjunction with the Odysseus Project (http://www.odysseusproject.org) and the William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences (http://www.umb.edu/joinercenter). “Tamziq” means torn in Arabic and this multifaceted project serves as a conversation in art by Middle Eastern and American artists. "Visitors will see art of profound beauty and artifacts that open windows on Islamic culture and Western perceptions of it." (Chris Bergeron, GateHouse News Service)

Anne Loyer, director of the Odysseus Project and a member of the Fort Point Theatre Channel’s (FPTC) artistic board, has organized and co-curated the “Tamziq” project, which is currently presenting the “Tamziq” exhibition at the Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown, MA. The Fort Point Arts Community (FPAC) and FPTC are supporting partners in this exhibit. Loyer conceived “Tamziq” to create opportunities for dialogue and exchange with and within two communities: Iraqi refugees resettling in Massachusetts and U.S. veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

FPTC’s workshop production of The Land features Ahmad Maksoud as the gravedigger, Lisa Caron Driscoll as an Iraqi mother, Michael Dwan Singh as her son, an Iraqi freedom fighter, Sally Nutt as an American mother, and Wilkinson Theodoris as her son, an American soldier.

Further background information on the playwrights:

Jessica Litwak, RDT, is artistic director of The H.E.A.T. Collective (http://www.heatcollective.org) an organization dedicated to Healing, Education, Activism and Theatre, and the New Generation Theatre Ensemble, a theatre for youth (www.ngte.org) Litwak’s work has been published by Applause Books, Smith and Krause, and The New York Times. Plays include Emma Goldman: Love Anarchy and Other Affairs directed by Anne Bogart; A Pirate’s Lullaby, winner of the Oregon Book Award, produced in Portland, at Rattlestick Theater, and at The Goodman Theatre; The Promised Land, commissioned by The National Federation of Jewish Culture and produced in Budapest; Secret Agents  and Victory Dance produced in Los Angeles at The Renberg Theatre and the DR2 in New York; and many others. Litwak has taught at San Francisco State University, the Theatre Academy at Los Angeles City College, Stella Adler Academy, Marymount Manhattan College, Naropa, Columbia, NYU, and Lesley University. She conducts workshops around the world in peace-building and Performance for Acting Together On the World Stage. Litwak is on the steering committee of Theatre Without Borders and co-leads Artist Distress Services for freeDimensional.

Born in Basra, Amir Al-Azraki received his BA from the University of Basra, an MA from Baghdad University, and a PhD in theatre studies at York University in Toronto, Canada. After completing his dissertation, he returned to the University of Basra in 2011. During the first years of the Iraq War, Al-Azraki, in addition to teaching English drama at the University of Basra, worked as a fixer and translator for such international news outlets as The New York Times and The Dallas Morning News, later working for Al Mirbad TV and Radio run by the BBC World Service Trust. He developed a collaboration of the University of Basra, the Central School of Speech and Drama, and the University of London on “Transforming the Learning Environment Through Forum Theatre: Developing a Basra University Model.” Among his plays are Waiting for Gilgamesh: Scenes from Iraq, Stuck, Notorious Women, Lysistrata in Iraq, Home Woes, and Judgement Day.

Fort Point Theatre Channel (http://www.fortpointtheatrechannel.org/) is dedicated to creating and sustaining new configurations of the performing arts.