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INTERNATIONAL THEATER FEST HITS DOWNTOWN
by Richard Guzman
LA Downtown News Online
http://www.ladowntownnews.com/arts_and_entertainment/international-theater-fest-hits-downtown/article_d41e6560-d5b7-11e0-8e62-001cc4c03286.html
Sept 2 2011
International Theatre Festival Debuts at LATC
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES - Shakespeare wrote that "all the world's a
stage," but in Downtown starting Sept. 8, the world is instead coming
to two stages as the California International Theatre Festival makes
its debut in the central city.
Companies from Armenia, Ukraine, Germany, Canada and France are among
those taking part in the third annual festival that focuses on bringing
international productions to American audiences.
"This is a way to explore other cultures, to see all these cultures
in one building," said Joe Peracchio, the founding artistic director
for the festival. "Theater is a good way to do that because it's a
passionate exchange of ideas."
The festival will run through Sept. 18 at several locations including
Calabasas and Ventura. In Downtown more than a dozen performances
and panel discussions are scheduled mostly at the Los Angeles Theater
Center with one show at the KUSC AT&T Center Theatre through Sept. 11.
The festival will launch in Downtown with the world premier of Komitas'
10 Commandments & Colors by MIHR Theatre from Armenia.
Using modern dance and live painting on stage, the piece is based
on the work of Komitas Vardapet, an Armenian composer, priest and
musicologist who is considered the founder of Armenian classical
music and is credited with helping to preserve Armenia's culture
through its art during the 1915 Armenian Genocide.
"He's like the Beethoven or Shakespeare of Armenian history. He held
everyone together through his work" Peracchio said. "And the company
is an edgy young dance theater company coming out of Armenia working
with a traditional subject matter, mixing ancient music with modern
theater and live action painting on stage."
The company has performed in the Czech Republic, Latvia, Georgia,
Russia and the Middle East, but this will be their first time on an
American stage.
Feel It
In an email interview with Los Angeles Downtown News, Tsolak
Mlke-Galstyan, the company's artistic director, said they are looking
forward to sharing their work with an audience that may not be as
familiar with their culture.
"By presenting something new to the people we create a dialogue
with them, which presents us new creative horizons and the audience
discovers new emotional horizons," he said. "For example the audience
does not know Vardapet Komitas, but through our performance they can
become closer to him emotionally."
However, Mlke-Galstyan said they are less interested in putting on a
history lesson and more concerned about reaching the audience on an
emotional level.
"We want them to feel," he said. "I can say that the audience will
feel our country. They will feel the art which was created in Armenia
and at the same time they will feel that the art has no borders."
Peracchio invited companies like MIHR based not only on their
availability, but also on what they could teach an American audience
and performances that would connect with people here.
"We're looking for some sort of connection to another culture and also
the kinds of shows that have not been seen in the L.A. area before,
that would otherwise never reach this community," he said.
Also having its US premier on Sept. 8 will be a performance from a
company that is closer to home. The Canadian-based Contrary Company
will perform The Cure for Everything.
The one woman show is written and performed by Maja Ardal and tells
the story of Elsa, a teenager growing up in 1962 who is discovering
the worlds of sex and rock and roll. Growing up in the nuclear age
under the threat of global war, she decides to speed up her lifestyle
before the world ends.
The sole Downtown performance outside the LATC will be at the KUSC
AT&T Center Theater on Sept. 10 with a musical story called El Canguro
(the Kangaroo). The piece is the story of a poverty-stricken Guatemalan
girl living in the rainforest of Tikal that touches on topics of child
trafficking and is told from the point of view of a mixed-race woman.
International Moves
On Sept. 9 the festival offers another US premier with Roadway Closed
to Pedestrians, by French company Macadames Theatre Corporal.
Based on street art, and with elements of mime, clown, dance and
acrobatics, the physical language of the piece, which looks at the
sentiments of love, is something audiences throughout the world will
likely understand.
"It is a story of an encounter soothed by poetry told through stills
from which the audience can find familiar situations," said company
member Clement Chaboche in a translated email to Downtown News. "Our
goal was never to revolutionize the art of mime or performance in
general, but rather to transport feelings that will, I hope, reach
the greatest amount of people."
One of the group's other goals with physical theater is to be able
to travel and tell stories. The festival is an ideal venue for that,
Chaboche said.
"We find that the various audiences for which we perform are very
different depending on regions and countries they're in," he said. "It
will be a very enriching and rewarding experience to be able to
perform in front of a California audience. Also, our work is based
on street art, which makes it even more interesting to be bringing
our show from the street to the theatre's stage."
Downtown also seems like an ideal stage to launch the International
Festival, said Tammy Taylor, the festival's executive producer.
"This year is very exciting," Taylor said. "It's a growth year for us
and Downtown is just one of the most vibrant neighborhoods in L.A. It
has so much diversity, so much art diversity, demographic diversity.
So for a cultural festival that is dedicated to bringing the world
together, it just seemed like a perfect fit."
To further encourage dialogue, the LATC lobby will be turned into a
sort of festival within the festival with the event's "Street Team,"
a collection of performers engaging in live music and art with dancers
and clowns.
"We hope people will hang out and start a conversion, talk about the
show they just saw from Armenia, from France and realize that the
world is a very small place," Taylor said. "We're all living on this
planet and there's more about us that is similar than is different."
From: Baghdasarian
by Richard Guzman
LA Downtown News Online
http://www.ladowntownnews.com/arts_and_entertainment/international-theater-fest-hits-downtown/article_d41e6560-d5b7-11e0-8e62-001cc4c03286.html
Sept 2 2011
International Theatre Festival Debuts at LATC
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES - Shakespeare wrote that "all the world's a
stage," but in Downtown starting Sept. 8, the world is instead coming
to two stages as the California International Theatre Festival makes
its debut in the central city.
Companies from Armenia, Ukraine, Germany, Canada and France are among
those taking part in the third annual festival that focuses on bringing
international productions to American audiences.
"This is a way to explore other cultures, to see all these cultures
in one building," said Joe Peracchio, the founding artistic director
for the festival. "Theater is a good way to do that because it's a
passionate exchange of ideas."
The festival will run through Sept. 18 at several locations including
Calabasas and Ventura. In Downtown more than a dozen performances
and panel discussions are scheduled mostly at the Los Angeles Theater
Center with one show at the KUSC AT&T Center Theatre through Sept. 11.
The festival will launch in Downtown with the world premier of Komitas'
10 Commandments & Colors by MIHR Theatre from Armenia.
Using modern dance and live painting on stage, the piece is based
on the work of Komitas Vardapet, an Armenian composer, priest and
musicologist who is considered the founder of Armenian classical
music and is credited with helping to preserve Armenia's culture
through its art during the 1915 Armenian Genocide.
"He's like the Beethoven or Shakespeare of Armenian history. He held
everyone together through his work" Peracchio said. "And the company
is an edgy young dance theater company coming out of Armenia working
with a traditional subject matter, mixing ancient music with modern
theater and live action painting on stage."
The company has performed in the Czech Republic, Latvia, Georgia,
Russia and the Middle East, but this will be their first time on an
American stage.
Feel It
In an email interview with Los Angeles Downtown News, Tsolak
Mlke-Galstyan, the company's artistic director, said they are looking
forward to sharing their work with an audience that may not be as
familiar with their culture.
"By presenting something new to the people we create a dialogue
with them, which presents us new creative horizons and the audience
discovers new emotional horizons," he said. "For example the audience
does not know Vardapet Komitas, but through our performance they can
become closer to him emotionally."
However, Mlke-Galstyan said they are less interested in putting on a
history lesson and more concerned about reaching the audience on an
emotional level.
"We want them to feel," he said. "I can say that the audience will
feel our country. They will feel the art which was created in Armenia
and at the same time they will feel that the art has no borders."
Peracchio invited companies like MIHR based not only on their
availability, but also on what they could teach an American audience
and performances that would connect with people here.
"We're looking for some sort of connection to another culture and also
the kinds of shows that have not been seen in the L.A. area before,
that would otherwise never reach this community," he said.
Also having its US premier on Sept. 8 will be a performance from a
company that is closer to home. The Canadian-based Contrary Company
will perform The Cure for Everything.
The one woman show is written and performed by Maja Ardal and tells
the story of Elsa, a teenager growing up in 1962 who is discovering
the worlds of sex and rock and roll. Growing up in the nuclear age
under the threat of global war, she decides to speed up her lifestyle
before the world ends.
The sole Downtown performance outside the LATC will be at the KUSC
AT&T Center Theater on Sept. 10 with a musical story called El Canguro
(the Kangaroo). The piece is the story of a poverty-stricken Guatemalan
girl living in the rainforest of Tikal that touches on topics of child
trafficking and is told from the point of view of a mixed-race woman.
International Moves
On Sept. 9 the festival offers another US premier with Roadway Closed
to Pedestrians, by French company Macadames Theatre Corporal.
Based on street art, and with elements of mime, clown, dance and
acrobatics, the physical language of the piece, which looks at the
sentiments of love, is something audiences throughout the world will
likely understand.
"It is a story of an encounter soothed by poetry told through stills
from which the audience can find familiar situations," said company
member Clement Chaboche in a translated email to Downtown News. "Our
goal was never to revolutionize the art of mime or performance in
general, but rather to transport feelings that will, I hope, reach
the greatest amount of people."
One of the group's other goals with physical theater is to be able
to travel and tell stories. The festival is an ideal venue for that,
Chaboche said.
"We find that the various audiences for which we perform are very
different depending on regions and countries they're in," he said. "It
will be a very enriching and rewarding experience to be able to
perform in front of a California audience. Also, our work is based
on street art, which makes it even more interesting to be bringing
our show from the street to the theatre's stage."
Downtown also seems like an ideal stage to launch the International
Festival, said Tammy Taylor, the festival's executive producer.
"This year is very exciting," Taylor said. "It's a growth year for us
and Downtown is just one of the most vibrant neighborhoods in L.A. It
has so much diversity, so much art diversity, demographic diversity.
So for a cultural festival that is dedicated to bringing the world
together, it just seemed like a perfect fit."
To further encourage dialogue, the LATC lobby will be turned into a
sort of festival within the festival with the event's "Street Team,"
a collection of performers engaging in live music and art with dancers
and clowns.
"We hope people will hang out and start a conversion, talk about the
show they just saw from Armenia, from France and realize that the
world is a very small place," Taylor said. "We're all living on this
planet and there's more about us that is similar than is different."
From: Baghdasarian