Jersey City Theater Center presents the 2nd annual Voices International Theatre Festival from Friday, October 16 to Sunday October 25, with virtual and live events featuring the work of 21 theatre companies worldwide. The festival’s opening ceremony on Sunday October 18 is a specially designed, socially distanced live-assembly gathering in Liberty State Park in Jersey City, combining both live and virtual elements, including classes during the afternoon and a performance-ceremony broadcast live at 6 pm EST.
The Festival showcases daring and thematically provocative multi-disciplinary work that has been curated to offer festival-goers a cross-section of ethnic, racial, gender and political perspectives.The Festival is divided into three parts: Conversations, Performances, and Classes-Workshops, co-hosted by JCTC and the City of Jersey City, has one of the highest concentrations of ethnic groups by population density in the country.
The complete list of participants is as follows. For a schedule, further information and to purchase tickets/passes, visit www.jctcenter.org
1/ Roman Viktyuk Theatre (RUSSIA) – “Chernobyl” winner of the 2020 Golden Mask, conceived and directed by Roman Viktyuk. Ensemble performance. Video with English subtitles
2/ Vladimir National Theatre (RUSSIA) – “Dreams of Hamlet,” written by N. Mazur, directed by Linas Marijus Zaikauskas, performed by Sasha Aladyshev. Multi-media monodrama. Video with English subtitles
3/ Ranan (INDIA) – “Shunya Se,” conceived and choreographed by Vikram Lyengar, with Debashree Bhattacharya and Sohini Debnath, co-choreographers. Performance dance.
4/ Denisa Musilova (CZECH REPUBLIC) – “Fitting Rooms,” conceived and choreographed by Denisa Musilova, with music by John Mosloskie. Performance dance.
5/ RAAAM Theater Group (ESTONIA/IRAN) – “Antigone,” adapted by Iranian exile Ghanizadeh, written in Estonian, with Farsi and English subtitles. This censored work was produced with Estonian actors from RAAM Theater Group. Modern adaptation of Sophocles
6/ Youth Theatre of Uzbekistan; International Akko Theatre Festival (Israel); Essence Theatre-Studio (USA) (a trilateral project by companies from UZBEKISTAN-ISRAEL-USA) – “Vox in Deserto” (“Voice in the Desert”), written by Didi Tal, directed by Nabi Abdurakhmanov, music by Ilya Melamed, video by Evgeniy Fuzulov and Ildar Shayhlislamov. Multi-media play. In Russian, Hebrew and English with English subtitles.
7/ (SOUTH AFRICA) – “Shoes and Coups” by Palesa Mazamisa. Satirical drama. In English
8/ (SOUTH AFRICA) – “Fordsburg’s Finest” by Paul Slabolepszy. Drama. In English
9/ (SOUTH AFRICA) – “Lost Property” by Megan Furniss. Drama. In English
10/ Mogilev Theatre (BELARUS) – “Second Hand Time Project” written by Svetlana Aleksievich, directed by Vladimir Petrovich.
11/ Grodno Regional Puppet Theatre (BELARUS) – “Poem Without Words” conceived and directed by Oleg Zhiugzhda and Larisa Mkikina-Probodyak, based on the poem “Dream on a Hill by renowned Belarussian poet and playwright Yanka Kupala. Unique puppet theatre play
12/ Belarus Free Theatre (BELARUS) – Unannounced work by the daring underground and outlawed theatre company that is part of the current groundswell of international protest against repressive regime of Alexander Lukashenko. Co-led by playwright and journalist Nikolai Khalezin and theater producer Natalia Koliada, with the collaboration of director Vladimir Shcherban. Ensemble performance. In Russian and English.
13/ Sidra Bell Dance (USA) – A world premiere of a new work by award-winning New York-based choreographer Sidra Bell who calls what she does movement illustrator. Performance dance.
14/ Jane Arnfield (ENGLAND) – Mike Alfreds and Jane Arnfield’s “The Tin Ring,” a dramatization of the true-life story of Holocaust survivor Zdenka Fantlová. One-woman performance in English.
15/ Manuel Vignoulle – M/motions (USA-FRANCE) – “Black and White,” a new work by Manuel Vignoulle, whose project-based company is based in New York. Winner of two Grand Prize Awards Palm Desert Dance Festival and the 2019 KoDaFe Dance Competition. Dance performance
16/ Haeboma (SOUTH KOREA) – “Pound it, Macbeth!” based on the story of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” conceived and produced by Jongsik Kim, combining traditional Korean martial arts, drumming and moder staging. Performance music-theatre.
17/ Matara (ISRAEL) – “Myth,” based on the play by Ido Netanyahu. A phantasmagoric examination of the power of the media in Israel and around the world, created by the company. Classic melodrama in chamber format
18/ Rehab: Theatre from Israel (ISRAEL) – “Puh-Puh-Puh,” a Russian-Israeli project conceived by the screenwriter, director and actor Ilya Demidov. Created on Zoom during quarantine by a conspiracy of actors from Russia and Israel. Political satire. In Hebrew and Russian with English subtitles.
19/ Nau Ivanow (SPAIN/CATALONIA) – “Memoria,” Nau Ivanow is a project of the Sagrera Foundation, and a partner-resident company of JCTC.
20/ Los Escultores del Aire (SPAIN) – “Turberias” conceived and directed by artistic director Mai Rojas Mixed media performance including mime, circus arts, dance and music.
21/ Vohidov Youth Theater (TAJIKISTAN) – “Banner of Kova” based on the classic poem “Shahnameh” by Abulkasim Firdousi, directed by artistic director Nazim Melikov. Explores about the roots of violence, hatred, war, and killing in the name of God. Dramatic mixed media tone poem. In ( ?) with subtitles.
22/ Roman Viktyuk’s Theatre (RUSSIA) – “Feast During The Plague” by A. Pushkin, directed by director Igor Nevedrov. Drama
Leave a Reply