WATERTOWN — In a free preview at the Armenian Library and Museum of America (ALMA) on November 6, actors will read scenes from the upcoming world premiere production of “Deported/ A Dream Play,” a new play about the Armenian Genocide by award-winning playwright Joyce Van Dyke.
The actors will be the same ones performing the play in the Boston premiere that opens March 8, 2012 at the Modern Theatre, a beautiful, newly-restored, historic theatre next door to the Opera House, in the heart of Boston’s revitalized Theatre District. “Deported” will be produced at the Modern by Boston Playwrights’ Theatre in association with Suffolk University and will feature Armenian dance choreographed by Apo Ashjian of Sayat Nova Dance Company.
According to Joyce Van Dyke, “Deported” was inspired by the true stories of her grandmother and Dr. H. Martin Deranian’s mother — close friends who were deported together from Mezireh in 1915. Memories and dreams interlace in this “dream play” which stretches from 1915 into the future beyond 2015, and tackles large questions about the legacy of the Genocide. In the words of Prof. Taner Akçam, Kaloosdian/Mugar Professor at the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University: “How can we overcome a past trauma? How can we find the words and acts to represent the “inconceivable” for today’s audience? Is it possible to overcome this historic burden? In her extraordinary ‘Deported / A Dream Play,’ Joyce brings these essential questions to the stage.”
The performance at ALMA will be followed by a conversation about how the play was developed, with the participation of the playwright, director Judy Braha and Deranian. Moderated by Ilana Brownstein of Boston University. The November 6 program will take place from 3 to 5 p.m. in the third floor gallery at ALMA.
For more information visit the website http://www.almainc.org/calendar.html or www.bostonplaywrights.org.
