Curtain Up: New Works for the Stage at Sundance Institute's 2017 Theatre Lab

15/06/2017

2013 Theatre Lab

Credit: Jonathan Hickerson

2015 Theatre Lab

Credit: Fred Hayes

2015 Theatre Lab

Credit: Jonathan Hickerson

Los Angeles, CA - Sundance Institute today announced a characteristically diverse and eclectic slate of projects that will be developed at their Theatre Lab, July 14-30 at Sundance Resort in Utah. The Lab is the centerpiece of the Institute's year-round work with the theatre community, and for nearly four decades has creatively supported projects including Indecent, Appropriate, Fun Home and A Gentlemans Guide to Love and Murder.

Under the supervision of Artistic Director Philip Himberg and Producing Director Christopher Hibma, Fellows at the Lab enjoy a continuum of support from the theatre community, with dedicated time, space and resources for creative development, rehearsals and constructive guidance and feedback.

The 2017 Sundance Theatre Lab artists represent the Institute's core belief in amplifying the voice of independent artists across the globe. Though countries may have borders, storytellers do not, and these artists are finding a range of ways to build bridges rather than walls. said Himberg. These extraordinary writers, directors and composers will engage in a rigorous opportunity to deepen their work and move it forward in a supportive setting and under the guidance of the best dramaturgs and advisors.

This is one of 24 residency Labs the Institute hosts each year for independent artists in theatre, film, new media and episodic content. The Theatre Program's international activity supports mentorship and cross-cultural exchange, focused on artists from the Middle East and North Africa, and has included Labs, workshops and retreats in Germany, Morocco, East Africa, France and the U.S.

The acting company and creative advisors for the Lab will be announced at a later date. The Fellows and projects selected for the 2017 Theatre Lab are:

Black Lady Authority

By Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm

Directed by Lisa Marie Rollins

The year is 2020, and the Race Wars have left America all but decimated. Three women take refuge in a theatre; they take control of their destiny and devise a revolution that puts the black woman in charge.

Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm holds an MFA in Playwriting from the Catholic University of America. He is currently in the Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program at Juilliard and is an upcoming 2050 Fellow at New York Theater Workshop. Upcoming: NNPN Rolling World Premiere of his play Br'er Cotton.

Lisa Marie Rollins is a director and writer. Most recently she co-directed Young Jean Lee's The Shipment and will be directing the West coast premiere of Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm's HOODED: Being Black for Dummies in 2018. She is a 2017 Directors Lab West Fellow and a recipient of multiple awards for her playwriting, poetry and theater production work. She has been a writing fellow with San Francisco Writers Grotto, CALLALOO London, VONA Writing Workshop and Just Theater Play Lab. Regional work includes Crowded Fire Theater, Playwright Foundation, Playground at Berkeley Rep, San Francisco Playhouse and new plays by Lauren Gunderson, Geetha Reddy, Idris Goodwin, Philana Omorotionmwan and comedic artists W. Kamau Bell and Zahra Noorbakash.

I Hate Theatre I Love Pornography

Conceived and devised by Zoukak Theatre Company

Directed by Omar Abi Azar

Performed by Lamia Abi Azar, Hashem Adnan, Junaid Sarieddine & Maya Zbib

I Hate Theatre I Love Pornography is an investigation on the various forms of corruption plaguing today's world. It questions how we position ourselves as artists and individuals with regards to this corruption, by creating a parallelism between the performative body, the pornographic body and the corpse.

Zoukak is a non-hierarchical structure, dedicated to theatre practice as a political and social involvement, with a faith in collectivity as a position against marginalizing systems. Their work was shown in the Middle East, Europe, the United States, Africa and South Asia. Zoukak received the Ibsen Scholarship Award (2012), and the Anna Lindh Foundation's Euromed Dialogue Award for social resilience and creativity (2014).

We the Aliens

By Mo'min Swaitat

Directed by Wissam Arbache

An experimental solo show inspired both by an ancient Arab storytelling starting with Ibn Tufails novel from the 11th century, and by Palestinian author Emile Habibis 1974 science fiction novel about an alien encounter. As both a Bedouin and a Palestinian refugee from 1948, Swaitat blends family history and folklore with his own recollections of growing up in a world turned upside down, at a crossroads between the past, present and future.

Momin Swaitat is an actor, writer and director who has trained at the Freedom Theatre, Jenin and LISPA, in London and Berlin. He has performed in numerous shows with the Freedom Theatre, working alongside director Juliano Mer Khamis on international tours in Palestine, Europe and the U.S. He has collaborated with acclaimed directors such as Thomas Ostermeier (Schaub hne Theatre) and Rufus Norris (The National Theatre), as well as writing and directing several solo and ensemble pieces in Palestine and abroad.

Wissam Arbache is a director and an actor living between Paris and Geneva. Wissam dedicated the first years of his career to French literature, and presented his work in major venues in Paris. Later on, he decided to go back to his mother tongue and explore bringing Arabic literature to the stage, directing in Arabic (Metamorphoses by Saadallah Wannous, which premiered at Damascus Opera House, The First day presented in Beirut, and an adaptation of Mahmoud Darwhish's Mural, performed in Arabic and French at La Maison de la Po sie, with the presence of Darwish himself); and designing cycles to present Arabic poetry and theatre to French aud

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