Sundance Institute Announces Eight Projects for eatre Lab in MENA, May 06

New York, NY - Sundance Institute today announced the eight new projects selected for its pilot Theatre Lab in the MENA region, held in Morocco, May 2016. The Lab is part of the Institute's international cultural exchange programs for independent artists, which include a new, multi-year commitment to support artists from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), broadening the work of its East African Theatre Exchange over the past 15 years. For the Lab, the Institute will provide promising, fresh voices from the U.S. and MENA region with a rigorous artistic retreat and new opportunities for cross-cultural discovery, artistic reflection and creative experimentation.

Under the supervision of Sundance Institute Theatre Program Artistic Director Philip Himberg and Producing Director Christopher Hibma and led by Middle East/North Africa Manager Jumana Al-Yasiri, the Theatre Lab in MENA will for this year be the location of the annual Theatre Lab normally held in Utah. For over the past three decades, the Lab has provided critical support and development to productions, including the two most recent Tony Award winners for Best Musical, Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori's Fun Home and Robert L. Freedman and Steven Lutvak's A Gentlemans Guide to Love and Murder, as well as titles such as ToasT, Appropriate, Circle Mirror Transformation, An Iliad, The Lilys Revenge, The Good Negro, The Light in the Piazza, Passing Strange, Stuck Elevator, Spring Awakening, Laramie Project, I Am My Own Wife, and Amer Hlehel's TAHA.

The Lab supports a diverse group of emerging theatre-makers developing new work for the stage, with a focus on creative exploration and original storytelling. For the three-week Lab, the Institute provides key support and resources to Fellows, including artistic and professional guidance from creative advisors, dramaturgs and actors, time and space in an immersive environment where artists can see their work take shape and collaborate with their international peers to build supportive artist relationships. The Lab culminates in a closed presentation of each project for Lab participants, followed by a collaborative feedback session. For the Lab, the Institute will collaborate with Royal Air Maroc, Dar al-Mam n, Sahara Experiences and the Morocco National Tourist Office.

Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute, said, Our Theatre Lab will help bridge the cultural exchange between artists from the U.S.and the Middle East/North Africa at a time when sharing stories and deepening understanding between cultures seems especially relevant. This new international program is indicative of the strength of the talent in the region and the importance of artistic and developmental support for original voices in theatre.

Himberg said, The artists and projects selected for development at the Lab represent a breadth of storytelling that is expressive of personal identity, regional experiences and artistic experimentation. By bringing these dynamic artists with different backgrounds together, we hope to inspire lively conversation about theatrical narrative, artistic responsibility in a changing world and future collaborations.

The projects and artists selected for the 2016 Sundance Institute Theatre Lab in Morocco are:

Crave

by Sarah Kane

Adapted & directed by Marion L crivain

Translated by Zakaria Alilech

Narrated using video clips, soundscapes and a documentary made with residents of Marrakech, this Moroccan adaptation of Sarah Kane's Crave, brings together four actors around an endless dinner where the poetry of the moment mixes with the reality of the city.

L crivain is a French actress and director based in Marrakech, where she's pursuing different artistic collaborations in theatre and film. Marion has directed works by Jean-Luc Lagarce, Peter Handke, William Shakespeare, Georges Feydeau and Didier-George Gabily. As an actress, she has trained under the direction of Val rie Donzelli, Mia Hansen-L ve, Philippe Minyana, Frederic Maragnani and Elisabeth H lzle.

Alilech is a translator from Morocco. His experience as a translator includes a Moroccan adaptation of West Side Story, based on the city of Tangiers where he lives. He is a translator, dramaturg and actor on the developing production, Crave.

Eve's Song

By Patricia Ione Lloyd

Director Timothy Douglas

We're all born with our very own song, but in a world that constantly has to be reminded that black lives matter, some songs are silenced too soon. A middle-class African-American family is battered by the daily onslaught of subtle and not-so-subtle indignities. The fierce bonds of love that hold them together start to fray, as each one gets pushed closer and closer to their breaking point.

Lloyd is a current New York Theater Workshop fellow, alumni of the 2015 Emerging Writers Group at the Public Theater, resident playwright at the University of Mumbai, Brown University (through the Africana Studies Department) and the International Theatre & Literacy Project in Tanzania. Her work has been developed by The Public Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Labyrinth Theater, Red Bull Theatre, Dixon Place, Classical Theatre of Harlem, Downtown Urban Theatre Festival, New York LGBT Center and the Fire This Time Festival. She is the recipient of the New Professional Theatre's Emerging Playwright Award and best play award from the Downtown Urban Theatre Festival.

Happy New Fear

Written & Performed by Rima Najdi

Audio-visual design by Ana Nieves Moya

Director Mark Brokaw

Madame Bomba has a fake red TNT bomb strapped to her chest. The bomb cannot explode, and she cannot get rid of the bomb. She only responds with questions, since she does not have any answers. Her psyche is a bit complex. She is aware that the fake red TNT bomb she carries evokes fear and suspicion, but she thin

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