2017 PEN World Voices International Play Festival Begins Today

The 2017 PEN World Voices International Play Festival begins today.

MONDAY, MAY 1 & TUESDAY, MAY 2
at The Segal Theatre, 365 5th Avenue, NYC
SUNDAY, MAY 7
at Nuyorican Poets Cafe, 236 E. 3rd Street, NYC

4:00pm, 6:00pm, 8:00pm Readings and Conversation
Free and open to the public, first come, first served

All readings followed by a conversation with the playwright.

MONDAY, MAY 1 | SEGAL THEATRE, 365 5th Avenue

4:00pm SHIT
By Patricia Cornelius (Australia)
Directed by Katie Pearl
Performed by Britt Faulker, Shelley Fort, and Elise LeBreton
Discussion moderated by Peter Eckersall

Out of control girls, angry, nasty girls are a sight to behold. They're terrifying, electrifying, they're everything girls shouldn't be, and we hate them. This is a work about these girls. Their names are Billy, Bobby, and Sam.

6:00pm TAKE OUT THE RUBBISH, SASHA
By Natal'ya Vorozhbit (Ukraine)
Translated by Sasha Dugdale
Directed by Sarah Hughes
Performed by Jess Almasy, Linda Mancini, and Richard Toth
Discussion moderated by Christian Parker

In Kiev, Katya and Oksana prepare a funeral meal for their beloved husband, stepfather, and Army colonel, Sasha. But he isn't going without a fight. The women in his life and the country need him.

8:00pm HUNGRY DOGS
By Mîrza Metîn (Turkey)
Translated by Lucy Wood
Directed by Dan Safer
Read by Rob Johanson
Discussion moderated by Eylül Akinci

Twin brothers Be?er and Be?ir, who lost their parents in war, migrated as teenagers to Istanbul. After many years of separation they meet again, when Be?er enters Be?ir's house with a stolen safe.

TUESDAY, MAY 2 | SEGAL THEATRE, 365 5th Avenue

4:00pm TRANSCENES: FOUR SHORT PLAYS FROM BRAZIL
By Marcia Zanelatto (Curator), Jô Bilac, Daniela Pereira de Carvalho, and Joaquim Vicente (Brazil)
Translated by Emily Walsh
Directed by Katherine Brook
Read by Jess Barbagallo, Will Petre, Katiana Rangel, and Carmelita Tropicana
Discussion moderated by Janet Werther

Short plays about gender identity in Brazil: a judicial fight, a dinner with a murderer, the death of the mother, and a flower leads a rally.

6:00pm TICHA-TICHA
Hakim Bah (Guinea)
Translated by Heather Denyer
Directed by Ethan McSweeney
Read by Chasten Harmon
Discussion moderated by Brooke Christensen

Ticha-Ticha awaits the return of Michael, the love of her life, who is, however, drawn to her daughter, Penda. This intense and poetic play deals with love, lust, female genital mutilation, and murder.

8:00pm METEORITES
By Sasha Marianna Salzmann (Germany)
Translated by Jenny Piening
Directed by Mallory Catlett
Read by Okwui Okpokwasili, Satya Bhabha, Amir Farjoun, MOTI MARGOLIN, and Azure Osbourne Lee
Discussion moderated by Antje Oegel

Germany is in the World Cup final; Berlin is dreaming again of a summer fairy tale to forget the world torn by wars. Inspired by Ovid's Metamorphoses, Salzmann sends her protagonists on a seemingly endless search for a new self, which denies traditional concepts of identity.

SUNDAY, MAY 7 | NUYORICAN POETS CAFE, 236 E. 3rd Street

4:00pm DESERT OF LIGHT
By Rama Haydar (Syria)
Translated by Rama Haydar & Rebekah Maggor; Directed by Rebekah Maggor
Read by Chad Goodridge, and Ismail Khalidi
Discussion moderated by Frank Hentschker and Marvin Carlson

As the brutal siege rages outside, two Palestinian refugees debate the best plan of escape. Set outside Damascus in the Yarmouk refugee camp, this black tragicomedy reveals the catastrophic absurdity of the Syrian civil war.

6:00pm PARALLEL TIME
By Bashar Murkus (Palestine)
Translated and directed by Rebekah Maggor
Read by Hend Ayoub, Berto Colón, Dan Domingues,
Juan Andrey Peña Jimenez, Ted Sod, Chris Stack, and Marianna Staroselsky
Discussion moderated by Frank Hentschker and Marvin Carlson

Parallel Time, a disturbingly humorous prison play, evokes the daily struggle of life behind bars for a group of Palestinian political prisoners in an Israeli jail. It follows their collective fight to overcome the despair of long-term incarceration.

8:00pm SISTER MOK-RAHN
By Eunsung Kim (South Korea)
Translated by Dayoung Jeong
Directed by Seonjae Kim
Read by Sohee Yun, Cindy Cheung, Stephanie Hsu, Chris Ignacio, Stephen Hu, Jinn S. Kim, SJ Son, Jonghoon Han, and Catherine Ang
Discussion moderated by Mia Chung

Desperate to reunite with her parents, a North Korean defector decides to return to her nation's capital, Pyongyang. All she needs is 50 million Won. Thus she is forced to navigate South Korean capitalism.

As part of the 2017 PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature, The Segal Center will showcase play readings by nine voices from around the world. With the writers hailing from five different continents, the International Play Festival generates a conversation on art, politics, dreams, war, and philosophy, meant to give American audiences a rich awareness of the greater global dialogue. All readings will be followed by discussion with the playwright.

Co-curated by Frank Hentschker & Antje Oegel
Assistant Curator: Soriya Chum | Festival Producer: Brooke Christensen

The PEN World Voices: International Play Festival 2017 has been made possible by the support of
Susan and Jack Rudin(†) and Marvin Carlson, Sidney E. Cohn Chair, The Graduate Center CUNY.

The PEN World Voices: International Play Festival was conceived, created, and curated by Frank Hentschker in 2007, in collaboration with PEN World Voices Festival.

Photos courtesy of The Doosan Art Center (Eunsung Kim), Alexandre Gouzou (Hakim Bah), Barbara Copque (Marcia Zanelatto), Stefan Loeber (Sasha Marianna Salzmann), Olga Zakrevskaya (Natal'ya Vorozhbit). All other photos courtesy of the artists.

Segal Center Calendar of Events:
MayMay 1, 2 + 7 PEN World Voices: International Play Festival | All Day ReadingsMay 10 Andrzej Wirth: A Century in the Landscape of Theatre | 6:30pm Book Talk + 4:00pm Screening

May 11 Approaching Dance | All Day, 4:30pm + 6:30pm GC CUNY DTSA Conference May 15 50 Years of Theatre of the Ridiculous | 6:30pm Conversation w/ Everett Quinton, et al. + 5:00pm Screening

May 18 Dramaturgy in the Making | 6:30pm Conversation w/ Katalin Trencsényi (U.K.), Peter Eckersall, Bertie Ferdman + 2:00pm Screenings

May 22 + 23 Classix: A Reading Series Celebrating Classic Plays By Black Playwrights 4:30pm + 6:30pm

May 30 Artist talk with Tadashi Suzuki (Japan) | 12:00pm Artist Talk w/ Kameron Steele + Screenings

All events are FREE and open to the public on a first come, first served basis at The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, 365 Fifth Avenue, at 34th Street.
Subway: Herald Square, lines B/D/F/M/N/Q/R
www.theSegalCenter.org Info: 212-817-1860