PEN World Voices International Play Festival Sets 2015 Lineup

The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center at the Graduate Center, City University of New York announces the complete line-up of its PEN World Voices International Play Festival, held May 4, 5, and 11th, 2015.

With each writer hailing from a different world region as classified by the United Nations, the three-day event, presented in partnership with the PEN American Center's annual PEN World Voices Festival, will feature readings and in-person discussions with the following playwrights:

ANGELLA EMURWON* (Uganda), HJALMAR JORGE JOFFRE-EICHHORN* & HADI MARIFAT* (Afghanistan), YERANDY FELITES PÉREZ (Cuba), SITAWA NAMWALIE* (Kenya), VALÈRE NOVARINA* (France), ROLAND SCHIMMELPFENNIG* (Germany) RAFAEL SPREGELBURD (Argentina), and JONED SURYATMOKO* (Indonesia). Asterisk denotes that the artist will be present.

Readings will be followed by a short discussion and will take place at The Martin E. Segal Theatre, The Graduate Center, and CUNY. (365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016). Events are FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC on a FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED basis.

The readings will be directed by a lineup of U.S.-based and International theatre makers, including Saheem Ali, Samuel Buggeln, Devon DeMayo, Julián Mesri, Awoye Timpo, Eric Ting, Valéry Warnotte, and Nicole A. Watson.

Over the past several years, the Segal Center has worked with the PEN World Voices Festival International Play Festival to generate a conversation on art, politics, dreams, war, and philosophy meant to share with American audiences a rich awareness of a greater global dialogue.

Launched by PEN American Center in the wake of the tragedies of September 11, 2001, the 11th annual PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature serves as a means of combating American cultural isolationism. The festival is an extension of the organization's work as a champion of freedom of expression.

The World Voices Festival will gather writers from around the globe in New York City May 4 - 10, 2015 and introduce a new curatorial approach -- focusing on the contemporary literary culture of the African continent and its diaspora. More than 100 Writers from 30 countries celebrate the transformative power of the written word. This year's program, co-curated by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, takes you beyond the news by providing a rare chance to hear voices and perspectives from contemporary Africa and its diaspora. www.penworldvoices.org

For the most up-to-date details on the 2015 PEN World Voices International Play Festival, check www.thesegalcenter.org.

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Full Line-Up and Schedule:

Monday, May 4th:

INFINITE INCOMPLETENESS

By Hadi Marifat & Hjalmar Jorge Joffre-Eichhorn (Afghanistan) l Directed by Nicole A. Watson

Infinite Incompleteness tells the stories of ten Afghan women and men who have lost members of their families as a result of the various conflicts in Afghanistan over the past three decades. The stories are told verbatim by three anonymous Afghan men.

4:30pm, Segal Theatre

THE ANIMAL OF TIME By Valère Novarina (France) Directed by Valéry Warnotte | Translated by Amin Erfani

The Animal of Time is a performance of the English translation of Valère Novarina's L'Animal du temps, a theatrical adaptation of Le Discours aux animaux. In this musical performance, the protagonist speaks to animals-that is to say: the audience-while taking them on a journey into the depth of language; one that reinvents itself every time the actor opens his mouth. He takes the audience into moments of inner darkness where speech and language are experienced through cataclysms of sound and rhythm as though heard for the very first time. This theatrical performance features actor Chris Kayser, director Valéry Warnotte, musicians Frédéric Lamarre and Adrien Tronquart, and technician Rafaël Georges. 7:30pm, Segal Theatre

Tuesday, May 5th:

STRINGS

By Angella Emurwon (Uganda) l Directed by Awoye Timpo

After 20 years away, Baaba, the family patriarch, is set to return home. Maama has ruled the homestead with a firm hand and acrid tongue, and has created a family myth that helps her maintain status in the community and keep the rest of the family in line. The return of Baaba forces her now-grown children to evaluate their relationships with Maama and their place in the world, while Uncle Lokil, Baaba's brother and Maama's on-again, off-again lover, sees Baaba's return as an opportunity to regain his rightful place in Maama's life.

2:00pm, Segal Theatre

MY UNCLE, THE EXILE

By Yerandy Fleites Pérez (Cuba)

Directed and Translated by Julián Mesri Based on real events, My Uncle, The Exile tells the story of Evaristo, a Cuban exile who has decided to return to his homeland after being banished for homosexuality during the Mariel boatlift in 1980. His family is forced to confront the brutal policies of the Cuban government, which is making every effort to exile Evaristo again. 5:00pm, Segal Theatre

ANT STREET

By Roland Schimmelpfennig (Germany) Directed by Devon DeMayo | Translated by David Tushingham

A family has waited 42 years for the package from abroad when it finally arrives. Its contents are disappointing: a cheap ballpoint pen, a ten-year-old pocket calendar, a blonde wig, tiny packets of detergent, a spoon, and an empty mustard jar wrapped in an old newspaper in a language that nobody understands. No letter, no explanation. But when they discover a message hidden in the in the newspaper, everything changes. 7:30pm, Segal Theatre

Monday, May 11th:

PICNIC

By Joned Suryatmoko (Indonesia) Directed by Eric Ting | Translated by Barbara Hatley

Hilmar, Sobirin and Wid have come to Bali to be happy. Hilmar wants to see Tanah Lot with a pretty woman on his arm, like the cigarette ad he saw on a billboard. Wid wants to cure the pain of never having visited any beautiful places in his whole life. Sobirin has come to Bali because if his friend Hilmar is happy, he will be happy too. However, when they end up working as bathroom attendants in the lobby of a luxury hotel in Bali, they struggle to find what they're looking for. 2:00pm, Segal Theatre

BLACK MARIA ON KOINANGE STREET

By Sitawa Namwalie (Kenya)

Directed by Saheem Ali A young African woman from a privileged upper middle-class family comes of age learning how to survive in an African country at the time of the dictatorships of the 1980s. She has to navigate life away from the safety of her family and learn how to survive. An encounter with the police and other night creatures exposes the underbelly of her charmed existence when she discovers the harshness and precariousness of life on the city streets of Nairobi at night. 5:00pm, Segal Theatre

SPAM

Written by Rafael Spregelburd (Argentina) Directed by Samuel Buggeln | Translated by Jean Graham-Jones

A university professor specializing in dead languages refuses to advise his best student's thesis. Instead, he replies to spam in his inbox, giving the details of his bank account to a poor Malayan girl in need of help to rescue her dead father's fortune. What if the spam turns out to be real? A deluge of adventure, linguistics, love, and despair built by the poorly recalled fragments of a decaying society at the point of becoming entirely virtual, Spam is a brutal joke on the end of Europe. 7:30pm, Segal Theatre

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Festival Founder: Frank Hentschker. Festival Producer: Christine Scarfuto.

The Segal Center bridges the gap between the academic and performing arts communities through dynamic public programs and digital initiatives that are free and open to all. Home to theatre artists, scholars, students, performing arts managers, and the local and international performance communities, the Segal Center provides a supportive environment for conversation, open exchange, and the development of new ideas and new work. Year round, the Center presents a wide variety of FREE public programs which feature leading national and international artists, scholars, and arts professionals in conversation about theatre and performance. Programs include staged readings to further the development of new and classic plays, festivals celebrating New York performance (PRELUDE) and international plays (PEN World Voices), screenings of performance works on film, artists in conversation, academic lecture series, televised seminars, symposia, and arts in education programs. In addition, the Center maintains its long-standing visiting-scholars-from-abroad program, publishes a series of highly regarded academic journals, as well as single volumes of importance (including plays in translation), all written and edited by renowned scholars. www.theSegalCenter.org