STAGE TUBE: I AM THEATRE Project - Torange Yeghiazarian

BroadwayWorld.com is excited to share a weekly series developed by the Theatre Communications Group! This week Torange Yeghiazarian shares pivotal moments in her theatre career and why the arts matter to her!

Torange Yeghiazarian writes, directs and acts for the theatre. She is the Founding Artistic Director of Golden Thread Productions, where she has devoted her professional life to exploring Middle Eastern cultures and identities through theatre arts. In this capacity, Torange launched, ReOrient, an annual festival of short plays showcasing alternative perspectives of the Middle East. Torange's latest play, 444 DAYS is receiving a staged reading at Golden Thread in 2011. Her play CALL ME MEHDI is included in "Salaam.Peace: An Anthology of Middle Eastern-American Drama" published by TCG in 2009. Other plays include WAVES, DAWN AT MIDNIGHT, BEHIND GLASS WINDOWS, ABAGA, and PUBLICLY RESTING. Torange's articles on Contemporary Theatre in Iran have been published in American Theatre Magazine and Theatre Bay Area Magazine. In 2008, Torange adapted the poetry of Simin Behbehani to the stage in I SELL SOULS. In 2007, she collaborated with Iranian, Israeli and American artists on creating BENEDICTUS. Other directing credits include A GIRL'S WAR by Joyce Van Dyke, NINE ARMENIANS by Leslie Ayvasian, TAMAM by Betty Shamieh, THREE STOPS AND SCENIC ROUTES by Yussef el Guindi. As a teaching artist, Torange has taught playwriting to at-risk youth and led acting and play development workshops for youth and adults at Golden Thread. Born in Iran and of Armenian heritage, Torange holds a Master's degree in Theatre Arts from San Francisco State University. Among Torange's theatre writings are ABAGA (THE FUTURE), a lyrical tale of two generations of forbidden love between an Armenian man and a Turkish woman in Istanbul of 1915, and their daughter and a Jewish immigrant in Jerusalem of 1935, DAWN AT MIDNIGHT, centered on an unexpected turning point in the life of Sahar, a successful Iranian TV personality in Los Angeles, WAVES, depicting the reunion of two political activists after a 17-year separation, PUBLICLY RESTING, a farcical comedy played out inside the Airport Men's Restroom, BEHIND GLASS WINDOWS, adapted from a story by Sadeq Hedayat, OPERATION NO PENETRATION, LYSISTRATA 97! a contemporary adaptation of the classic Greek comedy where Palestinian and Israeli women unite to force their men to sign a peace treaty, and the melodrama TORCH! created collaboratively in a workshop with the San Francisco Mime Troupe. Torange performed in DARVAG's production of THE EIGHTH VOYAGE OF SINDBAD by Bahram Beyzaii; Farhad Ayish's THE LAST SUPPER; Franca Rame and Dario Fo's A WOMAN ALONE as well as in the independent films "The Last Illusion" and "Surviving Paradise" by Kamshad Kooshan.

I AM THEATRE spotlights the stories of theatre practitioners, in their own words. With 50 videos over the next 50 weeks, TCG is celebrating its 50th anniversary by sharing stories from a diverse group of people who are creating, supporting, and engaging with theatre. YOU ARE THEATRE: We want to hear your stories! TCG will release a new video each week of individuals sharing pivotal moments in theatre - and hope they will inspire you to tell your stories too. Join us as we seek to raise the international awareness of the depth, diversity and impact of the theatre field. WE ARE THEATRE! Today, not-for-profit professional theatres in the U.S. employ 130,000 people annually, inspire more than 30 million attendees and contribute $2 billion directly to the U.S. economy. What if thousands of theatre artists across the world posted their own video testimonies of why they do what they do and why theatre matters? How might that transform communities' awareness of our work? Please share the stories we've recorded, and we'll share the videos you make, and together we'll testify in a voIce That everyone will hear...I AM THEATRE. YOU ARE THEATRE. WE ARE THEATRE!

For 50 years, Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre, has existed to strengthen, nurture and promote the professional not-for-profit American theatre. TCG's constituency has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theatres to nearly 700 member theatres and affiliate organizations and more than 13,000 individuals nationwide. TCG offers its members networking and knowledge-building opportunities through conferences, events, research and communications; awards grants, approximately $2 million per year, to theatre companies and individual artists; advocates on the federal level; and serves as the US Center of the International Theatre Institute, connecting its constituents to the global theatre community. TCG is North America's largest independent publisher of dramatic literature, with 11 Pulitzer Prizes for Best Play on the TCG booklist. It also publishes the award-winning AMERICAN THEATRE magazine and ARTSEARCH®, the essential source for a career in the arts. In all of its endeavors, TCG seeks to increase the organizational efficiency of its member theatres, cultivate and celebrate the artistic talent and achievements of the field and promote a larger public understanding of, and appreciation for, the theatre. www.tcg.org