Conference of the Birds Run March 12 Through March 29 at Pangea World Theater

Pangea World Theater is pleased to present Conference of The Birds, an adaptation of a poem of the same name by 12th century Sufi poet from Iran, Farid ud-Din Attar. "At the eve of the political and social changes that are taking place in this country, we chose Conference of the Birds which was also our inaugural production to convey our message of unity. This unity is not easy to achieve. The path is difficult and the play portrays this." says Artistic Director, Dipankar Mukherjee.

CONFERENCE OF THE BIRDS that opens Thursday, March 12th and runs until Sunday, March 29th. The production is based on Meena Natarajan's adaptation of the 12th century Sufi poem written by Farid ud-Din Attar. CONFERENCE OF THE BIRDS metaphorically maps out the journey of the human spirit in its quest for truth.

The play features Iranian music by Dan Rein, and an ensemble of artists including Harry Waters Jr., Kaori Kenmotsu, and Beverly Cottman.

Conference of the Birds, metaphorically maps out the journey of the human ego and the quest for truth. In this classic tale, the birds of the world take flight on a pilgrimage to find their celebrated king, but the dangers and hardships encountered on the journey cause many in the flock to abandon their search. In the end the small number of birds that survive uncover a profound secret.

Meena Natarajan is a professional playwright whose scripts have been professionally produced both in India and the U.S. She has created, written and performed in stage and street theater pieces in India raising issues such as social injustice, corruption and dowry deaths. She is deeply inspired by larger mythological themes and poetry and has adapted texts such as The Egyptian Book of The Dead, 2000-year old love poems from India and large events such as the partition of India and Pakistan. She has written several plays for Pangea World Theater including - Osiris, Partitions, The Inner World, and has co-written Bearing Witness, and Rashomon. From 2000-2003, she served as the President of Women Playwrights International, an international organization promoting the work of women playwrights, and convened the 7th Women Playwrights International Conference in the Philippines in 2003. Natarajan served on the Board of the Network of Ensemble Theaters and the American Festival Project and is on the Advisory Council of the Community Arts Network.

Director Bio
Dipankar Mukherjee, is the artistic director of Pangea World Theater. He has been leading the organization since its inception over a decade ago. He was invited to join the artistic community in the Twin Cities as a resident director of the Guthrie Theater. He has international experience in creating theater in UK, Canada, Lebanon, South Africa, India and here in the US. Aesthetics evolved through social justice, equity and deep spirituality and relevant politics forms the basis of his work. He works closely with noted South African playwright Athol Fugard and has addressed issues of race and reconciliation while creating theater. He was recently awarded a Bush Leadership Fellowship for his artistic work on non-violent methodologies post racial and religious violence. He serves on board the Future Aesthetics committee of the Ford Foundation, Advocates of Human Rights, Partners for Women's Equality and the Lake Street Council.

 

 

To post a comment, you must register and login.