Golden Thread Productions and Hakawati NGO to Present AZAD (the rabbit and the wolf)

Golden Thread Productions and Hakawati NGO will present the world premiere of AZAD (the rabbit and the wolf). This kaleidoscopic multimedia performance is written by Syrian-Armenian-American theatre and film artist Sona Tatoyan in collaboration with two-time Obie Award-winning theater director and multimedia designer Jared Mezzocchi. AZAD (the rabbit and the wolf) features a revelatory fusion of ancient Karagöz shadow puppetry, indigenous Middle Eastern folk music, oral storytelling, video projection, and movement. The result is an immersive, autobiographical, theatrical experience performed by Tatoyan herself alongside a tribe of 120-year-old Karagöz puppets and world-renowned oud player Ara Dinkjian. AZAD (the rabbit and the wolf) plays April 11 – May 3, 2025 at Potrero Stage (1695 18th Street, San Francisco, CA), with an opening night set for Monday, April 14 at 8pm. Tickets, priced at $20-$130, are now on sale.

In 2019, Tatoyan found herself stranded in her family’s abandoned Aleppo home during the Syrian war. At the same time, her dear friend and mentor, Turkish human rights activist Osman Kavala, had been recently jailed and was facing a possible life sentence. While confronting historical trauma and the present-day tragedies of her friends and family, Tatoyan discovers her great-great-grandfather’s handmade Karagöz shadow puppets, salvaged from the Armenian Genocide. Guided by the spirit of Scheherazad from One Thousand and One Nights, the puppets act as a bridge between Osman’s work to heal the ruptures of various indigenous communities of Anatolia, the war that surrounds Tatoyan, and our greater human experience. The puppets unveil bawdy, hilarious, and harrowing tales that transport Sona through an intergenerational, psychedelic journey, alchemizing a radiant truth: stories, when reimagined, possess the power to transmute trauma to healing.

“At a time when our communities are reeling from the livestreamed Palestinian genocide, presenting Sona’s story of survival, intergenerational trauma, and healing holds powerful resonance,” says Golden Thread Executive Artistic Director Sahar Assaf. “AZAD inspires resilience and reminds us of the importance of collective healing to build towards social justice and more compassionate communities. We’re honored to collaborate with Hakawati to present the world premiere of this important piece.”

At the heart of AZAD (the rabbit and the wolf) is a collection of 180 Karagöz shadow puppets, created and used by Tatoyan’s great-great grandfather Abkar Knadjian in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These ancient puppets are symbols of survival and the ongoing refugee experience. Abkar, a storyteller and survivor of the Armenian Genocide, was forced to leave his home in 1915, but he salvaged both his family and his art. Today, these same 120-year-old puppets, discovered in the attic of Tatoyan’s family home in Aleppo, find themselves as refugees once more — this time, displaced by the violence and destruction of the Syrian war.

“When I found my great-great grandfather’s Karagöz shadow puppets that he saved from the Armenian Genocide, I had this epiphany,” says Sona Tatoyan. “All my life, I’ve been identifying with the trauma of my inheritance, but these puppets, storytelling, are also my inheritance. This ancient technology allows me to navigate that trauma, transmute it. I believe I was summoned back to Aleppo to find these puppets, to build on the work of Osman Kavala, and to enter into a quantum collaboration with my great-great grandfather on a story that serves as a spell. We’re creating a space together to heal.”

The journey of the puppets mirrors that of Tatoyan’s own family who were forced to flee their ancestral homeland during the Armenian genocide and then again during the Syrian conflict. Like Tatoyan’s family, Abkar’s 120-year-old puppets have survived exile and war through the centuries and serve as vessels for a multitude of stories, ranging from the bawdy and humorous to the haunting and tragic, inviting audiences into a complex, multi-layered narrative. 

“Working with Sona and this cast of amazing Karagöz puppets (which, of course, speaks to the brilliant puppeteers who bring them to life), I am profoundly moved by this project and the innovative ways we are seeking to tell these stories in this crucial moment of global politic.” Says Jared Mezzocchi. “Blending the ancient technology of shadowplay with contemporary multimedia design, AZAD (the rabbit and the wolf) has a one-of-a-kind opportunity to actualize a multi-century collaboration between innovations of the past and present, in hopes to offer audiences a new way of thinking about the future of theatrical storytelling and the obligation we have as artists to inspire the global community to take better care of one another.”

The creative team for AZAD (the rabbit and the wolf) includes world-renowned oud player Ara Dinkjian, Karagöz creative consultant and puppet maker Ayhan Hulagu, puppeteers Vinny Mraz and Kalli Siringas, scenic designer Marcelo Martínez García, Costume Designer Valérie Thérèse Bart, lighting designer Betsy Chester, sound designer Evdoxia Ragkou, multimedia designer Camilla Tassi,  immersive designer Isaac Saboohi, choreographer and movement designer Chelsea Didier, and stage manager Olivia Fletcher. Footage and sound in Aleppo was captured by Antoine Makdis. Documentary Inserts were created by filmmaker Emily Jo West. 

Golden Thread and Hakawati would like to thank producers Bill Pullman and Noubar and Anna Afeyan for their ongoing support and championing of this project. 

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