Seven Continents Unite
100+
Artists
34
Nationalities
36
Events
9
Days
Produced by New York Theatre Salon and Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Global Forms Theater Festival is generously supported by Faith Catlin and John Griesemer, the Howard Gilman Foundation, and the New World Foundation.
Global Forms Theater Festival Theme - "7 Continents Unite"
Global Forms Theater Festival programs:
Global Stage: A series of in-person and online performances that are created by immigrant artists.
Global Learn: Workshops lead by immigrant artists.
Global Share: All immigrant artists are invited to create a less than 2-minute video where they teach one thing from their culture.
Global Shorts: A showcase of short videos created by immigrant artists during the pandemic.
Global Eye: A presentation of full-staged productions produced by theater companies outside the U.S.
Global Dialogue: A series of panel discussions with international theater companies and producers.
Global Meet: "Speed dating" events for immigrant artists to meet future collaborators.
Global Gab: A cross-cultural communication with the festival's participating artists and line producers.
Through the Door
Wed, June 2 @ 6:30-7:15 PM EDT + Talkback
Tue, June 8 @ 6:30-7 PM EDT
Wed, June 9 @ 7:30-8 PM EDT
Performer: Kasper Klop
Director: Morwenna Spagnol
Cinematographer: Peter Azen
Poster design: Elspeth Michaels
Editing: Vaxt
We say that traveling leads us to see differently, to open up, to grow, to be more universal. In a world on lockdown, traveling happens also on the inside. Cut from others, what remains is ourselves. So come dive with us into the inner continents of human. A world that is vast, varied, unpredictable, intense, naughty, heroic, vulnerable, nightmarish, festive, and spiritual.
‘Through the Door’ is a performance mixing video, physical theater, naked-hand puppetry, and graphic design.
The Meltdown
Thu, June 3 @ 7:30-8 PM EDT + Talkback with Global Gab 8-8:30 PM
Fri, June 4 @ 10:30-11 PM EDT
Sun, June 6 @ 1:30-2 PM EDT + Talkback with Global Gab 2-2:30 PM
Created and performed by Rawya El Chab and Aline Salloum
In Collaboration with Sarah Bitar
Videography by Alia Haju
Music by Omar Dewachi
Dramaturgy by Salma S. Zohdi
Set Design by Lina Younes
The Meltdown is a pre-recorded video performance inspired by the ongoing social, political and economic breakdown taking place in Lebanon. It explores the shaken social and gender expectations of a bourgeois couple on their first date, and asks: what will remain after these roles have been performed and exhausted? The piece invites us to witness a dating ritual between a young woman and man who are navigating the crumbling displays of gender and sexulaity during times of economic scarcity, as reflections of their country’s rapid collapsing state. Once the superfluous performativity has disintegrated, we are left with an intimate conversation between two Lebanese expats of their longings and frustrations towards their homeland. Beyond Lebanon, the piece is a reminder, and an echo, of the state of collapse of neo-liberal ethics and politics unfolding across the globe.
Glimpse
Sat, June 5 @ 3:30-7 PM EDT
The Peninsula at Prospect Park
Well House Dr, Brooklyn, NY 11215
(Special Thanks to our Community Partner: Prospect Park Alliance)
Director and Curator: Shadi Ghaheri
Set Designers: Ma'moon Tebbo,
Costume Designer: Stine Dahlman
Props Designer: Afsaneh Ayani
Sound Designer: Tye Hunt Fitzgerald
Dramaturg: Diana Fathi
Stage Manager: Jose Noel
Assistant Stage Manager: Ariane Terrell
The Company of Actors and Dancers:
Pooya Mohseni, Sade Namei, Sneha Sakhare, Bahar Beihaghi, Kineta Kunutu, Hiva Sedaghat, Sarah Bitar
Musicians: Maraca Bruja, Elsa Saade, Nima Farzaneh , Armin Antighechian, Alfredo Colon and Company, Yesenia Rojas
Glimpse Festival is a celebration of life, joy, and new beginnings within the community through art of storytelling, music, dance and more. The festival will be held in the beautiful field of Prospect Park on June 5th with four major outdoor performances all created and curated by Immigrant artists.
These artists from all around the world will bring Folklore stories from India, Iran, South Africa and Lebanon, Puppet shows and stories for young audience, Music from Colombia, Middle East and Jazz world plus dance and rituals from different cultures.
All are welcome at Glimpse Festival. Let us gather, to share culture and art and grow collectively as a community.
Ellis Island
Wed, June 2 @ 7:30-8:30 PM EDT
Fri, June 4 @ 2:30-3:30 PM EDT + Talkback with Global Gab 3:30-4 PM EDT
Tue, June 8 @ 2:30-3:30 PM EDT
Creators: Doireann Mac Mahon & James Clements
Actors: Doireann Mac Mahon & James Clements
Director: Marc Atkinson
Director of Photography: Peter Azen
Video Editor: Aline Salloum
Costumes/Art Director: Carla Posada
Lighting Designer: Sarai Frazier
Sound Designer: Liam Bellman-Sharpe
Ellis Island is an interview-based multimedia play that examines why we leave the places we are born, why we go to the places we do and how our sense of self is maintained in our new home. Told through the experience of two immigrants - a Scottish man and an Irish woman - arriving in New York in 1921, in the aftermath of the Spanish Flu pandemic and amongst the wreckage of the First World War, Ellis Island asks prescient questions about belonging, prejudice and what makes our sense of identity. Set in the quarantine hospital on the titular island, a truly global story emerges - one of leaving, arriving and waiting. Folks music is woven through, along with monologues from a range of immigrant voices from across the world. Though a century has passed, this timely piece speaks to modern audiences across time and space in the face of both COVID-19 and the constant fluctuations in US immigration regulations still present today.
Time Zone Free
Sat, June 5 @ 12-2 PM EDT (Part I)
Sun, June 6 @ 11-1 PM EDT (Part II)
Director, Curator: Chrysi Sylaidi
Musical Director: William Karras
Co- Curators: Keurim Hur, Regina Carregha
Performers- Honorary Artists/Creators: Chrysi Sylaidi, Vincent Van Der Velde, Ioanna Katsarou, Theodore Tsinias, Giorgia Valenti, E-hui Woo, Gilda Mercardo, Maria Müller, Ana Moioli, Deniz Bulat, Luísa Galatti, Regina Carregha, Sofia Carregha Lozano, Paulina de la Parra, Caroli Nolasco, Claudia Quijas, Alex Fierro, Majo Rivero, Renata De Leon, Daniela Nicolau, William Karras, Anna Cherkezishvili
Musical Performers: Agus Cedraschi, Jessica Rookeward, Gianni Onori, Jackie Chu, Yuriko Shibata, Kai An Chee, Andrew Strano
Composers: Theodore Tsinias, Kent Jeong- Eun Kim, Lauren Taslitz, Stefan Melnyk, Gianni Onori, Christine Claudel Filinomova, Molly Reisman, Clayton Daniel Briggs, Emily Chiu, Ian Yan, Callum Kiser, Yuriko Shibata, Tidtaya Sinutoke, Keurim Hur, Jacob Fjeldheim
ROUNDABOUT: Painting a theatrical portrait
Tue, June 8 @ 8-9 PM EDT
Conceived by: Inés Braun
Round 1: Based on an interview with Lillian Nwokah
Cassandra Nwokah, Writer
Izumi Inaba, Costume Designer
William Karras, Composer
Deniz Khateri, Performer
Inés Braun, Director
Elizabeth Mak, Editor
Round 2: Based on an interview with Jing Deng
Annie Jin Wang, Dramaturgue
Ruoxin Xu, Writer
Fan Zhang, Sound designer/Composer
Wei-Yi Lin, Performer
Sim Yan Ying "YY", Director and editor
Yeena Sung, Behind-the-scenes video editor
The loneliness of pandemic life has been especially acute for many immigrants, who faced isolation and uncertainty as borders closed, employment disappeared and travel was restricted. Roundabout is a response to this isolation, embracing the possibilities of virtual theater to foster artistic collaboration and intimacy (both within and beyond the theatrical community).
Twelve immigrant artists from different countries bring their talent and expertise to the project of creating theatrical “portraits” of two immigrants who entrusted the group with their stories. Roundabout combines interview footage with a virtual theater piece, written and staged in response to and inspired by the subjects' stories. The pre-recorded performance pieces will be followed by a live, virtual discussion panel featuring the interview subjects and the artists: they will reflect on the process of remote collaboration, and what it feels like to see their experiences interpreted and embodied by others as theater.
Sa Aming Puso / In Our Hearts
Thu, June 3 @ 9-10 AM EDT + Talkback with Global Gab
Fri, June 4 @ 9-10 PM EDT + Talkback with Global Gab
Wed, June 9 @ 6:30-7:30 PM EDT
Written and directed by: Gaven Trinidad
In collaboration with and featuring: Regina De Vera
Translation into Tagalog by: Regina De Vera
Film edited by: Uno Servida
Ma’am Lys, or The Plan originally commissioned by The Sống Collective
We are in search of the spirit of our people. Where has it gone? Where does it live? In our bones live the history of our ancestors who fought, resisted, and survived centuries of colonial rule by the Spanish, Japanese, and Americans. Somewhere in the reconstruction of ourselves, it seems that we have forgotten something that unites us, all Filipinos from around the world. Using texts from three work-in-progress plays, theatremakers Gaven Trinidad and Regina De Vera openly interrogate the lasting effects of imperialism on contemporary Pilipino identity and what it means to be Pilipino/Filipinx today. The filmed vignettes will explore themes of immigration, belonging, citizenship, decolonization, and the continuous search for what unites all people of Pilipino descent. The project was filmed on location in New York City, and it will be presented in English and Tagalog.
Gera sa Droga (War on Drugs)
Sat, June 5 @ 3-4 PM EDT
Sun, June 6 @ 3-4 PM EDT
Writer and Performer, Dorothea Gloria
Director, Maamoun Tobbo
Gera sa Droga (War on Drugs) is a self-devised piece created by Filipina writer and performer, Dorothea Gloria. Having been raised in a family filled with journalists, Gloria aims to translate news articles into stage performances. Gera sa Droga or War on Drugs focuses on the current administration of President Duterte and his response to drug use in the Philippines. Gloria wants to highlight the different Filipino voices, from the victims of the drug massacre, to the family members left behind, to close friends and relatives, to the police that implement rules, to the journalists that cover the killings, to the president himself. This piece questions if peace and order can truly be attained through violence and killing.
Honoring your Health
June 2nd @ 11AM - 12PM EDT
Workshop Instructor:
Viveca Chow
How do we best take care of our mental and physical health so we can feel great? As much as we would love for life to be perfect, the truth is that life often throws unexpected curveballs. How can we be our own healers?
In this workshop, Viveca will share some tips and tricks that have helped her throughout the years and find the joy in being a human first, rather than being an actor first.
Let's normalize prioritizing ourselves and really listening to what we, and our bodies need at every moment.
Playing the Changes: Text Analysis for Theatre
June 7th @ 2:30 - 4:00PM EDT
Workshop Instructor:
Marc Atkinson Borrull
Marc Atkinson Borrull will work with participants to unpack how a director approaches texts for theatre. Using a range of classic and contemporary plays, this hands-on workshop will explore how to break down scenes and uncover their hidden secrets - searching for the practical tools that the writer has given us to breath life into the play as it is embodied on stage. Uninterested in dogmatic approaches, the session will instead focus on tools which artists can manipulate to further their own interpretative freedom.
Breath and Meditation
June 3rd @ 12 - 1PM EDT
Workshop Instructor:
Sneha Sakhare
Hi, my name is Sneha Sakhare. I am a Yoga practitioner from India. I have learned Patanjali Yog from my father Dr. S. S. Sakhare who holds his Ph.D. in Yoga in India. I have been trained by watching him doing Yoga and teaching to his students very closely, for more than 20 years. This workshop will specifically focus on Vedic Mantras, Yogic Meditations, Base of Pranayama i.e breathing exercises and subtle warm-ups and their effects on our body and mental health. This workshop is for everyone. It would be great to carry a mat and a water bottle with you for the workshops in person. I have benefited from these practices tremendously during these days around pandemic. And through these workshops, I aim to spread this ancient knowledge from India to as many people as I can.
The Songwriter’s Toolkit
June 5th @ 10:30AM - 12PM EDT
Workshop Instructor:
Andrew Strano
A hands on (or as hands on as zoom will allow) deep dive into the fundamental nuts and bolts of songwriting as a lyricist... structure, pattern, hooks, details and sensory information, and dramaturgical questions. Get back to basics if you’re experienced, or come along and leave with the tools to feel ready to write, even if you never have before!
Andrew Strano (they/them) is an Australian Fulbright scholar, and alumni of the NYU Graduate Musical Theatre writing program. Andrew has taught songwriting and musical improvisation at the university level to a variety of students, from beginner to expert, and can’t wait to work with you all.
The Pitch
June 1st - 9th
Director - Ken Kwek,
Co-Writers - Ken Kwek & Adrian Pang
Clocking in at just over 20 minutes, The Pitch is a sharply irreverent satirical comedy that takes audiences behind the scenes of a troubled co-production between three of Singapore’s leading theatre companies. Playing fictionalized versions of themselves, veteran theatre-makers Ivan Heng, Gaurav Kripalani and Adrian Pang navigate creative differences and ego clashes as they try to make
art – and make peace – with one another.
Watch The Commission, the entertaining live sequel to The Pitch. Showing live in Singapore from 14-16 May 2021 and available video-on-demand from 5-12 June -
MANIFESTO TRANSPOFÁGICO (TRANSPOPHAGICAL MANIFEST)
June 1st - 9th
Playwright and Performer: Renata Carvalho
Director: Luiz Fernando Marques
Light Design: Wagner Antônio
Video Art: Cecília Lucchesi
Light Operator and Light Adapter: Juliana Augusta
Production: Corpo Rastreado
Co-production: MITsp and Risco Festival.
Synopsis:
Transpophagical manifest is a transpophagy of the transpology of a transpologist. “I decided today to dress myself with my own skin. My travesti body”. Renata “dresses herself” with her own body to narrate the historicity of her corporeality. Renata feeds on her “transcestrality”. Eats it, digests it. A transpophagy. The travesti body as an experiment, a laboratory guinea pig. A Travesti Body’s manifest. The sign twinkles TRAVESTI. TRAVESTI. TRAVESTI.
Project, Hong-Do
June 1st - 9th
Director: Peter Petkovsek
Playwright/Dramaturge: Mimi Baek
Producer/Actor: Eunyoung Bona Jung
Production Manager: MJ Kim
Music Director:Peter Žargi
Coordinator: Angelica Gregory (Art 4 New York)
Actor: Shiva Kalaiselvan
Actor: Kenard Jackson
Actor: Grace Denoncourt
Actor: Michael Brahce
Project, Hong-Do is a workshop-based Virtual Performance.
The play is a modern adaptation of Korean traditional play, “Deceived in love and crying for money” written in 1936.
"Project, Hong-Do" experiments with the elements of melodrama through the lens of a contemporary point of view in order to tell the story of a woman trying to break rigid social and gender rules with familial and romantic love.
The original historic Korean class tradition is mixed with western practices of today and diversified through the cast and crew, with the goal of cultural collaboration that will bring something new to audiences from all sides of the world.
HÁ DIAS QUE NÃO MORRO (THERE ARE DAYS I DON’T DIE)
June 1st - 9th
Idealization: ultraVioleta_s
Direction and Conception: Aline Olmos, José Roberto Jardim, Laíza Dantas e Paula Hemsi
Text: Paloma Franca Amorim
Dramaturgy: Aline Olmos, Laíza Dantas, José Roberto Jardim, Paula Hemsi e Paloma Franca Amorim
Staging: José Roberto Jardim
Cast: Aline Olmos, Laíza Dantas e Paula Hemsi
Sound Technician: Murilo Gil
Light Technician: Paula Hemsi
Video Technician: Laíza Dantas
Stage Technician: Aline Olmos
Production: ultraVioleta_s e Corpo Rastreado
Pictures: Paula Hemsi
Synopsis:
Three women. An artificial garden. A routine without accidents or danger. Nevertheless, some things around them make them realize that this ideal world also has its limits. Why don’t the flowers grow? Why are the days so short? What’s beyond the garden?
Contract
June 1st - 9th
Presented By: The Haque Collective & Method Productions
Director: Kamil Haque
Assistant Director: Ashley Sim
Research: Chew Lihong
Tech: Kelly Choo, Nadra Aqilah
Visuals: Bharath Haridas
Story By: The Haque Collective
‘Contract’ is a fast-paced live original Zoom play inspired by true events.
It’s April 2020 and the world is gripped by fear due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Oil prices have tanked, the stock market has crashed, and bodies are piling up.
In Singapore, what was initially considered a situation under control, has exploded into an overwhelming proportion of new cases islandwide stemming from crammed living
conditions at several migrant worker dormitories. Tensions are high as the country enters its third week of a Circuit Breaker lockdown to curb the spread.
‘Contract’ follows Jane, a fresh hire at a multinational company, as she stumbles into the world’s worst first day at work over several Zoom calls.
BUCA (BUCA)
June 1st - 9th
Playwright and Performer: Bruna Miglioranza
Director: Amarildo Félix
Assistant Director: Vitor Placca
Production Manager: Gabrielle Araújo
Sound Design: Barulhista
Light Design: Kuka Batista
Video Direction and Production: Halei Rembrandt
Social Media Manager: Lucas Gouvea
Designer: Vitor Placca
Press: Canal Aberto
Produced by: Caboclas Produçoes
Realization: Ministério do Turismo, Secretaria Especial da Cultura e Governo do Estado de Sao Paulo, por meio da Secretaria de Cultura e Economia Criativa
Synopsis:
A daughter hears from the doctors that her father has six months left to live. Starting at this encounter with finitude, a marathon starts. One very hard to complete. Her life changes overnight and the hospital corridors become her second home, where she meets other people in her dad’s same situation.
Breaking Borders: Theatre Innovations for the Online Community
June 2, 2021 9:00 PM-10:00 PM EDT
Join host Dorothea Gloria and Salma S. Zohdi in conversation with panelists Cecilia Chow, Dennis Marasigan, Leila Buck as we gather and share with us their experiences when it comes to streaming their theater projects. We’d like to find out their thought processes when it comes to innovating shows for an online audience.
We Hear You: A Global Dialogue With Climate Artists and Activists
June 3, 2021 10:30 –11:30AM EDT
Co-Produced and Hosted by Caitlin Nasema Cassidy
Co-Produced by Wijdan Al Khateeb
Join four youth artists and activists from around the world in dialogue about their experiences of organizing and creating in response to the climate crisis.
This dialogue is part of We Hear You—A Movement, a women-led performance project centering youth voices in the movement for climate justice. Drawing inspiration from climate strikes, block parties, and environmental science, We Hear You aims to cultivate global
connections between ecosystems of performance and action.
We Hear You—A Movement is a collaboration among The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown University, The Royale Dramatic Theatre of Sweden (Dramaten),
Greta Thunberg Foundation, Embassy of Sweden in Washington DC, and Georgetown Environment Initiative.
Global Dialogue: Hong-Do & Contract
June 7th, 8:30pm EDT,
**June 8th 8:30am Singapore time
**June 8th 9:30am Korea time
Join host Jody Doo as she speaks to the team from Project, Hong-Do (South Korea) and Contract (Singapore).
Both teams will share candidly on the ins and outs of making their virtual shows. Not to mention the challenges of collaborating and creating theatre work through a virtual platform, during a time of pandemic. This cross-cultural conversation between theatre-makers in South Korea and Singapore, hosted by Jody Doo in New York City, is one not to be missed.
Project Hong-Do is a modern adaptation of a Korean traditional play “Deceived in love and crying for money” written in 1936. Contract is a fast-paced live original Zoom play inspired by true events. Both of which, you can watch from 1-9 June under Global Eye.
Panelists from Project Hong-Do:
-
Director: Peter Petkovsek
Producer/Actor: Eunyoung Bona Jung
Panelists from Contract:
Director: Kamil Haque
Actor: Stephanie Bovis
Global Meet
Friday, June 4: 8:00-9:00pm ET
Sunday, June 6: 4:00-5:00pm ET
Are you an international artist looking for collaborators? An institutional employee looking to hire international artists? No matter who you are or where you’re from, we’d love to have you. Come speed network with some of the incredible international artists involved in the Global Forms Theater Festival and others interested in theatre-making that promotes cross-cultural collaboration. Hosted by dramaturg Lucy Powis on a platform called Icebreaker.
Global Gab hosts GFTF Grand Opening
Tue, June 1, 2021 8:00-9:00 PM EDT
Hosted by Jody Doo (Actor, Singapore) and Salma S. Zohdi (Egypt, Dramaturg), Global Gab is a cross-cultural conversation that addresses timely and relevant issues for immigrant artists.
Global Gab was birthed out of GFTF 2020. Jody Doo and Salma S. Zohdi have been there since inception day. Hosting the Grand Opening for GFTF 2021, is the full circle we all need.
The Rattlestick and New York Theatre Salon team have been working hard for the past 6 months getting GFTF off the ground. So on June 1st, 8-9pm EDT, Global Gab will be hosting a Grand Opening Party - only apt for the grand international summer theatre festival we’re about to have. RSVP here. Hosts Jody Doo and Salma S. Zohdi promise to cause a ruckus - ringing in theatre the way New York misses it.
Global Gab hosts GFTF Finale Party
Wed, June 9, 2021 8:00 -9:00 PM EDT
Hosted by Jody Doo (Actor, Singapore) and Salma S. Zohdi (Egypt, Dramaturg), Global Gab is a cross-cultural conversation that addresses timely and relevant issues for immigrant artists.
What do they say about all good things? Oh right. That it must come to an end. Well. Here we are. The end of GFTF.
Global Gab hosts, Jody Doo and Salma S. Zohdi, will make this an evening to remember. Come as you are as we reminisce everything that went down during GFTF 2021. We can’t promise this Finale Party will not end in a sob-fest. Considered yourself warned.