Including Turkish Cypriot Theatre with the play by Aliye Ummanel ‘The Stain’

In the context of the cooperation of the Cyprus Centre of the International Theatre Institute and the Eufonia-Astràgali Teatro, Italy for the materialization of the European project WALLS_Separate Worlds, the final stage of the programme is organized in Cyprus from May 31^st until June 13^th 2014. The work done will bloom into a performance, a play reading and a round table discussion.

The programme implemented in Cyprus will include international groups of artists and cultural bodies working together in a multidisciplinary context. The group will consist of Italian, French, Greek, Turkish, German, Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot directors, actors, musicians.

One of the events organized in the context of the Residency in Nicosia is a workshop of intensive physical training guided by the Italian theatre director Fabio Tolledi and tutors from the Astragali Teatro. The theatre workshop will implement an intercultural, interdisciplinary approach, based on intensive physical and vocal exercises, as well as a processing of the artistic techniques as a crucial tool used against discrimination and conflict.

The International Theatre Residency in Nicosia features:

- An International Theatre Workshop from 31^st May to 11^th June that will be held at the 1010hall-The Art House, in Nicosia. The workshop is directed by Fabio Tolledi, artistic director of Eufonia Astràgali Teatro and investigates the project’s topic and the text of Ovid “Metamorphoses”.  It is finalised  to the realisation of the site-specific performance that will be presented on 12^th June.

- A stage-reading of plays written by Greek, Turkish, Cypriot (Cypriot-Greek and Cypriot-Turkish) playwrights, organized by the Cyprus Centre of the International Theatre Institute and directed by Athina Kasiou and Aliye Ummanel. The Stage Reading will be staged at the Faneromeny Library at 20:30, on 5^th June. The audience will have the opportunity to enjoy the plays that were selected in the context of the Walls Separate Worlds project activities. The selected plays will be present by Cypriot (Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot) actors, in the context of the project.

The International Selection Committee of the WALLS_Separate Worlds project has selected six plays: At the guard post by Antonis Georgiou, Pollen Song by Ahmet Sami Özbudak, Transit Passing by Ayse Bayramoglu, Antigone by Yianna Roilou, The Missing of the funeral by Costantia Soteriou, The Stain by Aliye Ummanel.

The Cyprus Centre of the ITI expresses its warm gratitude to the The Department of English Studies, Translation Studies Section, of the University of Cyprus, for the magnificent work done by its students, in translating the plays that were submitted in Greek language into English.

- The international site specific performance 'Metamorphoses', directed by Fabio Tolledi with the international team of actresses and actors involved in the workshop. The performance will be held on 12^th June at 21:00 at the deserted yard of the former Building of the Eleftheris Eniaias Karpasias (at Ledra Palace). The choice of this ruined place responds to the urgency and the need for a deeper contact with the city and its story. This venue is a sensitive open space, able to remind and tell people about the conflict. The performance features actresses and actors from Cyprus (Cypriot-Greek and Cypriot-Turkish performers), Italy, Greece, Turkey, Spain, Burkina Faso, Palestine, Canada.

- Among the several events, a public meeting, entitled “Theatre and Conflict”, is realised on 13^th June at 1010hall- The Art House (Grammou 19 Str. & Ariadnis 24 Str., old Nicosia area), at 19:00. The meeting focuses on the project’s topic, concerning walls, visible and invisible, that still cross and divide our communities and our societies. It will investigate the role of theatre in overcoming situations of conflicts among different cultures. The discussion aims to bring together artists, cultural representatives, journalists and institutions as well as the wider public.

Free entrance in all the project’s events. For more information: tel. 22 674920

The project WALLS-Separate worlds is promoted by Eufonia soc. coop._Astràgali Teatro, in partnership with: University of Salento-Department of History, Society and Human Studies, Babelmed, Italy Centre of International Theatre Institute, Teatro Pubblico Pugliese (Italy), Theatro Tsi Zakynthos (Greece), Cyprus Centre of ITI (Cyprus), Performance Research Association (Turkey), Un Vrai Beau Gars and the International Theatre Institute Directorate General (France).