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GOLDEN THREAD PRODUCTIONS
backstage.com
March 18, 2009
A more recent addition to the area's ethnicity-specific theatre
scene is this Middle Eastern company founded by Armenian-Iranian
artistic director Torange Yeghiazarian. "Artistically we're in an
exciting place," she says. Golden Thread Productions has created a
national new-play initiative in partnership with New York's Lark Play
Development Center. The company also has its own new-play program
and recently commissioned local performer Denmo Ibrahim to create
Ecstasy in the River (opening July 23). "More theatres are producing
plays related to the Middle East," says Yeghiazarian. Berkeley's Aurora
Theatre Company, for example, recently staged George Packer's Betrayed,
about translators working for Americans in Iraq. "But their perspective
is different. We're more interested in challenging the perceptions
people have about the Middle East, whether it's about women's roles
or the roots of conflicts." Currently playing is Joyce Van Dyke's A
Girl's War, directed by Yeghiazarian, in which a young Armenian woman
leaves New York to return to her mother's house in a war-torn region
and starts an ill-advised romance with the ethnic enemy.
"Casting is challenging," Yeghiazarian admits. Part of the company's
mission is to support Middle Eastern actors. "We're always searching
for strong actors from the Middle East. I don't think it's necessary
to cast with a specific ethnicity, though." None of the five actors
in A Girl's War is Armenian, and none were born in the United States:
Two are Iranian, one is Afghan, one is Mexican, one is British. In
mainstream theatre, Yeghiazarian says, "there is an assumption that if
the ethnicity in a play is not emphasized, the role must go to a white
actor. In our work we try to look for ways to include nonwhite actors."
Golden Thread has collaborated with the longtime experimental
troupe Thick Description (and produces at its cozy Thick House
in Potrero Hill, as does the Asian American Theater Company)
and has had discussions with the avant-garde Cutting Ball about
co-producing. "Sometimes there's a perception that the plays we
produce do not relate to the broader community," says Yeghiazarian,
who estimates that half her audience is of Middle Eastern heritage --
primarily, she guesses, Iranian and Palestinian. "We're perceived as
marginal. But I think the plays we produce are very relevant to the
community and society at large."
backstage.com
March 18, 2009
A more recent addition to the area's ethnicity-specific theatre
scene is this Middle Eastern company founded by Armenian-Iranian
artistic director Torange Yeghiazarian. "Artistically we're in an
exciting place," she says. Golden Thread Productions has created a
national new-play initiative in partnership with New York's Lark Play
Development Center. The company also has its own new-play program
and recently commissioned local performer Denmo Ibrahim to create
Ecstasy in the River (opening July 23). "More theatres are producing
plays related to the Middle East," says Yeghiazarian. Berkeley's Aurora
Theatre Company, for example, recently staged George Packer's Betrayed,
about translators working for Americans in Iraq. "But their perspective
is different. We're more interested in challenging the perceptions
people have about the Middle East, whether it's about women's roles
or the roots of conflicts." Currently playing is Joyce Van Dyke's A
Girl's War, directed by Yeghiazarian, in which a young Armenian woman
leaves New York to return to her mother's house in a war-torn region
and starts an ill-advised romance with the ethnic enemy.
"Casting is challenging," Yeghiazarian admits. Part of the company's
mission is to support Middle Eastern actors. "We're always searching
for strong actors from the Middle East. I don't think it's necessary
to cast with a specific ethnicity, though." None of the five actors
in A Girl's War is Armenian, and none were born in the United States:
Two are Iranian, one is Afghan, one is Mexican, one is British. In
mainstream theatre, Yeghiazarian says, "there is an assumption that if
the ethnicity in a play is not emphasized, the role must go to a white
actor. In our work we try to look for ways to include nonwhite actors."
Golden Thread has collaborated with the longtime experimental
troupe Thick Description (and produces at its cozy Thick House
in Potrero Hill, as does the Asian American Theater Company)
and has had discussions with the avant-garde Cutting Ball about
co-producing. "Sometimes there's a perception that the plays we
produce do not relate to the broader community," says Yeghiazarian,
who estimates that half her audience is of Middle Eastern heritage --
primarily, she guesses, Iranian and Palestinian. "We're perceived as
marginal. But I think the plays we produce are very relevant to the
community and society at large."