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AGBU High School Pasadena Students Perform "Smile & Laughter"

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  • AGBU High School Pasadena Students Perform "Smile & Laughter"

    AGBU Press Office
    55 East 59th Street
    New York, NY 10022-1112
    Phone: 212.319.6383, x118
    Fax: 212.319.6507
    Email: [email protected]
    Website: www.agbu.org

    PRESS RELEASE

    Thursday, May 21, 2009

    AGBU High School Pasadena Students Perform "Smile & Laughter," A
    Trilogy of Farces

    On March 27, 2009, 25 aspiring actors in AGBU High School Pasadena's
    drama group performed three farces under the title "Jbid yev Dzidzagh"
    (Smile and Laughter) at the AGBU Manoogian Center in Pasadena,
    California. The program was organized by the school's Armenian Studies
    department.

    The author of the first play, "Tiv 5 Khelakar" (Lunatic Number 5), is
    unknown, while the second and third plays, "Shoghokorte" (The
    Flatterer) and "Arevelian Adamnapuzhe" (The Oriental Dentist), were
    written by 19th C. Constantinople (Istanbul) Armenian satirist Hagop
    Baronian.

    Drama program chair Laura Kuyumjian welcomed the audience and offered
    some background for the plays performed that night. The first farce,
    whose language is a mixture of Armenian and Turkish, is the story of a
    peasant who, having been engaged since he was an infant, comes to town
    to look for his fiancée but ends up in an insane asylum. In speaking
    about the Baronian works, she explained that they reflect the manners
    and mores of Constantinople Armenians during Ottoman rule. Despite the
    passage of over a century, their popularity hasn't waned, in that the
    behaviors satirized still persist today.

    Kuyumjian thanked the executive committee of Ardavazt Theater Company,
    Krikor Satamian, and AGBU office staff for their efforts to make this
    production possible. The production's dress rehearsal took place the
    previous day in front of an audience of eighth graders from three
    local Armenian schools.

    Established in 1906, AGBU (www.agbu.org) is the world's largest
    non-profit Armenian organization. Headquartered in New York City, AGBU
    preserves and promotes the Armenian identity and heritage through
    educational, cultural and humanitarian programs, annually touching the
    lives of some 400,000 Armenians on six continents.
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