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>From Constantinople to LA: Three Centuries of Western Armenian Theater
Friday, January 2nd, 2015 | Posted by Aram Kouyoumdjian
http://asbarez.com/130385/from-constantinople-to-la-three-centuries-of-western-armenian-theater/
A late 19th-century theater troupe in Constantinople, led by Mardiros
Mnagian; although predominantly comprised of Armenians, Mnagian's
troupe performed Turkish plays during an era when Armenian plays were
banned.
BY ARAM KOUYOUMDJIAN
This past fall, at a conference on "Armenian Art and Culture in the
Ottoman Empire Before 1915," I presented a paper entitled "Arrested
Development: Western Armenian Theater in the Nineteenth Century." The
paper examined the emergence of Western Armenian theater in
Constantinople - or "Bolis" - amidst a period of national awakening
known as "Zartonk" and of linguistic transition from classical to
vernacular Armenian.
As I delved into my research, I could not help contemplating that in
all of Los Angeles there had been two - just two - productions in
Western Armenian the whole year, and that both of them had direct
links to 19th-century Constantinople: the Krikor Satamian Theater
Company's rendition of "Shoghokort" (The Flatterer) by Hagop Baronian
was written in that time and place, while my own revival of "Hin
Asdvadzner" (Ancient Gods) adapted an iconic work by Levon Shant, who
was born in Bolis and spent formative years there prior to the
Genocide.
Was this sheer coincidence? Not really. Various aspects of modern
diasporan theater hark back to the beginnings of Western Armenian
theater nearly two centuries ago. They explain a number of tendencies
and shortcomings - and the reason why Armenian theater arguably
remains the least developed of our art forms.
CONSTANTINOPLE -- 19th Century
Western Armenian theater as we know it today did not really emerge as
an art form until the 1850s. Pioneering productions by Mgrdich
Beshigtashlian and Srabion Hekimian led to the formation of the
Eastern Theater, the first professional Armenian troupe. The early
1860s were years of upswing for the Eastern Theater, which boasted an
extensive playlist of historical plays and staged over 40 works in
translation. Imports included escapist fare (from French and Italian
originals), melodramas, and both traditional and musical comedies.
The works of Goldoni and Moliere were particularly favored.
In the late 1860s, a producer named Hagop Vartovian founded the
Ottoman Theater under a 10-year government license that allowed him a
monopoly of sorts. His venue, the Gedikpasha Theater, was the largest
of its kind in Constantinople, seating nearly 900. Over the course of
the ensuing decade, Vartovian staged an estimated 200 productions in
Armenian and a similar number in Turkish; these consisted of
historical plays, melodramas, comedies, and operettas - many of them
in translation. A controversial figure, Vartovian soon began catering
to Turkish playwrights and audiences, to the detriment of Armenian
productions.
An alternative to the Ottoman Theater was Bedros Maghakian's
short-lived Volunteer Society, which solely staged plays in Armenian,
and Serovpe Benglian's operetta company, devoted exclusively to
musical theater. Benglian's repertoire featured the works of Dikran
Tchouhadjian, the composer of the first Armenian opera, "Arshak II,"
and operettas with Turkish librettos, such as "Leblebiji Hor Hor Agha"
and "Zemire."
Several Armenian playwrights were prolific during this era, including
Bedros Tourian, who is best remembered today as a poet. In general,
however, the caliber of playwriting was subpar, and virtually no
scripts written in the 1800s remain a part of the Armenian theatrical
canon. Hagop Baronian's brilliant satires, like "Medzabadiv
Mouratsganner" (Honorable Beggars) and "Baghdasar Aghpar" (Uncle
Balthazar), constitute the sole exceptions, although they were never
performed during their author's lifetime. Levon Shant, the only other
major dramatist to come out of Constantinople, did not actually begin
writing plays until the dawn of the 20th century.
After a mere three decades, Western Armenian theater in Constantinople
essentially came to a halt in 1880 because of government bans. Its
arrested development meant that it never weaned itself from European
translations and never transcended the genre of historical plays to
reflect contemporary society (unlike Eastern Armenian theater, which
embraced social realism). Rather than establishing a foundation for
diasporan theater to build upon, the 19th century provided more of a
blueprint to imitate.
BEIRUT - 20th Century
The western dialect of Armenian became the language of the Diaspora in
the post-Genocide era, and theater in that dialect proliferated in
communities scattered across the globe thanks to the efforts of
organizations like the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) and
the Hamazkayin Educational and Cultural Society.
Diasporan theater in the 20th century, however, had its heyday in
Beirut, where Hamazkayin blazed a trail with its formidable ensemble,
the Kasbar Ipegian Theater Company.
Ipegian staged his first play in Beirut in 1931 - an extraordinary
feat, considering that the Armenian community in Lebanon was the
product of a recent genocide and still suffered the immediate trauma
of that calamity. Ipegian's premier production was Levon Shant's
"Oshin Bayl" (Bailey Oshin).
By the early 1940s, a formal company had been formed under the aegis
of Hamazkayin, and three Shant plays were staged in quick succession:
"Ingadz Perti Ishkhanouhin" (The Princess of the Fallen Fortress) in
1942; "Hin Asdvadzner" (Ancient Gods) in 1944; and "Gaysruh" (The
Caesar) in 1945.
Interior of the Hagop Der Melkonian Theater
The troupe was renamed to memorialize Ipegian after his passing in
1952. George Sarkissian, who succeeded Ipegian as artistic director,
enhanced his predecessor's achievements and left a rich legacy of his
own. It was during Sarkissian's decades-long tenure that the company
acquired its own venue - the Hagop Der Melkonian Theater, which was
constructed in 1969 and operates to this day.
Remarkably, alongside the Ipegian company, Hamazkayin sustained
theater ensembles sponsored by its local chapters. Independent troupes
like Varoujan Khedeshian's Theatre 67 and Zohrab Yacoubian's
Experimental Theatre also had successful tenures in Beirut, but the
only ensemble that has managed to survive nearly as long as Ipegian is
the AGBU's Vahram Papazian Theater Company, founded in the late 1950s
by esteemed actor and director Berj Fazlian.
Shant's plays were mainstays of Ipegian productions, and Hagop
Baronian was a frequent presence across a number of theater companies,
but these companies were committed to producing original works as
well. Many of these works, like Jacques Hagopian's "Grunguh Guh
Gancheh" (The Crane Beckons), dealt with the diasporan condition,
while some pieces, such as "Bourj Hammoud '78," specifically focused
on the Lebanese-Armenian community.
Translations were never in short supply, and farces were aplenty, but
substantive works by Ibsen, Ionesco, Miller and, unsurprisingly,
Saroyan, were given their due.
Western Armenian theater in Beirut was not limited to patriotic fare
or light entertainment, like it had been in Constantinople; rather, it
was frequently peppered with weighty dramas that tackled moral issues
and sophisticated comedies that toyed with absurdism. Still, its
development was arrested by civil war and an ever-dwindling Armenian
population.
It goes without saying that Armenian theater remains very much alive
in Lebanon; just this year, the Ipegian company staged "Asdvadzayin
Gadagerkoutyun" (Divine Comedy) and the Papazian troupe produced "Bidi
Ella . . . Bidi Chella" (It's On . . . It's Off). Beirut is probably
still the place where most new plays written in Western Armenian
originate. But levels of productivity there are a fraction of what
they used to be, and the current trajectory suggests that the future
of Western Armenian theater, whatever it might be, will unfold
elsewhere.
LOS ANGELES - 21st Century
So is Los Angeles the future of Western Armenian theater? Not yet -
though it should be. Los Angeles is a unique - and perhaps
unprecedented - diasporan community in that it boasts huge numbers of
both Eastern Armenian and Western Armenian speakers. At the same time,
it is a community large enough, educated enough, and affluent enough
to sustain a thriving theater scene in both dialects. Los Angeles
could never supplant Yerevan as the place where Eastern Armenian
theater burgeons, but it could well become the next center of Western
Armenian theater.
The road to that goal is one fraught with challenges. Los Angeles,
unlike Constantinople in the 19th century and Beirut in the 20th, does
not even have an Armenian theater space. It has only one standing
theater company - comprised of non-professionals. In the current
century, a single individual, Vahe Berberian, has perhaps created more
original works in Western Armenian - a pair of full-length plays,
along with monologues, sketch comedy, and an improv show - than any
other L.A.-based theater organization.
Hamazkayin has been unable to form a main troupe, and the quality of
productions by its chapters has tended to be low-end. AGBU's Krikor
Satamian Theater Company (formerly Ardavazt) has been the only steady
presence, although the caliber of its output has been inconsistent.
Satamian, an alum of AGBU's Papazian ensemble in Beirut, typically
programs tame entertainment that's exclusively comedic, often in
translation, and frequently dated.
To become the center of Western Armenian theater in the 21st century,
Los Angeles needs an Armenian theater venue, some version of a
training academy for actors, financial resources to commission plays,
and a mechanism to cultivate audiences. How does all that happen?
It happens through the work of producers - whether organizational,
individual, or both. Theater is not a solitary art form like writing a
novel or painting a canvas. It requires producers who can secure
funding and provide the infrastructure necessary to stage plays.
History proves this point: Theater in Constantinople was made possible
by producers like Vartovian; the Ipegian ensemble in Beirut enjoyed
Hamazkayin's support; and the AGBU provides backing for the Satamian
company in Los Angeles and for similar troupes in diasporan
communities as far-flung as Buenos Aires and Sydney.
Producers need to develop strategic plans that contemplate the growth
of Western Armenian theater, so that each success leads to a greater
one. Such long-term thinking is needed to ensure that the third
century of Western Armenian theater does not become another instance
of a brief heyday or a period of arrested development.
Aram Kouyoumdjian is the winner of Elly Awards for both playwriting
("The Farewells") and directing ("Three Hotels"). His latest work is
"49 States." He or any of the other contributors to Critics' Forum may
be reached at HYPERLINK "mailto:[email protected]"
[email protected]. This and all other articles published in
this series are available online at HYPERLINK
"http://www.criticsforum.org/" www.criticsforum.org. To sign up for an
electronic version of new articles, go to HYPERLINK
"http://www.criticsforum.org/join" www.criticsforum.org/join. Critics'
Forum is a group created to discuss issues relating to Armenian art
and culture in the Diaspora.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Friday, January 2nd, 2015 | Posted by Aram Kouyoumdjian
http://asbarez.com/130385/from-constantinople-to-la-three-centuries-of-western-armenian-theater/
A late 19th-century theater troupe in Constantinople, led by Mardiros
Mnagian; although predominantly comprised of Armenians, Mnagian's
troupe performed Turkish plays during an era when Armenian plays were
banned.
BY ARAM KOUYOUMDJIAN
This past fall, at a conference on "Armenian Art and Culture in the
Ottoman Empire Before 1915," I presented a paper entitled "Arrested
Development: Western Armenian Theater in the Nineteenth Century." The
paper examined the emergence of Western Armenian theater in
Constantinople - or "Bolis" - amidst a period of national awakening
known as "Zartonk" and of linguistic transition from classical to
vernacular Armenian.
As I delved into my research, I could not help contemplating that in
all of Los Angeles there had been two - just two - productions in
Western Armenian the whole year, and that both of them had direct
links to 19th-century Constantinople: the Krikor Satamian Theater
Company's rendition of "Shoghokort" (The Flatterer) by Hagop Baronian
was written in that time and place, while my own revival of "Hin
Asdvadzner" (Ancient Gods) adapted an iconic work by Levon Shant, who
was born in Bolis and spent formative years there prior to the
Genocide.
Was this sheer coincidence? Not really. Various aspects of modern
diasporan theater hark back to the beginnings of Western Armenian
theater nearly two centuries ago. They explain a number of tendencies
and shortcomings - and the reason why Armenian theater arguably
remains the least developed of our art forms.
CONSTANTINOPLE -- 19th Century
Western Armenian theater as we know it today did not really emerge as
an art form until the 1850s. Pioneering productions by Mgrdich
Beshigtashlian and Srabion Hekimian led to the formation of the
Eastern Theater, the first professional Armenian troupe. The early
1860s were years of upswing for the Eastern Theater, which boasted an
extensive playlist of historical plays and staged over 40 works in
translation. Imports included escapist fare (from French and Italian
originals), melodramas, and both traditional and musical comedies.
The works of Goldoni and Moliere were particularly favored.
In the late 1860s, a producer named Hagop Vartovian founded the
Ottoman Theater under a 10-year government license that allowed him a
monopoly of sorts. His venue, the Gedikpasha Theater, was the largest
of its kind in Constantinople, seating nearly 900. Over the course of
the ensuing decade, Vartovian staged an estimated 200 productions in
Armenian and a similar number in Turkish; these consisted of
historical plays, melodramas, comedies, and operettas - many of them
in translation. A controversial figure, Vartovian soon began catering
to Turkish playwrights and audiences, to the detriment of Armenian
productions.
An alternative to the Ottoman Theater was Bedros Maghakian's
short-lived Volunteer Society, which solely staged plays in Armenian,
and Serovpe Benglian's operetta company, devoted exclusively to
musical theater. Benglian's repertoire featured the works of Dikran
Tchouhadjian, the composer of the first Armenian opera, "Arshak II,"
and operettas with Turkish librettos, such as "Leblebiji Hor Hor Agha"
and "Zemire."
Several Armenian playwrights were prolific during this era, including
Bedros Tourian, who is best remembered today as a poet. In general,
however, the caliber of playwriting was subpar, and virtually no
scripts written in the 1800s remain a part of the Armenian theatrical
canon. Hagop Baronian's brilliant satires, like "Medzabadiv
Mouratsganner" (Honorable Beggars) and "Baghdasar Aghpar" (Uncle
Balthazar), constitute the sole exceptions, although they were never
performed during their author's lifetime. Levon Shant, the only other
major dramatist to come out of Constantinople, did not actually begin
writing plays until the dawn of the 20th century.
After a mere three decades, Western Armenian theater in Constantinople
essentially came to a halt in 1880 because of government bans. Its
arrested development meant that it never weaned itself from European
translations and never transcended the genre of historical plays to
reflect contemporary society (unlike Eastern Armenian theater, which
embraced social realism). Rather than establishing a foundation for
diasporan theater to build upon, the 19th century provided more of a
blueprint to imitate.
BEIRUT - 20th Century
The western dialect of Armenian became the language of the Diaspora in
the post-Genocide era, and theater in that dialect proliferated in
communities scattered across the globe thanks to the efforts of
organizations like the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) and
the Hamazkayin Educational and Cultural Society.
Diasporan theater in the 20th century, however, had its heyday in
Beirut, where Hamazkayin blazed a trail with its formidable ensemble,
the Kasbar Ipegian Theater Company.
Ipegian staged his first play in Beirut in 1931 - an extraordinary
feat, considering that the Armenian community in Lebanon was the
product of a recent genocide and still suffered the immediate trauma
of that calamity. Ipegian's premier production was Levon Shant's
"Oshin Bayl" (Bailey Oshin).
By the early 1940s, a formal company had been formed under the aegis
of Hamazkayin, and three Shant plays were staged in quick succession:
"Ingadz Perti Ishkhanouhin" (The Princess of the Fallen Fortress) in
1942; "Hin Asdvadzner" (Ancient Gods) in 1944; and "Gaysruh" (The
Caesar) in 1945.
Interior of the Hagop Der Melkonian Theater
The troupe was renamed to memorialize Ipegian after his passing in
1952. George Sarkissian, who succeeded Ipegian as artistic director,
enhanced his predecessor's achievements and left a rich legacy of his
own. It was during Sarkissian's decades-long tenure that the company
acquired its own venue - the Hagop Der Melkonian Theater, which was
constructed in 1969 and operates to this day.
Remarkably, alongside the Ipegian company, Hamazkayin sustained
theater ensembles sponsored by its local chapters. Independent troupes
like Varoujan Khedeshian's Theatre 67 and Zohrab Yacoubian's
Experimental Theatre also had successful tenures in Beirut, but the
only ensemble that has managed to survive nearly as long as Ipegian is
the AGBU's Vahram Papazian Theater Company, founded in the late 1950s
by esteemed actor and director Berj Fazlian.
Shant's plays were mainstays of Ipegian productions, and Hagop
Baronian was a frequent presence across a number of theater companies,
but these companies were committed to producing original works as
well. Many of these works, like Jacques Hagopian's "Grunguh Guh
Gancheh" (The Crane Beckons), dealt with the diasporan condition,
while some pieces, such as "Bourj Hammoud '78," specifically focused
on the Lebanese-Armenian community.
Translations were never in short supply, and farces were aplenty, but
substantive works by Ibsen, Ionesco, Miller and, unsurprisingly,
Saroyan, were given their due.
Western Armenian theater in Beirut was not limited to patriotic fare
or light entertainment, like it had been in Constantinople; rather, it
was frequently peppered with weighty dramas that tackled moral issues
and sophisticated comedies that toyed with absurdism. Still, its
development was arrested by civil war and an ever-dwindling Armenian
population.
It goes without saying that Armenian theater remains very much alive
in Lebanon; just this year, the Ipegian company staged "Asdvadzayin
Gadagerkoutyun" (Divine Comedy) and the Papazian troupe produced "Bidi
Ella . . . Bidi Chella" (It's On . . . It's Off). Beirut is probably
still the place where most new plays written in Western Armenian
originate. But levels of productivity there are a fraction of what
they used to be, and the current trajectory suggests that the future
of Western Armenian theater, whatever it might be, will unfold
elsewhere.
LOS ANGELES - 21st Century
So is Los Angeles the future of Western Armenian theater? Not yet -
though it should be. Los Angeles is a unique - and perhaps
unprecedented - diasporan community in that it boasts huge numbers of
both Eastern Armenian and Western Armenian speakers. At the same time,
it is a community large enough, educated enough, and affluent enough
to sustain a thriving theater scene in both dialects. Los Angeles
could never supplant Yerevan as the place where Eastern Armenian
theater burgeons, but it could well become the next center of Western
Armenian theater.
The road to that goal is one fraught with challenges. Los Angeles,
unlike Constantinople in the 19th century and Beirut in the 20th, does
not even have an Armenian theater space. It has only one standing
theater company - comprised of non-professionals. In the current
century, a single individual, Vahe Berberian, has perhaps created more
original works in Western Armenian - a pair of full-length plays,
along with monologues, sketch comedy, and an improv show - than any
other L.A.-based theater organization.
Hamazkayin has been unable to form a main troupe, and the quality of
productions by its chapters has tended to be low-end. AGBU's Krikor
Satamian Theater Company (formerly Ardavazt) has been the only steady
presence, although the caliber of its output has been inconsistent.
Satamian, an alum of AGBU's Papazian ensemble in Beirut, typically
programs tame entertainment that's exclusively comedic, often in
translation, and frequently dated.
To become the center of Western Armenian theater in the 21st century,
Los Angeles needs an Armenian theater venue, some version of a
training academy for actors, financial resources to commission plays,
and a mechanism to cultivate audiences. How does all that happen?
It happens through the work of producers - whether organizational,
individual, or both. Theater is not a solitary art form like writing a
novel or painting a canvas. It requires producers who can secure
funding and provide the infrastructure necessary to stage plays.
History proves this point: Theater in Constantinople was made possible
by producers like Vartovian; the Ipegian ensemble in Beirut enjoyed
Hamazkayin's support; and the AGBU provides backing for the Satamian
company in Los Angeles and for similar troupes in diasporan
communities as far-flung as Buenos Aires and Sydney.
Producers need to develop strategic plans that contemplate the growth
of Western Armenian theater, so that each success leads to a greater
one. Such long-term thinking is needed to ensure that the third
century of Western Armenian theater does not become another instance
of a brief heyday or a period of arrested development.
Aram Kouyoumdjian is the winner of Elly Awards for both playwriting
("The Farewells") and directing ("Three Hotels"). His latest work is
"49 States." He or any of the other contributors to Critics' Forum may
be reached at HYPERLINK "mailto:[email protected]"
[email protected]. This and all other articles published in
this series are available online at HYPERLINK
"http://www.criticsforum.org/" www.criticsforum.org. To sign up for an
electronic version of new articles, go to HYPERLINK
"http://www.criticsforum.org/join" www.criticsforum.org/join. Critics'
Forum is a group created to discuss issues relating to Armenian art
and culture in the Diaspora.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress