USA Projects

As we approach the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide in 2015, DEPORTED / A DREAM PLAY brings to the stage a true story about the playwright’s Armenian grandmother and her best friend. 

DEPORTED is a dream play, fusing the everyday and the surreal.  Set in Providence, Los Angeles, and a dream-world of the future beyond 2015, this is a story about the after-life of a genocide.  It is also a story of cultural resilience, and the faith, vitality and humor that make it possible.  “Memories and dreams interweave in this tale of enduring friendship incorporating music and dance [as] DEPORTED celebrates the playwright’s own family history and that of many Armenian families forever changed” (Boston Playwrights’ Theatre 2011-12 season brochure). 

DEPORTED tells a story of international impact with ongoing repercussions today.  Yet it’s a story that is still widely unknown and in some cases suppressed.  The play pulls aside the veil that has concealed for nearly a century the experience of women in a genocide that affected them very differently than men. And it faces our ongoing dilemmas about how to come to terms with our past, how to heal, and how to respond to the challenges of reconciliation.

The play opens March 8th in a production by Boston Playwrights’ Theatre in association with Suffolk University, at the newly-renovated Modern Theatre at Suffolk University.

A COLLABORATIVE PROJECT

This project has been a collaborative creative effort from the very start. Playwright, director and actors began meeting together four years ago, before there was a script or even a story, and developed the play through improvisational workshops based on primary sources, including the taped voices of Armenian genocide survivors.  Numerous public readings over the past two years have tested and refined the resulting script.  We are thrilled that the same creative team will be bringing the play to the stage for the first time.

While developing the script, we collaborated with the premier Armenian dance troupe, Sayat Nova, whose choreographer, Apo Ashjian, is now creating the dances in our production; with the Armenian Library and Museum of America which is helping us with costumes, research and props; and with Project SAVE Armenian Photograph Archives which is mounting a photo exhibit in the theatre lobby that will be keyed to our production.

This play is for everyone.  All of us have genocide in our culture, in our past, in our sightlines in the world today.  We are currently engaged in extensive outreach to the non-Armenian and Armenian communities alike. We hope to draw the widest possible audience.  We’ve also programmed a range of pre- and post-show talks, talk-backs and performances that are part of our wide outreach effort. 

WHY DO WE NEED SUPPORT?

In an era of small-cast plays with two or three characters, this play has over 20 characters from different cultures, played by a cast of seven actors, plus seven dancers.  Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, the producer, is a small non-profit theatre dedicated exclusively to the production of new plays. 

The cost of this non-profit production is $78,000 which is much more than Boston Playwrights’ Theatre's typical budget for a new play.  We still need to raise additional funds.  The artists have already raised over $17,000 for this production.  Our USA goal is to raise the last $10,085 needed to meet the theatre's production costs.  If we are lucky enough to raise more than $10,085, we will spend the additional funds on promotion and outreach to bring the play to the attention of the widest possible community.  Thank you for your help in bringing this play to life!