2016 SEASON
John Hollingworth
Multitudes
Britain
April 9th, 2016 at 2:00pm
BY: John Hollingworth
TRANSLATOR: No translator
PARTNERS: Vitalist Theatre
DIRECTOR: LIz Carlin-Metz
SYNOPSIS:
Bradford [England]. On the eve of a Conservative Party Conference the country is in turmoil and one of its most multicultural cities awaits a visit from the Prime Minister.
Kash, a liberal British Muslim, prepares his address to politicians about the state of the nation. His girlfriend Natalie, a recent convert to Islam, cooks for anti-war protesters gathered at the Town Hall. Lyn, her mother, moans to anyone who’ll listen about the decline of her cherished England. It’s all too much for Kash’s daughter Qadira, who begins to plan a radical intervention. As the nation questions immigration policies and military support in the Middle East, one family face their own internal conflict of faith, belonging, and who gets to call themselves British.
Dust
Playwright Saverlo La Rulna
Italy
April 10th, 2016 at 7:30pm
BY: Saverio La Ruina
TRANSLATOR: Thomas Simpson
PARTNERS: Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago
DIRECTOR: Anna Bahow
SYNOPSIS:
In a sequence of short scenes between two characters, “Dust" tracks the development of an abusive relationship between a man and a woman, focusing especially on the violence hidden in the silences behind apparently banal words and actions.
Playwright Magda Fertacz
Trash Story
Poland
April 11th, 2016 at 7:30pm
BY: Magda Fertacz
TRANSLATOR: Benjamin Paloff
PARTNERS: Trap Door Theatre
DIRECTOR: Monica Payne
SYNOPSIS:
"An award-winning anti-war play, Trash Story is the harrowing tale of a Polish family living on land that once belonged to Germany. Told through the eyes of a 10-year-old girl, the play poses important questions about violence, both present and past, and the secrets it leaves behind."
Ewald Palmetshofer
the unmarried woman
Austria
April 12th, 2016 at 7:30pm
BY: Ewald Palmetshofer
TRANSLATOR: Neil Blackadder
PARTNERS: TUTA Theatre
DIRECTOR: Andy Hager
SYNOPSIS:
Three women, three generations, an unresolved past that stinks of betrayal and blind obedience: the unmarried woman connects April 1945 with the present. The woman is old and has an alienated daughter and a grand-daughter whom she feels closer to, even though the young woman is digging through her past. A female chorus of four completes the ensemble through which Palmetshofer uncovers who might have done what, and why.
Fredrik Brattberg
The Returning
Norway
April 18th, 2016 at 7:30pm
BY: Fredrik Brattberg
TRANSLATOR: Henning Hegland
PARTNERS: Akvavit Theatre
DIRECTOR: Breahan Pautsch
SYNOPSIS:
In The Returning we meet a mother and a father grieving the loss of their son, Gustav, whom they assume to be dead. The funeral is breath-taking, where they have filled the coffin with tings reminding them of Gustav. After a while daily life returns. The parents manage to go on with their life. One day there is a knock on the door….
Eva Barr
Woman in Berlin
Germany
April 19th, 2016 at 7:30pm
BY: Unknown
ADAPTOR: Eva Bar
PARTNERS: Lookingglass Theatre
DIRECTOR: Tracy Walsh
SYNOPSIS:
The memoir, A Woman in Berlin, by Anonymous, is one woman's account of her experiences during the first eight weeks of the Russian invasion of Berlin in April, 1945. This adaptation visits the material as if it is in the process of being staged as a play with a three-person acting company and a director some twenty years after the events described, and six years after its original publication, and subsequent suppression, in Germany in 1959. The memoir was first published in the United States in 1954.
Judy Vermendi
Voiceless Melodies
Pakistan
April 24th, 2016 at 7:30pm
BY: Iftikar N. Hassan
ADAPTOR: Judy Veramendi
PARTNERS: Pakistani Colsul General, Rasaka Theatre
DIRECTOR: Puja Mohindra
SYNOPSIS:
Shazia, a lovely young Punjabi girl with a determined vision of how her life must unfold, moves through light and shadow before coming into her glory. Experience her story, and her world, through songs, dances, and celebrations of love and marriage, interwoven with the Voiceless Melodies of her ancestors.
Issam Mahfouz
The Dictator
Lebanon
April 25th, 2016 at 7:30pm
BY: Issam Mahfouz
TRANSLATORS: Robert Myers and Nada Saab
PARTNERS:
DIRECTOR: Warner Crocker
SYNOPSIS:
Absurdist political play by Lebanon’s most renowned playwright ‘Issam Mahfouz. Takes place during an offstage, and perhaps imaginary, coup directed by a general and his faithful assistant, Saadoun.
Staff for IVP 2016
Brady Comenduley - Social Media Intern
Holden Meier - Social Media Intern
Sarah Kroth - Dramaturg
Cassie Scaman - Dramaturg
Rebecca Edmonson - House Manager
Jinni Pike - Stage Manager
David Horvath - Poster and Banner
Co Production of "Multitudes"
