Women's Rights Will Take the Stage in SATC's KARMA FOR BIRDS Reading

In the spirit of the political season, on Monday, November 21st, Scandinavian American Theater Company is presenting an Icelandic play about women's rights and gender politics: KARMA FOR BIRDS by Kristín Eiríksdóttir (Iceland) and Kari Ósk Grétudóttir (Iceland), with translator Salka Gudmundsdottir (Iceland) and director Christoffer Berdal Denmark).

Starring: Dawn Saito*, Tomike Lee Ogugua, Siir Tilif, Tullan Holmqvist, Anemette Andersen*, Ellinor Denkert, Kirk Hill Jr., and Malene Schjønning. *Appearing courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.

A startling, beautiful, humorous and polemic first play by two young women about the consequences of violence, injustice and beauty. Perhaps, Elsa is a seventeen-year-old girl for sale, perhaps she is a middle-aged prostitute, or a homeless old woman, maybe she is a 130-year-old Buddhist nun. Perhaps Karma for Birds is happening right here and now . . . the invisible but palpable repression of women. Performed at the Iceland National Theatre in 2013, Karma for Birds was nominated for the Gríman, Iceland's theater award for best play of the year.

Christoffer Berdal is a Danish theater director who has directed over 65 productions since 1998. He has worked on a range of types of theater: classics, contemporary drama, and opera in Denmark and abroad. Furthermore, Berdal teaches at the national theater, film, and playwriting schools in Denmark. To mention a few, Christoffer has directed Ibsen's "The Master Builder," Shakespeare's "Richard III," Molière's "Tartuffe," Thomas Mann's "Death in Venice," Kander & Ebb's "Cabaret," Brecht's "The Threepenny Opera," and for SATC in 2010 Andreas Garfield's "Home Sweet Home."

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHTS

Kristín Eiríksdóttir was born in Reykjavík, Iceland. In 2005 she graduated with a B.A. in Fine Arts from the Icelandic Academy of the Arts. She has written and published numerous collections of poetry and short stories and well as her first novel, Hvítfeld - A Family Story, in 2012. She has written two plays: Karma For Birds, which premiered in February 2013 in the National Theatre of Iceland, and Crawl! which premiered in April 2013 in Borgarleikhúsið (The Reykjavik City Theatre). Her stories and poems have been translated into Danish, German and English.

Kari Ósk Grétudóttir is an artist who graduated with a B.A. in Fine Arts from The Iceland Academy of Arts in 2007. Karma for Birds is Kari´s first play. Since graduation, she has participated in group art exhibitions, studied art history and taught art.

The reading will take place at Volvo Hall, Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue,, New York City, USA on November 21st 2016, 7.30 pm (pre-reception, 7 pm). Free Event. For more information about the company, visit www.satcnyc.org.