REDCAT (the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater) presents the West Coast premiere of Discover Love, a love story based on real events created by Belarus Free Theatre. Discover Love opens Thursday, October 1, 2009 at REDCAT and runs for a limited three-night engagement through Saturday, October 3, 2009.
Established in 2005 in response to repression in "Europe's last dictatorship," the award-winning Belarusian company--now outlawed at home--brings to REDCAT a gripping original drama based on the true story of dissident Irina Krasovskaya and her husband Anatoly, who was "disappeared" 10 years ago. With projections, a few sparse set pieces and a handful of props, Belarus Free Theatre fills the theater with the story of a woman who finds out her husband has been kidnapped and murdered, a tragedy intermingled with comedy where the tension of reality is beyond comparison with any fictional story. The couple's wrenching story is interwoven with parallel instances of political intimidation and violence in Asia and South America. The collection of materials for Discover Love took nine years.
Today, referring to the company's U.S. performances, the Washington Post reports, "For the company, the visit means a normal performing experience, free from threats of violence. For the audience, it is a reminder that there are still places where going to the theater is an act of treason." Later in the article Natalia Kolyada, co-founder of the Free Theatre adds, "[In Belarus] everyone comes to our performances with their passports, because they know if they get arrested, they'll need them."
Belarus Free Theatre is devoted to presenting dramas by banned Belarusian playwrights, whose work it also translates and publishes abroad. The troupe first began performing in private apartments and has since won the backing of prominent playwrights such as the late
Harold Pinter,
Tom Stoppard and Václav Havel, as well as numerous artistic and human rights organizations.
Under the current political system in Belarus, the Free Theatre has no official registration, no premises, nor any other facilities. Rehearsals and performances (always free of charge for the public) are normally held secretly in small private apartments, which, due to security and the risk of persecution, must constantly be changed.
Award winning playwright Sir
Tom Stoppard said of their work, "Free theatre is not just empty words for me: these are people who are free in their minds, who are free to decide by themselves what to write and what to present. Most Belarusians lack this kind of freedom, but they do not belong to this majority. So I'm proud of my friendship with these people and I support all Belarusians who appreciate freedom."
In conjunction with the performances at REDCAT, Belarus Free Theatre will be in residency for two-weeks at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). During the upcoming residency, Belarus Free Theatre will work with students from the School of Theater's performance and design programs to develop and present short videos and street actions engaging ideas of how activism can happen in local communities and the artist's role as participant. "One of the things that informs the vitality of the company's work is the extraordinary political environment they sustain their work within," explains Leslie Tamaribuchi, Interim Co-Dean of CalArts' School of Theater. She continues, "We are looking to convey to our students that their work has ethical and political implications and can be utilized as a political force. We are inspired by the way Belarus Free Theatre demonstrates these ideas."
The performances at REDCAT are funded in part with generous support from The George and MaryLou Boone Fund for Artistic Advancement, Ovation TV, Judith O. and Robert E. Rubin, and the Trust for Mutual Understanding.
Discover Love is written by Nikolai Halezin and Natalia Koliada, and directed by Halezin. Choreography by Olga Skvortsova, with music by DJ Laurel. Performed in Russian with supertitles in English.
Discover Love runs October 1-3, 2009 at REDCAT with performances Thursday-Saturday at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $20-25, with student discounts available. Seating is general admission. Tickets and information available at the REDCAT box office, 213-237-2800 or
www.redcat.org.
REDCAT, the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater, is located at the corner of W. 2nd and Hope Streets, inside the
Walt Disney Concert Hall complex (631 West 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012).
Since its founding in 2005 in Europe's last surviving dictatorship, Belarus Free Theatre has been performing in apartments, bars, and other private locations, alerting audiences to the location of performances and time through text messages and e-mail. The husband-and-wife team of Mikalai Khalezin (Nikolai Khalezin) and Natallya Kalyada (Natalya Koliada) and director Uladzimir Shcherban (Vladimir Scherban) created the company as a means to resist government censorship and have garnered praise from around the world.
The Free Theatre has produced eleven performances based on seventeen plays. During its first two years of existence, about 5,000 people attended performances in Belarus and more than 4,000 abroad. During the last four years the troupe has performed in 16 countries of four continents of the world: Australia, Ireland, The Netherlands, Greece, UK, USA, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, France, Poland, Russia, Lithuania, Latvia.
The theatre is supported by outstanding figures of the inter
National Theatre movement and respected public figures such as
Vaclav Havel,
Mick Jagger,
Arthur Kopit,
Harold Pinter,
Mark Ravenhill,
Tom Stoppard and
Ariane Mnouchkine. In April 2007, Free Theatre became a full member of the European Theatre Convention (ETC), a member of the international network Informal European Theatre Meeting (IETM), and in May 2007 a member of the international network, Trans European Halls (THE). In December 2007, Free Theatre received the French Republic Human Rights Prize. It was the first time in the history of the Prize that it was given to a cultural institution.
In April 2008 Belarus Free Theatre performed three of its productions (Generation Jeans, Being
Harold Pinter and Zone of Silence) in Thessaloniki, Greece, for the ceremony for the Europe Theatre Prize (Premio Europa) where the theatre received the honor of "Special mention" after being nominated for it by Nobel Prize Laureate
Harold Pinter, Sir
Tom Stoppard and ex-President of Czech Republic
Vaclav Havel.
Official Belarus Free Theatre website:
www.dramaturg.org.
The Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater, opened by CalArts in 2003, introduces diverse audiences, students and artists to the most influential developments in the arts from around the world, and gives artists in this region the creative support they need to achieve national and international stature. REDCAT is the newest partner in an international network of adventurous art and performance centers, which together are playing a vital role in the evolution of contemporary culture. REDCAT is a center for experimentation, discovery, and lively civic discourse.
REDCAT sponsors include The Standard, Yamaha, Ovation TV, Los Angeles magazine and KCRW.
REDCAT acknowledgements
Photo courtesy of the company.
