Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, The Lab, and GTI in association with MIE, Present POLITICS, REVOLUTION, & ART

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics (The Lab), and theGlobal Theater Initiative (GTI), in association with the Middle East Institute's Arts and Culture Program (MEI), present Politics, Revolution, and Art: A Theatrical Symposium on Saturday, November 5, 2016.

Artists, activists, policymakers, and thought leaders join for an exploration of the relationship between artistic practice and political action. Taking place during closing weekend of the Woolly Mammoth production of internationally celebrated Chilean playwright GuillermoCalderón's play KISS, this event will explore the relationship between theatre, political activism, and global politics. Participants includeKyoung Park, Artistic Director, Kyoung's Pacific Beat, Yury Urnov, Director of Kiss, and Derek Goldman and Ambassador Cynthia Schneider, Co-Founding Directors of The Lab, with special remarks from Azar Nafisi, the critically acclaimed author of NY Times BestsellerReading Lolita in Tehran, as well as Things I've Been Silent About and The Republic of Imagination.

Inspired by questions KISS poses about global responsibility and the role of the artist as activist and interpreter, we will explore: what forms can revolution take? How can artists serve as change-makers in different cultural contexts? What is the relationship between form and content in politically engaged work? What role can theatre play in communities shaken by repression and violence?

The symposium is FREE, open to the public, and includes a panel, a film screening of Queens of Syria, and a reading of an excerpt from Calderón's play Neva at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. In addition to these free events, there will be two performances of KISS (3:00pm and 8:00pm), and tickets can be purchased in advance of the symposium.

More information about Kiss and Politics, Revolution, and Art: A Theatrical Symposium can be found at woollymammoth.net.

SCHEDULE

Politics, Revolution, and Art: A Theatrical Symposium is Saturday November 5, 2016 from 3:00pm until 8:00pm.

The schedule of events follows:

3:00pm-4:30pm

Matinee of KISS and simultaneous screening of Queens of Syria

5:00pm-6:15pm

Art and Activism: Theater and the Revolutionary Impulse

6:15pm-6:30pm

Closing Remarks by Azar Nafisi

6:30pm-8:00pmReception

8:00pm

Evening performance of KISS

REGISTRATION AND TICKETS

Registration to Politics, Revolution, and Art: A Theatrical Symposium is free and open to the public. To register, visit woollymammoth.netand click on events.

Tickets to KISS start at $35 and can be purchased online at woollymammoth.net, by phone at (202) 393-3939, via email attickets@woollymammoth.net, or in person at the Box Office, located at 641 D Street NW.

Patrons who are 30-years-old and younger may, at any time, purchase tickets for $20 to any performance. There are also discounts available for educators, first responder men and women and active US military personnel, spouses, and veterans. More information is available atwoollymammoth.net.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION

Facebook.com/WoollyMammothTC

Twitter: @WoollyMammothTC #WoollyKISS @TheLabGU

ABOUT WOOLLY

Now in its 37th Season, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company continues to hold its place at the leading edge of American theatre. Acknowledged as "one of the most influential outposts for the best new American plays" (The Washington Post) and "known for its productions of innovative new plays" (The New York Times), Woolly Mammoth is a national leader in the development of new works and one of the best known and most influential mid-sized theatres in America.

ABOUT THE LAB

Founded by Co-Directors Derek Goldman and Ambassador Cynthia P. Schneider, The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics (The Lab) harnesses the power of performance to humanize global politics. The Lab harnesses the power of performance to humanize global politics. Located in Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, The Lab creates and present innovative high quality work from around the world that is at the intersection of politics and performance. The Lab's signature approach raises voices rarely heard in Washington, DC through compelling, authentic narratives, and engages policymakers, as well as artists, students, and wider audiences in forums that cast critical issues in a new light. The Lab uses technology and live encounters to create a global community of artists, activists and policy makers, fostering new understandings and innovative collaborations. The Lab is passionate about helping to train the next generation of innovators to use their artistry and voices to shape new understandings and to humanize others in pursuit of a better, more just world. More information:http://globallab.georgetown.edu.

ABOUT GTI

Theatre Communications Group (TCG) and the Lab launched the Global Theater Initiative (GTI) in February 2016. By combining the unique reach of TCG's international programming with the Lab's distinctive experience in humanizing global politics through the power of performance, GTI strengthens, nurtures, and promotes global citizenship and international collaboration in the U.S. professional and educational theatre field. It also honors and intersects with the work so many theatre colleagues have invested in cross-cultural exchange and understanding. Through the alignment of programming and resources, the GTI partners serve as a hub of global exchange with three core areas of focus: connecting practitioners with resources, knowledge, and partnerships to strengthen their work; promoting cultural collaboration as essential for international peace and mutual understanding; and innovating new strategies to maximize the global theatre field's opportunities and impact. GTI also serves as the collaborative leadership of the U.S. Center of the International Theatre Institute (ITI/U.S.).

ABOUT MEI

The Middle East Institute (MEI) has been a bridge to the Arab world since it was first founded in 1946. As the oldest institute in Washington, D.C. dedicated to the promotion of knowledge and understanding of the Middle East, MEI is an invaluable resource to decision-makers, academics, students and the general public. Long known for its policy analysis, peer-reviewed journal, language classes and library, MEI launched in 2014, an Arts and Culture Program to explore the role of the arts in the Middle East as a social force and an agent for change.

The Middle East Institute' Arts and Culture Program connects the nation's capital to the vibrant and cutting-edge arts scene in the Arab world. Increasingly, Arab artists are playing a transformational role in their communities, facilitating through their art a dialogue about topics like, human rights, social justice, human security and mobility, freedom of expression, and more.

Through artist talks, panel conversations, readings, screenings, concerts and installations, MEI's Arts and Culture Program engages Arab artists and Washington's community of policymakers, analysts, and fellow artists in a conversation about the region in order to strengthen and expand people-to-people relations and increase understanding and cooperation.

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