MAPS FOR A WAR TOURIST Comes to Dixon Place 6/2- 6/17

Dixon Place's (Ellie Covan, Founding & Artistic Director) commission of the acclaimed performance collective Sister Sylvester's MAPS FOR A WAR TOURIST, will have its world premiere on Friday, June 2nd at 7:30 PM.

This refreshing and daring company returns to Dixon Place and invites disruption into both their process and their performance as they create text, sound, and imagery. The production, which is based on a true story of a young Turkish woman, will play six performances only - June 2nd, 3rd, 9th, 10th, 16th, and 17th at 7:30 PM at Dixon Place (161A Chrystie Street). Tickets are $20 in advance and $23 at the door. For tickets and further information visit dixonplace.org/performances/maps-for-a-war-tourist or call 866-811-4111.

MAPS FOR A WAR TOURIST explores a Turkish art student's journey from protester to militant fighter. This investigative performance piece uses original research to consider the layered realities of geography in Turkey, a country where roads, but not realities, are shared by revolutionaries, tourists, journalists and fixers. The production deals with truth and political art combining documentary and mythology. In this work, Sister Sylvester tries to figure out how we got so lost, or whether we've been using the wrong maps all along.

In MAPS FOR A WAR TOURIST, Sister Sylvester explores the purpose of politically engaged art and the ways in which it tries-and fails-to make sense of complex realities. The performance centers on the Deniz Karacagil - a young Turkish woman arrested and falsely accused of membership in a militant organization by the Turkish government. Later fleeing her homeland to join a libertarian radical movement and labeled a terrorist by the U.S. government, Ms. Karacagil paradoxically found herself a foot soldier in the U.S.-backed war against the Islamic State, a mere three years later. Sister Sylvester uses this story, which defies all attempts to be neatly packaged into a singular narrative, to question the role of politically-driven art in a rapidly evolving geopolitical landscape.

Conceived and directed by Kathryn Hamilton, MAPS FOR A WAR TOURIST sees Sister Sylvester strip away their trademark chaos, abandoning most theatrical elements in an effort to slow down and tell their story in the clearest, simplest way. The piece is co-created by Jeremy M. Barker, Kathryn Hamilton, and the ensemble of performers, which includes Cyrus Moshrefi, Kelsea Martin, Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste, Ms. Hamilton, and a pair of tortoises named Squat and Creon. Tortoise consultants are Robert Schapiro and Lorri Cramer, certified wildlife rehabilitators.
Sister Sylvester is a New York and Istanbul based theatre company that uses documentary techniques and original research to explore untold stories using forms specific to live performance in order to create original work. Formed in 2008, they have created work in both site-specific venues as well as in theaters, keeping an investigation of the audience-performer relationship at the heart of their practice. Their work is concerned with power, how it is wielded within our society, and how language becomes a weapon in enforcing those hierarchies.

KATHRYN HAMILTON is a performance maker based in New York and Istanbul. She is the founder and director of Sister Sylvester, and a member of Kös?e, an art space in Istanbul. American Theatre Magazine highlighted Sister Sylvester as one of fourteen 'theatrical plans to change the world'. Recent productions include They Are Gone But Here Must I Remain at Jack, The Maids' The Maids at Abrons Arts Center; The Fall at The Park Avenue Armory, as part of the Under Construction Series; Dead Behind These Eyes (NYT critic's pick) at Sing Sing Karaoke; Science Fiction at Kös?e. Kathryn has received grants from LMCC, BAC, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and has been a resident at Salem Art Works; San Sebastian European City of Culture; Park Avenue Armory; Flux Factory, Queens; and Spread Art, Detroit, among others. She also writes journalism about art and politics under various pen names.
This Dixon Place commission is made possible with public funds from NY State Council on the Arts with the support of Gov. Andrew Cuomo & the NY State Legislature, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and private funds from the Jerome Foundation. MAPS FOR A WAR TOURIST was supported by a Watershed Laboratory residency at Mount Tremper Arts.
The Dixon Place Lounge is open before and after the show. Proceeds from the bar directly support Dixon Place's artists and mission.

Dixon Place is located at 161A Chrystie Street (between Rivington and Delancey), in Manhattan's Lower East Side (By subway: B/D to Grand, F to 2nd Ave, J/Z to Bowery, 6 to Spring St, M to Essex St).

About Dixon PlaceAn artistic incubator since 1986, Dixon Place is a Bessie and Obie Award-winning non-profit institution committed to supporting the creative process by presenting original works of theater, dance, music, puppetry, circus arts, literature and visual art at all stages of development. Presenting over 1000 creators a year, this local haven inspires and encourages diverse artists of all stripes and callings to take risks, generate new ideas and consummate new practices. Many artists, such as Blue Man Group, John Leguizamo, Lisa Kron, David Cale, David Drake, Deb Margolin and Reno, began their careers at DP. In addition to emerging artists, Dixon Place has been privileged to present established artists such as Mac Wellman, Holly Hughes, Justin Bond, Karen Finley, Kate Clinton and Martha Wainwright. After spawning a salon in her Paris apartment in 1985, founding Artistic Director Ellie Covan pioneered the institution in her NYC living room for 23 years. Covan was a recipient of a Bessie, a New York Dance and Performance Award and a Bax10 Award for her service to the community. Dixon Place received two Obie Awards, and an Edwin Booth Award for Excellence in Theater. Dixon Place has organically developed and expanded into a leading professional, state-of-the-art facility for artistic expression.