Playwright Sedef Ecer Debuts New Translation

Voyage Theater Company/PARTS UNKNOWN Play Reading Series will present a staged reading of acclaimed Turkish playwright Sedef Ecer's e-smuggler.com, in a new English-language translation by Amelia Parenteau, directed by Lisa Rothe, at the 53rd Street New York Public Library (18 W 53 Street, across the street from MOMA), Thur October 18 at 7pm. Admission is FREE and open to the public, but reservations are highly encouraged. Please RSVP here. The performance will run approximately 70 minutes, with no intermission.

e-smuggler.com imagines a future world of chaos, where international alliances have collapsed. Everyone has become a refugee fleeing conflict and famine. As border crossing becomes increasingly dangerous, a lucrative commodity emerges in the digital marketplace. The only hope for safety is a phone app -- e.smuggler.com. The play follows the story of three brave women - digital nomads - traversing the landscape in a new dystopian reality.

e-smuggler.com was first premiered in Turkish at the International Festival of Izmir in 2015. In 2016 it was premiered at the International Festival of Istanbul (IKSV) with support from the French Cultural Institute. The play was subsequently staged in French at the Estivales de Bussang, National Theater of Toulon, National Museum of Immigration History in Paris, and Théâtre de Suresnes.

In 2018 the creative team of Ms. Ecer, Amelia Parenteau, and Lisa Rothe were awarded a grant from The American Turkish Society to create a new English language translation. The translation will be workshopped and developed at the Lark Play Development Center prior to the VTC reading on October 18. The new translation will also be published by NoPassport Press.

Sedef Ecer (Playwright) was born in Istanbul, where she grew up in the world of movie-making, theatre and television. She has written numerous articles or opinion pieces for national newspapers or magazines, novels, screenplays, explored new genres with transmedia stories and translated Charlotte Delbo, and Saint-Exupery's works into Turkish. But her major work is in the field of theater, in French. Now living in Paris and writing in French, her plays are published by Les Éditions de l'Amandier, Les Éditions l'Espace d'un Instant, Lansman and l'Avant-Scène in France, and translated into Polish, Turkish, Armenian, German, Greek, and English. Ms. Ecer's plays have been seen across Europe at venues including Metz Opera House, National Theatre Le Liberté, Théâtre du Peuple, Aalen Stadt Theater, and Théâtre National de Strasbourg. She is one of the three women writers who founded the Parlement des Écrivaines Francophones, and is entered in the 2014 Dictionnaire Universel des Créatrices (The Universal Dictionary of Women Creators Worldwide, supported by Unesco). She is represented by Zelig in France, Merlin Verlag in Germany, and Habitus in Turkey. https://www.sedefecer.com

Amelia Parenteau (Translator) is a freelance writer, translator, and theater maker. An alum of Sarah Lawrence College, she has worked with the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, TCG, Ping Chong + Company, The Lark, The Civilians, the French Institute Alliance Française, Park Avenue Armory, and People's Light in Malvern, PA. She has been published in New London Day, Norwich Bulletin, TCG Circle Blog, American Theatre Magazine, Asymptote, The Theatre Times, The Paris Post, Two Words For Literary Magazine, Extended Play, Culturebot, The Mercurian, HowlRound, Stain'd Magazine, and Contemporary Theatre Review. Productions include America is Hard to See, Life Jacket Theatre Company (HERE, 2018); (Projection) (Dixon Place, 2017); Liminal (New York International Fringe Festival, 2015); Louise, she's crazy, The Melancholy Players (Sarah Lawrence College, 2013). https://www.amelia-parenteau.com

Lisa Rothe (Director) Lisa Rothe is a NYC based freelance theater director and educator. She was nominated for SDC's Joe A. Callaway Award for Direction for Hold These Truths by Jeanne Sakata, produced by Epic Theatre Ensemble in NYC. The play was also nominated for a Drama Desk award for Best Solo Performance by actor Joel de la Fuente and has had subsequent productions at The Guthrie Theater, ACT in Seattle, Playmakers Repertory Theatre, the Honolulu Theatre for Youth, the SoloNova Festival in NYC, Hang A Tale at the Sheen Center in NYC, and was most recently produced by TheatreWorks/Silicon Valley in July 2018. Alongside Michael Mastro and Grace Zandarski, Lisa is a co-Artistic Director of The Actor's Center in NYC. She is also a Co-President of the League of Professional Theatre Women, on the Artistic Advisory Council of Epic Theatre Ensemble, on the Advisory Board of the Detroit Public Theatre, a Usual Suspect with New York Theatre Workshop, an Artistic Affiliate and Audrey Fellow with New Georges, a Drama League alum, a fox Fellow alum and a member of the National Theater Conference. Lisa received her MFA from NYU's Graduate Acting Program and was then invited by mentor and teacher Zelda Fichandler, to be part of the inaugural year of NYU's Directing program for alumni of the MFA Acting program. www.lisarothe.com

VOYAGE THEATER COMPANY presents new and unheralded plays and playwrights from around the world, creating opportunities for collaboration between theater-makers of diverse cultures and disciplines. We serve our local community in New York City through professional productions, educational programming, internships, and discounted tickets for students and seniors. We present plays in multiple languages, and work in partnership with other non-profit organizations to broaden perspectives and build greater cultural equity across communities. voyagetheatercompany.org

This reading of e-smuggler.com is made possible in part by a grant from The American Turkish Society.

PARTS UNKNOWN Play Reading Series is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and administered by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.