Writers from Argentina, Mexico and More Set for Portland Stage's 21st Annual From Away Festival

Portland Stage announces the writers for the 21st Annual From Away Festival of International Writing.

This year Portland Stage will host writers from ALGERIA, ARGENTINA, GUYANA, and MEXICO for a full day workshop, and public readings of their work presented in the Studio Theater Monday, October 30, at 7pm, 25A Forest Avenue, Portland, Maine.

From Away is an annual festival of new work celebrating the voices of international playwrights. Each year, From Away brings talented writers from around the world to Portland, where excerpts from their work are performed in translation by Portland Stage's Affiliate Artists. The readings are followed by an open forum discussion among the writers, the participating artists, and the audience. From Away is open to the public on a "Pay-What-You-Can" basis.

This year's featured writers at From Away are playwright, fiction writer, and poet Hajar Bali of Algeria; playwright, screenwriter, filmmaker, and fiction writer Santiago Giralt of Argentina; playwright, fiction writer, journalist, and critic Subraj Singh of Guyana, and playwright, screenwriter, actor, and translator Xavier Villanova of Mexico.

"To be able to host writers from other countries here in southern Maine is a special opportunity," says Anita Stewart, Portland Stage's Executive & Artistic Director. "And the perspective they bring fits perfectly with our goal to present artistic programs that invite audiences to ask questions and engage with the theater as a community."

From Away is produced in collaboration with the International Writing Program (IWP) at the University of Iowa, a unique residency program that brings together the writers of the world. Founded in 1967, the IWP brings established writers from around the globe to the University of Iowa, where they become part of a lively literary community on campus. Over the years, well over a thousand poets, writers, and dramatists from more than 130 countries have completed residencies in the program. This year's >From Away participants- Hajar Bali, Santiago Giralt, Subraj Singh, and Xavier Villanova continue a tradition of connecting Portland audiences with culturally and politically significant foreign writers who might not be well-known in the United States.

Through both performance and conversation, From Away brings together the words and opinions of IWP writers from different geographies and walks of life. Many of the writers who have previously participated in From Away have pushed for social change in their home countries through the power of metaphor and the written word, and gave Portland audiences a first-hand, behind-the-headlines perspective on artistic and political issues from around the globe. From Away takes place near the culmination of the writers' three-month residency in the International Writing Program, and has become a favorite event for many writers.

Portland Stage is a hub of creative activity and energy known for its professional Mainstage Theater Productions, its creation of vital Education Programs, both in-schools and in-house, and for cultivating new voices in theater through New Work Programs that foster experimentation and artistic risk. Visit www.portlandstage.org to engage with all we do.

Portland Stage's Affiliate Artists are an artistic collective of local theater professionals who choose to devote themselves to this community. During each season, these actors, directors, and educators present and participate in a range of programs dedicated to exploring new theatrical works, bringing the written word to the stage, and welcoming the community into the theater.