Directors Lab Mediterranean
In February 2018, Lisa is invited to Beirut, where she becomes one of the founders of Directors Lab Mediterranean.
- Editions:
- DLM 2019: American University of Beirut, Lebanon (First edition). July 2019.
- DLM 2020: Mini Digital Lab, Jasad Performing Arts, Amman, Jordan (Second edition). July 2020.
- DLM 2021: Teatre Lliure, Barcelona, Spain (Third edition). July 2021.
- DLM 2022: American University of Beirut, Lebanon (Fourth edition). September 2022
September, 2022, is our month for this year edition of the lab, it will be held in Beirut. Join us for ten exceptional days full of workshops, lectures, performances.
First day workshop.
Our guest artist for the second day was Oussama Ghanam, a theatre director, playwright, dramaturg, and translator based in Damascus. He is the founder and artistic director if Damascus Theatre Lab and a professor at the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts. In addition to his directing credits, he has designed over 16 artistic research workshops around topics discussing dramaturgy and performance in modern and contemporary theatre, and has translated a diverse selection of international plays from French and English into Arabic.
The other special guest of the second day of the lab was Ali Chahrour, a dancer and choreographer, he has created a language inspired by Arab myths and by the political, social, and religious context of his country. Through it, he explores the relationships between the body and movement, between tradition and modernity. His work is presented in trilogies, the most recent of which was presented at the Festival d'Avignon.
Directors participants of the lab involved during the workshop held by the Lebanese choreographer Ali Chahrour.
Today special guest is Zeina Daccache
Actress, director, and founder of Catharsis-Lebanese Center for Drama Therapy, Lebanon’s first organization dedicated to theatre as a social and psychological therapy tool. Both her theatrical and film work with local prisoners continue to bring attention to the issue of
penitentiary reform in Lebanon and have been essential to the enactment of the early release law.
The directors participants of DLM's 3rd edition presenting their own project "New Encounters" to the directors of this year edition.
NEW ENCOUNTERS is a European Commission backed project to stage new co-created theatre by directors from Spain, Italy, Germany, Bulgaria, the USA and UK. It is produced by @voltaplayfestival and @encuentrocollective and grant funded by @iportunus. It was developed at @directorslabmediterranean @teatrelliure and is supported by @goetheinstitut_london and @newdiorama
The special guest of the fourth day is Ossama Halal, he is a Syrian Beirut-based director, actor, and choreographer. He started his artistic journey as a hip-hop dancer and is an alumnus of the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus. He has participated in several artistic residencies, namely with Odin Theater, Dream Think Speak and Grid Iron, Opus, and Teatri Del Vento. He is the founder and director of Koon Theatre Lab, which focuses both on artistic production and designing local capacity-building workshops.
Koon TheaterGroup
Hiking on the mountain with the bird watcher Wilderness Hammana.
— at Hammana Artist House.
Visiting Sunflower Theatre guided by Karim Daroub from KHAYAL, a Cooperative Lebanese Association for Arts & Education founded in 2004 as the extension and expansion of the Lebanese Puppet Theatre experience. The name “KHAYAL” has a two-fold meaning in Arabic: “imagination” and “shadow”, which describes the association’s creative approach and reflects the connection to shadow theatre which was a primary form of expression in the Arab theatre.
@sunflowertheatre
Special guest of the 7th day was Lina Abyad, director and professor of Theater Arts, she has directed more than 30 plays, and in 2011, received the Mellon Award by the American University of Beirut for producing the play. “Tea with Biscuits in Prison”. In 2013, she received the “Prize of his Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al-Qassimi” for the “Dictator”, as best theatrical work for the year.
Visiting Zoukak Theatre.
Founded in 2006 and dedicated to theatre practice as a social and political involvement, with a belief in theatre as a space for common reflection against marginalizing systems. The theatre group also founded and runs Zoukak Studio, a multidisciplinary performance and training space based in Beirut, and Zoukak Sidewalks - The Festival, a platform for artistic exchange that takes place every two years in the studio and in various venues around the city.
#directorslabmediterranean #dlm2022 #stagedirector #international #lebanon #mediterranean #beirut #theatre #zoukaktheatre
After several months of zoom meetings, we co-founded El Encuentro, a transnational collective of theatre artists working together to produce exceptional participatory theatre.
Since the Lab in July 2021 we have moved quickly. In November, we received grant funding from i-Portunus and Creative Europe to initiate out first project.
In April 2022, we will start work on NEW ENCOUNTERS. Hosted by VOLTA International Festival in London, we will develop six new co-created plays made with local artists and communities.
DLM Barcelona was the spark that brought us together – it was the catalyst for our collaboration. We’re incredibly grateful to the Lab committee and Teatre Lliure for their passion, innovation and support.”
Andrea Ferran
NEW ENCOUNTERS is a European Commission backed project to stage new co-created theatre by directors from Spain, Italy, Germany, Bulgaria, the USA and UK. It is produced by @voltaplayfestival and @encuentrocollective and grant funded by @iportunus. It was developed at @directorslabmediterranean @teatrelliure and is supported by @goetheinstitut_london and @newdiorama
Closing day of DLM’s 3rd edition 2021 at Teatre Lliure, Barcelona.
Mr. Peter Brook, after knowing that these days there is a group of young international directors who are participating in a directors lab at Teatre Lliure (where his new production "The Tempest" is underway) wanted to organize a meeting. Today he came to DLM to talk and share knowledge with us. An unforgettable hour-long talk with one of the greatest theatre artists of our time.
Theatre director and translator. She studied directing and dramaturgy at the Institut del Teatre, Barcelona and Italian Philology at UB, Barcelona.
In 1999, Oriol Broggi and Carlota Subirós founded of ‘La Perla 29 Company’. Between 2003 and 2011 she was a member of Teatre Lliure’s Artisitic Directing team. She has collaborated on the TV program ‘L’hora del lector’, and has worked with several choreographers and dance companies, such as Mal pelo, Amèlia Boluda and the Ballet Contemporani de Barcelona. Since 2013 she has been a member of the Reading Committee of the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya and a teacher in Institut del Teatre de Barcelona in the Department of Staging, Dramaturgy and Choreography. He is also engaged in artistic and academic research.
As a director, from 1990 to 1996 she worked as an assistant director to artists as Peter Sellars, Franco di Francescantonio, Joan Ollé, Ariel Garcia Valdés o Lluís Homar. In 1996 she directed Ionesco’s ‘The Lesson’, since then she has directed more than twenty plays and has translated several plays into Catalan. In 2008 she premiered Doris Lessing’s ‘Play with a Tiger’ at Teatre Lliure. Of her recent stage works, we highlight ‘Maria Rosa’, by Àngel Guimerà; ‘With My WholeHeartMindBody’, a stage reading of feminist manifestos of the 20th and 21st centuries; ‘Sol solet’, by Àngel Guimerà; ‘Una lluita constant’, co-production Temporada Alta 2018 and La Ruta 40, a company resident in the Sala Beckett, and ‘Grrrls !!!’, feminist manifestos of the 20th and 21st century, 2019.
Today's talk and writing practical session with Simon Stephens was just really great!!
Simon Stephens’ plays Fortune, Light Falls, Maria, Fatherland, Rage, Heisenberg, Nuclear War, Song from Far Away; Birdland, Carmen Disruption, Blindsided, Morning, Three Kingdoms, Wastwater, Punk Rock, The Trial of Ubu, Marine Parade, Sea Wall, Harper Regan, Pornography, Motortown, On the Shore of the Wide World, One Minute, Country Music, Christmas, Port, Herons and Bluebird have been translated into more than 20 languages and produced all over the world. He has written English language versions of Jon Fosse’s I Am the Wind; Odon Von Horvath’s Kasimir and Karoline (titled The Funfair); Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House; Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard and The Seagull and Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s Threepenny Opera. He has adapted Jose Saramago’s Blindness and Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime for stage. He has presented four series of the Royal Court Playwright’s Podcast. His book “A Working Diary” is published by Methuen. Simon Stephens has been an Associate at the Royal Court, London and Steep, Chicago and a board member of Paines Plough. He is a Professor of Scriptwriting at Manchester Metropolitan University and an Associate Professor at the Danish National School of the Performing Arts, Copenhagen.
Our today’s invited guest was the author, director and producer, Mohamed El Khatib.
Mohamed El Khatib develops unique documentary fiction projects in the field of performance, literature and cinema. Through intimate epics, he takes turns inviting a farmer, a housewife, or sailors to share with him the authorship of the writing of the present time. After ‘Moi, ‘Corinne Dadat’ (2015), in where he proposed a working lady and a classical dancer to review their skills, he continued his exploration of the working class with the monumental work ‘STADIUM’ (2017), in which he brought 58 fans of the Lens Racing Club to the stage.
Mohamed El Khatib won the Grand Prize for Dramatic Literature in 2016 with the play ‘Finir en beauté’, which deals with the end of his mother’s life. His text ‘C’est la vie’ (2017), awarded by the French Academy, completes this cycle on the issue of mourning and shows that a comedy is just a tragedy with a little distance… Finally, after having mounted a ‘Dispute’ (2018) singular, in cinema addresses the issue of heritage with his latest film, ‘Renault 12’ (2019), a road movie between Orleans and Tangier.
Mohamed El Khatib is an artist linked to the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, the Théâtre National de Bretagne and Malraux - Scène nationale de Chambéry.
We attended ’Tempest Project’ the new production of Peter Brook in collaboration with Marie Hélène Estienne at Teatre Lliure for the Grec Festival de Barcelonal.
The ’Tempest Project’ is a re-reading of Shakespeare's 'The Storm', one of the author's last works in 1612.
Here the central figure of Prospero is an actor trained in the tradition of British theatre, but of African origins, Ery Nzaramba, a choice that is no coincidence. And that is because, while western actors are sufficiently versed in elements as present in Shakespearian creations as physical and political violence, rage, sex and introspection, it may be difficult for them to make a natural exploration of a hidden and spiritual world such as the one that appears in The Tempest, which proves alien to them. Other cultures coexist with the notion of gods, magic and witchcraft, but not European culture, which is why, maybe, in Brook’s opinion at least, the role of Prospero turns out to be less forced in an actor born in an environment where the invisible world is a more real and natural presence. At the hands of Ery Nzaramba and the rest of the actors, we discover a play which gradually reveals its secrets and meanings as it progresses, with the idea of freedom present throughout. Prospero, the primitive Caliban at his service, embodying the notion of the 16th century’s incipient colonialism, the spirit Ariel... they are all looking for their freedom in this production, even if that concept has a different meaning for each.
Today visiting the ruins of Empúries with the directors of DLM.
Empúries (Catalan: Empúries [əmˈpuɾiəs]) was an ancient city on the Mediterranean coast of Catalonia, Spain. Empúries is also known by its Spanish name, Ampurias (Spanish: Ampurias [amˈpuɾjas]). The city Ἐμπόριον (Greek: Ἐμπόριον, Emporion, meaning "trading place", cf. emporion) was founded in 575 BC by Greek colonists from Phocaea. After the invasion of Gaul from Iberia by Hannibal the Carthaginian general in 218 BC, the city was occupied by the Romans (Latin: Emporiae). In the Early Middle Ages, the city's exposed coastal position left it open to marauders and it was abandoned.
Empúries is located within the Catalan comarca of Alt Empordà on Costa Brava. The ruins are midway between the town of L'Escala and the tiny village of Sant Martí d'Empúries.
Pablo Messiez, Spanish dramaturg and director, shared a workshop today at the lab.
Pablo Messiez made his debut in 2007 as dramaturg and director of Antes, a very free version of The Member of the Wedding, by Carson McCullers. At that time, Messiez already had over 20 years of experience on the stages as an actor, taking part in, among others, the show Un hombre que se ahoga by Daniel Veronese (a version of Anton Chekhov’s play Three Sisters).
In 2010 he premiered Muda (a play he authored which ran for two seasons at the Teatro Pradillo in Madrid). The Teatro Fernán Gómez selected him to inaugurate its new Sala Dos and he produced Ahora in January 2011. On that same day, he premiered Los ojos, a new work which he authored. In 2012, at the Festival de Otoño en Primavera, he premiered Las criadas, an adaptation of the classic The Maids by Jean Genet, and he also took to the stage Las plantas for the first edition of Fringe Madrid.
In 2013, he premiered at the Festival de Otoño en Primavera, Las palabras. In 2014 he created, as a commission for the International Festival of Classical Theatre of Almagro, Los brillantes empeños, based on texts from Spain’s Golden Age. In 2015 he directed La piedra oscura by Alberto Conejero (for which he received the Max Prize for the best director and the best show) and premiered his text Los bichos. One year later, he premiered La distancia, a stage version of the novel Distancia de rescate by Samanta Schweblin, and two of his own texts: Ningún aire de ningún sitio and Todo el tiempo del mundo.
In 2018 for the Kompanyia Lliure he wrote and directed El temps que estiguem junts, which he premiered at the Teatre Lliure (Young Critics’ Award – Jury’s Award for New Voices 2018) and was nominated for the Valle Inclán Awards for his production of He nacido para verte sonreír. That same year, he premiered at the Teatro San Martin in Buenos Aires the stage version of Cae la noche tropical by Manuel Puig.
In 2019, he was invited by the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid to direct its version of La verbena de la Paloma and that same year he wrote and directed Las Canciones. His latest production to date was Los días felices by Samuel Beckett for the Centro Dramático Nacional.
We are honored to share our first invited guests of the lab, Katie Mitchell
Katie Mitchell has directed over 100 productions in a career spanning 30 years. She directs mainstream text-based theatre, opera, and live cinema productions (a unique combination of video and theatre techniques). In the UK she has directed 9 productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company, 19 for the National Theatre and 12 for The Royal Court - and she has been an Associate Director at all three organisations. In opera she has directed for English National Opera, Glyndebourne Opera, Welsh National Opera, and the Royal Opera House.
Since 2008 she has split her time between working in the UK and on mainland Europe in countries including Germany, France, Holland, and Scandinavia. She is currently a resident director at the Schaubuhne (Berlin), the Deutsches Schauspielhaus (Hamburg) and she has just finished a seven-year residency at the Aix-en-Provence Festival (France). In 2015 the Stadsschouwburg Theatre in Amsterdam hosted a retrospective of her work, presenting 8 productions from across Europe.
Her many awards in the UK include 2 Time Out Awards (1990 & 1991), The Evening Standard Best Director Award (1996) and a Tonic Award for her representations of woman and nurture of female talent (2018). Her awards in Europe and beyond include 3 Theatertreffen prizes (Germany) in 2008 & 2009, an Obie Award (US) in 2009, 2 Golden Mask Awards (Russia) in 2011 & 2019, the Stanislavsky Internation Prize (Russia) in 2014, The New Theatrical Realities, Europe Prize in 2014, Best Director for 2019 at the International Opera Awards.
She was presented with the Order of the British Empire (OBE) 2009 and the British Academy's President's Medal in 2017 for her services to theatre.
She is currently a Professor in Theatre Directing at Royal Holloway University where teaches on an MA directing course. Her other academic roles include Visiting Professor of Opera at Oxford University in 2017, Visiting Fellow at Central St Martin's 2016 - 2018 and an Honorary Fellow at Rose Bruford College, 2014. She is currently a Cultural Fellow at Kings College, London, the TORCH Visiting Fellow in Theatre at Oxford University and Visiting Lecturer at Columbia University, New York
Directors Lab Mediterranean is pleased to announce the launch of the application call for its third edition, scheduled to take place at the Teatre Lliure in Barcelona, Spain this July 2021. “Amidst a global public health crisis that has had a significant impact on the theatre and the performing arts sectors worldwide, we feel it’s necessary to keep moving forward with our work and to continue building bridges and creating physical and virtual spaces for artists to connect, reflect, and create” said Sahar Assaf, Artistic Director of DLM. In a similar vein, Juan Carlos Martel Bayod, Artistic Director of Teatre Lliure and DLM Steering Committee member, said “During times like these DLM is an exceptional opportunity to overcome borders and distances: connecting thought, conversation and art from around the world. Teatre Lliure is excited to provide the space for this to happen in 2021!”.
“Stageless Theatre” is the theme that DLM is exploring this year. During this last year, Covid-19 took away our regular audiences but it gave us access to audiences across the globe, audiences of different cultures, languages, backgrounds, identities, etc. Amidst all uncertainties, one fact remained true, theatre continued to happen in different shapes and forms. Steering Committee member Lisa Nava said, “Needless to say Covid-19 imposed great challenges on theatre-making and theatre-makers everywhere, but we want to explore what this new world condition gave to theatre. Can theatre exist outside the audience-performer physical encounter? What will a post-Covid-19 theatre look like? are some of the questions we’re exploring in this year’s edition.” Steering Committee member Anna Kapousizi in her turn said, ”Knowing nothing about what the future holds for us, I know that I want to imagine it full of people working and networking and continuing to find ways to make theatre. DLM is our common ground to do that.”
DLM follows the model of the Directors Lab at Lincoln Center Theater in New York City, and it aims to provide emerging and mid-career stage directors from all over the world with the opportunity to build peer connections and create artistic networks while exploring Mediterranean theater traditions and current practices. It was endorsed by Anne Cattaneo, the founder of the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, and was initially launched at the American University of Beirut in July 2019 hosted by the AUB Theater Initiative and the Department of Fine Arts and Art History. Last year, the Lab was planned to hold its second edition at Teatre Lliure in Barcelona but given the pandemic situation it was moved online.
Mohammad Banihani, Artistic Director of Jasad and DLM Steering Committee member said,“In 2020, with the COVID-19 restrictions, we decided to organize a digital session to give the participants a chance to meet and Jasad for Performing Arts / Training and Research was chosen as a host organization. Since the creation of the DLM, Jasad has been committed to support the lab in multiple ways, and it was crucial to maintain this channel of communication and cooperation open during these uncertain times. Undoubtedly, this has been an extraordinary experience, bringing us together from all over the world to reflect and continue to practice our artistic work. We met as professionals but left as friends, thanks to this continuous exchange, beyond borders.” The mini-digital Lab of 2020 brought together 28 directors from 18 different countries—namely Greece, U.S, Panama, Australia, Bahrain, Jordan, India, Kuwait, Sweden, Germany, Ecuador, Romania, Palestine, Tunisia, Italy, Peru, South Korea and France. The rich online program included sessions by award-winning guest artists Euripides Laskaridis from Greece and Zeina Daccashe from Lebanon.
DLM 2021, like the other sister Labs of the LCT Directors Lab in Los Angeles, (Directors Lab West), Chicago (Directors Lab Chicago), Toronto (Directors Lab North) and Melbourne (Directors Lab Melbourne), will offer a series of workshops, shared sessions, rehearsals and discussions with major guest artists from around the Mediterranean. The third edition will run for 10 days this July 2021 at the prestigious Teatre de Lliure in Barcelona. Emerging and mid-career stage directors from all over the world are invited to apply to join the Lab. The Lab is provided free of charge to all accepted applicants. To access the application form and for other information please visit the Lab’s website
Comments
Post a Comment