Saturday, April 26, 2003 from 11 AM - 6 PM SALAAM
Theatre
SALAAM Theatre, a member of THAW - Theaters Against War - confirms participation in this day-long cultural event, RESISTANCE: A Festival for Peace. Kayhan Irani will perform her latest one-woman piece at 12:05PM and in solidarity with progressive artists, Geeta Citygirl will be highlighting the war on our civil liberties in this country. SALAAM Theatre calls on people everywhere to find the ways to publicly expose, oppose and stop all the repression against Muslim, Arab and South Asian immigrants. Stop the Registrations, Detentions, Deportations, and Disappearances! Stop All Racial and Religious Profiling! No Police State! RESISTANCE: A FESTIVAL FOR PEACE MOTIONS OF RESISTANCE AT THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY Where are we? What's going on? Tory Clarke, of the U.S. Department of Defense recently discussed the new practice of "imbedded journalists" who accompany U.S. forces in Iraq: "We are broadcasting the truth!" The bombing of Baghdad appeared on our television screens as a pyrotechnic spectacular, made to compete with such shows as "Survivor" and "Fear Factor." The speeches of President Bush, the "updates" of Donald Rumsfeld. and the commentaries of other administration officials riddle the news media with persuasive distraction: the design of a pabulum diet-for a curious, inquiring populace.... We are voracious. What is the truth? The anti-war movement and demonstrations in the United States and abroad are dismissed by the U.S. administration as an activity of "focus groups". What, really, is happening here? We want to know. As Ted Koeppel notes: "Armies at war are, at best, blunt instruments of policy." The comprehension of truth lies not only in the visual reportage of explosive destruction, and the bloodshed and murder of human beings; but more significantly, in the basis of political motives and maneuvers, i.e., the "policy" created for unilateral military aggression. The invasion of the Iraqi nation has resulted in the destruction, not only of the regime, but also of its major urban development, and the societal order of the country. As well as resulting in a fragmentation of its history, and continuous memory, in the consciousness of its common people. The British Broadcasting Corporation is now taking special note of an ever-increasing anti-American sentiment, and an ever-present deep suspicion of the invading forces. We have to know about our world, and its precious human species. Theater for the New City is offering a tentative antidote. It will host RESISTANCE: A FESTIVAL FOR PEACE, an all day cultural event from 11 AM to 6 PM on Saturday, April 26th. It will feature theater, dance, poetry, music, spoken word, video and film simultaneously, in two theaters. RESISTANCE also includes an art exhibit in THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY's inner lobby. A broad range of voices will be heard. ADMISSION IS FREE. For audience information: (212) 254-1109. The lineup will include: PERFORMANCES BY: Jean-Claude van Itallie reading from his new play, LIGHT!, Reno, steve ben israel, Vinie Burrows, Lavinia Co-op, Bond Street Theater, Bina Sharif, Tuli Kupferberg, Franklin Furnace, The Living Theater, Missile Dick Chicks, Lincoln Brown, Elliott Crown, DADAnewyork, Rita Di Carlo, Dreamyard Productions, Einstein's Bastards, Jade Esteban Estrada, Feed the Herd, Frank Silvera Writers' Workshop, John Grimaldi, Barbara Kahn, Kairos Theater, Kinding Sindow, LePhew Productions, Kevin Mitchell Martin, Outer Productions, Theo Polites, Abigail Ramsay, Gene Ruffini, SALAAM Theatre, Teatro Pregones, THAW, Valval, Vista, Martha Wilson, Wycherly Sisters, Yara Arts. SPEAKERS: Mitchell Cohen (Co-Editor, Green Politix), David McReynolds (War Resisters League), Peter Laarman (Senior Minister, Judson Church), Vietnam Veterans Against the War; September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows; Military Families Speak Out. SPOKEN WORD/POETRY BY: Brett Axel, Dorothy August, Joan Durante, Rags, Liana Rosario, Margo Lee Sherman, Paulanne Simmons, Jessica Slate, FOR IRAQ: A Reading of Iraqi Poetry. FILMS BY: ABC No Rio, Henry Chalfant, Frank Craven, Franca Fiala, Great Small Works, Downtown Community Television (DCTV), Films and Popcorn Collective, Wild Wimmin Films. ART BY: Corky Lee, Peter Kuper, Max Schumann, Haideen Anderson, Jen Caban, Chris Cardinale, Carla Cubit, Steve Ellis, Vivian Lacorte, Laimah Osman, Rolando Politi, Nicole Schulman, Joanne Schultz and Friends, Frank Shifreen, STart, Ward Sutton. SONGS BY: Tao Rodriguez-Seeger (with Pierce Woodward), Stephan Smith, Judy Gorman, Crystal Field, Mary Gatchell, Fred Geobold, The Songs of Yip Harburg, Rebecca Hart, Jah Jah Mighty Tranquil, Scott Lilly, Mark Marcante, Judy Sky. MUSIC BY: Juini Booth, Mira Rivera, Norman Savitt, Star 69. DANCE BY: Yoshiko Chuma, DANCETUBE, Dzul Dance Company, Les Guirivoires, The Merengueritas de Loisaida, and more. WBAI, Not in Our Name and THAW are working with TNC to promote this event. THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY, a Pulitzer-Prize winning community center, is an expert in the art of festival creation, having originated the world-famous Village Halloween Parade and many other free cultural events. TNC's Village Writers on the Village (1976) featured the premiere of Harvey Fierstein's INTERNATIONAL STUD, which later became the centerpiece of TORCH SONG TRILOGY. The Village Halloween Parade was sponsored by TNC during its first two years, during which time it won a special OBIE Award. THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY also held a Christmas Pageant (1990-1999) that entertained shelter children while they waited to get presents and hot cocoa from Santa Claus at the local police precinct; and an Eco-Fest where artists voiced their concern about the earth. THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY was the only community center to hold a protest against the original Gulf War. Called STOP THE WAR: A FESTIVAL FOR PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST, it won a 1991 OBIE citation. TNC's current annual community festivals include the LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS, a 3-day extravaganza celebrating the ethnic and artistic diversity of the Lower East Side area (coming up May 23-25 where SALAAM's Geeta Citygirl serves on the organizing committee and SALAAM Theatre will bring some South Asian Flavor to the festival), and the HALLOWEEN BALL (October 31). Peace, Paz, Paix, Shanti,
Shalom and SALAAM.
Geeta Citygirl, Artistic Director
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