EVENT: The π-Roject (Fringe 2011)

The π-Roject 

Based on The Persians by Aeschylus

By Eclipses Group Theater(EGT)

Directed and performed : Ioanna Katsarou, Dimitris Bozinis (EGT) 

Music : Dimitris Dimitrakopoulos 

Set Design : Marina Gkoumla 

Light Design : Drew Florida

Translation in English : Chryssanthi Katsarou-Ventouratos 

Assistant director : Sofia Tsekoura

"The π-Roject" will be performed at the MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels) Address : 3680, rue Jeanne-Mance, Local 103 Montréal (Québec), H2X 2K5. Tel: (514) 982-1812 ext. 226 ou (514) 982-3386 W-site : www.montrealfringe.ca

Dates and Hours 

June 11 SAT•SAM 18:00 

June 12 SUN•DIM 22:30

June 14 TUE•MAR 20:00 

June 17 FRI•VEN 18:00 

June 18 SAT•SAM 21:00

June 19 SUN•DIM 15:45

Other information

Genre : Theater

Language : English, Greek, Ancient Greek

Admission : $10, $8

Run time : 1h10min

About the show you will see

"The π-Roject" is as the word speaks for itself, a project based on and inspired by the Persians (Persae) originally written by one of the most known Athenian poets, Aeschylus. It is a project as it is not the play itself, nor an adaptation. Most of the original text is used, but as not all of it is used, we couldn’t name our production after the masterpiece of Aeschylus. Title The π-Roject, is a playfulness of the word “The project”, as for π stands forPersians, and –Roject, for project, an endeavor to search and embark new forms, alternative ways to tell a story.

The experimental element of this project that we most

emphasize is that all the characters as well as the Chorus part will be performed by only two actors. The actors’ face and body will be used as a mask, which will continuously change and alter. The dialectic relationship born between the contradictions of young – old, past – present, dark – light, life – death, dream-nightmare, is our tool to follow the inner

flow of this poetic play which is full of philosophical meanings and questions.The Persians is not only the earliest extant play by Aeschylus, but it is also the earliest Greek play – and therefore the earliest theatrical play in European Literature – to survive complete. It has also the distinction of being the only surviving example of an entire genre, that of historical tragedy. It was first produced in 472 B.C., and its near contemporary setting is unique in surviving Greek drama.

Synopsis

The original play (Persians) dramatizes the return of Xerxes, king of Persia, at Susa after his military defeat at the Battle of Salamis, the glorious outcome for the Greeks and how the news of such a crushing and thoroughly unlike defeat by the Greeks – which took place a mere eight years before the play was premiered – reached the Persian imperial court and the whole empire of Persia.

About the Eclipses Group Theater

Eclipses Group Theater was founded by actor-director Ioanna Katsarou and actor Dimitris Bozinis and was created upon the need to explore different directing forms as well as new acting paths under the collaboration of artists from different origins and fields.

IOANNA KATSAROU/DIRECTOR/ACTOR

Ioanna is founding member of «Aktis Aeliou» Art Theater who won the award as «The Best Regional Theater in Greece» for the year 2006, by the Union of Greek Critics. She has studied Drama in the Drama School of the National Theater of Northern Greece and Music Studies in the Municipal Music Conservatoire of Thessaloniki. She also studied in New York dance and music.

She worked as an actress with the National Theater of Northern Greece, New Theater of Thessaloniki and Aktis Aeliou Theater. Some of her roles were: Faidra in «Hippolitos Covered» by V. Papageorgiou (Delphi Festival), Kathrine in «Suddenly Last Summer» by T. Williams, Medea in «Medea’s Trilogy» by Heiner Muller, Greta Samsa in «Metamorphosis» by F. Kafka, A" Witch in «Macbeth» by W. Shakespeare, Ephrosine in «The Islands of Slaves» by Marivaux, Tamora in «Titus Andronicus» by W. Shakespeare. In «Aktis Aeliou» Theater she directed the play «Autobiography-in the opposite direction» By Thomas Bernhard.

At the G.C.C. of New York she directed the play «Mommy, Mother, Mom» (2009) and “The Babies are Brought by the Stork” (2011).

DIMITRIS BOZINIS/DIRECTOR/ACTOR

Dimitris has studied Drama in the Drama School of the National Theater of Northern Greece, Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies in the University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece and Music Studies in the Municipal Music Conservatoire of Kalamaria, Thessaloniki. He has attended seminars in Film Acting, Suzuki Method and Yoga for Actors workshops, as well as numerous workshops in physical theater and contemporary dance. He made his debut onstage at the 2006 1st New Actors Festival in Athens in “The Black Prince”, a play written and directed by Damianos Konstantinidis. Since then, he has worked as an actor and dancer with several group theaters and organizations, such as the National Theater of Northern Greece, Thessaloniki Concert Hall, Culture Factory Group Theater, New Theater of Thessaloniki, Shima ektos Axona Group Theater and Xsoma among others. Damianos Konstantinidis, Isidoros Sideris, Konstantinos Rigos, Karmen Rouggeri, Anastasia Theofanidou, Ioanna Katsarou and Xsoma are some of the directors and choreographers he has collaborated with. Dimitris has also appeared in several short films in Greece. He collaborated with the Greek Cultural Center in New York in “The Babies are brought by the Stork”(2011).

"The π-Roject" will was performed at the Greek Culture Center in Astoria, New York from May 6 to May 22, 2011 for nine performances.