Provocative writer to meet audiences

Argentinean playwright Rodrigo Garc’a, known as "the author of texts that burst like bombs" for the harsh reactions he receives to his politically provocative plays and his wild stage management, will visit Istanbul for the first time as part of a project called "New Text, New Theater."

Garc’a is an artist whose plays constantly provoke discussion because of their contradictory elements. One of the founders of La Carniceria Teatro in Madrid, Garcia is a cynosure of world media. Garc’a’s plays, "Agamemnon - On My Return Of The Supermarket, I Flanked A Beating With My Son" and "Balance My Ashes On Mickey," will be presented to audiences as part of the project. A party will be held on Dec. 4 at 9 p.m. at La Terrasse Café Bar to introduce the playwright and then on Dec. 6 at 3 p.m., Garcia will meet audiences for a video conversation at the Pera Museum.

The project
The New Text, New Theater project, organized by "Ve Diğer Şeyler Topluluğu,"or VeDST, formed by the playwright and director and actress Yeşim Özsoy Gülan in 2001, draws attention to contemporary play-writing and contemporary playwrights, important in introducing Turkish theater internationally, and to styles rarely considered by theater groups or organizations.

The project aims to promote and discuss new theatre and to encourage future playwrights to create new plays.

Rodrigo Garc’a, an atypical artist

Rodrigo Garc’a, born 1964 in Argentina and currently living in Spain, is also a videographer, performer and director. An atypical artist, in his performances he combines elements from the past and from contemporary popular culture. Together with his company, La Carnicer’a Teatro (The Butcher Theater), Garc’a develops a complex and astonishing theatrical language where bodies in motion trace the new rituals of the everyday.

Garc’a's great strength is in a work's integrity and its ability to passionately stir ideas and emotions that move a young generation, who wholeheartedly appreciate his corrosive and intelligent shows. Rodrigo Garc’a's productions have been featured at the Festival Avignon, Teatro per la musica di Roma, Festival de Salamanca, Teatro Nacional de Bretagne, Teatro Nacional de Annecy, Comédie de Valencia, Sitges Festival Nacional, Théátre de la Ville-Paris, and Chaillot, among others.

His works have been translated into English, French, Italian, Finnish, Danish, and Polish

Six writers
This year, the third in the project, will host play writing and translation workshops, and six contemporary writers from six countries, Romania, Greece, Finland, Iran, Portugal and Russia, will present their original plays to Turkish audiences. The plays will be translated into Turkish.

The project is being organized by the VeDST theater group with the support of the Istanbul Cervantes Institute and the Pera Museum. Garcia's plays will be performed Dec. 4, 5 and 6.

La Terrasse Cafe Bar: Hayriye Cad. Cezayir Sok. No: 23/1-2, Beyoğlu (Entrance fee is YTL 15)

Pera Museum: Meşrutiyet Caddesi No.65, 34443 Tepebaşı Beyoğlu (free)

For further info: http://www.vedigerseyler.com