Golden Thread Productions
Encyclopedia
Golden Thread Productions, is a theatre
company founded in 1996 in San Francisco, California
that promotes theatre as a forum for cultural exchange, exploring Middle Eastern culture and identity as represented throughout the globe. The mission is to make theatre a regular part of the Middle Eastern community’s cultural life, and to make the Middle East a regular part of the American theatre experience. Golden Thread Productions defines the Middle East broadly and inclusively, believing that the common human experience transcends cultural and political differences. Among the nations represented in past productions are Iran
, Armenia
, Egypt
, Israel
, Palestine
, Algeria
, and Afghanistan
.
Golden Thread is led by the founding Artistic Director, Torange Yeghiazarian, and Managing Director, Serge Bakalian. The organization is overseen by a board of trustees led by president Rana Orangi and an advisory board led by chairs, Marvin Carlson from the City University of New York, Graduate Center and Hamid Dabashi
from Columbia University
. Artistic associates include Vida Ghahremani
, Yussef El Guindi, and Roberta Levitow.
The annual programming consists of a mainstage season of two to three full-length productions, the ReOrient Festival of short plays, an annual Women’s Day event, touring and education program for youth, and a variety of workshops, staged readings, and special events offered throughout the year. Golden Thread Productions’ debut production was Operation No Penetration, Lysistrata 97! The classic Greek antiwar comedy was adapted to a Middle Eastern setting where Palestinian and Israeli women unite to force men into signing a peace treaty.
, Caveh Zahedi
, as well as such established playwrights as Naomi Wallace
, Eric Ehn, Israel Horovitz
, and Motti Lerner
.
The critical response to the ReOrient Festival has, over the years, been general acclaim: Robert Hurwitt with the San Francisco Chronicle
calls it “Haunting and provocative…with reverberations far beyond its immediate cultural context,” and Rob Avila with the San Francisco Bay Guardian
states “Golden Thread triumphs with the ReOrient Festival.”
, the San Francisco TheatreFest, and Asian Pacific Islander Festival, as well as Park Day School and the Ferry Building
. Golden Thread has also recently developed an after-school program in partnership with Krouzian-Zekarian-Vasbouragan Armenian School
in San Francisco, and plans to expand their roster of venues in 2009 to include schools, libraries, museums and community centers.
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
company founded in 1996 in San Francisco, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
that promotes theatre as a forum for cultural exchange, exploring Middle Eastern culture and identity as represented throughout the globe. The mission is to make theatre a regular part of the Middle Eastern community’s cultural life, and to make the Middle East a regular part of the American theatre experience. Golden Thread Productions defines the Middle East broadly and inclusively, believing that the common human experience transcends cultural and political differences. Among the nations represented in past productions are Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
, Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
, and Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
.
Golden Thread is led by the founding Artistic Director, Torange Yeghiazarian, and Managing Director, Serge Bakalian. The organization is overseen by a board of trustees led by president Rana Orangi and an advisory board led by chairs, Marvin Carlson from the City University of New York, Graduate Center and Hamid Dabashi
Hamid Dabashi
Hamid Dabashi born 1951 in Ahvaz is an Iranian-American Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York City.He is the author of over twenty books...
from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. Artistic associates include Vida Ghahremani
Vida Ghahremani
Vida Ghahremani is an Iranian actress, designer and teacher.She began acting in film as a teenager. Her earliest work was in 1958's Toofan dar shahre ma...
, Yussef El Guindi, and Roberta Levitow.
The annual programming consists of a mainstage season of two to three full-length productions, the ReOrient Festival of short plays, an annual Women’s Day event, touring and education program for youth, and a variety of workshops, staged readings, and special events offered throughout the year. Golden Thread Productions’ debut production was Operation No Penetration, Lysistrata 97! The classic Greek antiwar comedy was adapted to a Middle Eastern setting where Palestinian and Israeli women unite to force men into signing a peace treaty.
ReOrient Festival
Golden Thread Productions' hallmark event is ReOrient, an annual festival of plays exploring the Middle East. Debuted in 1999, more than thirty plays have been presented at the ReOrient Festival, the majority of them world and/or U.S. premieres. For four weeks, the festival provides a rare opportunity for artists and audiences alike to engage deeply and directly with the Middle East in a creative and supportive setting that displaces misinformation and encourages understanding. The ReOrient Festival has provided a home to some of the best known emerging Middle Eastern voices on American stage (and screen) today including: Betty ShamiehBetty Shamieh
Betty Shamieh is a Palestinian-American playwright , author, screenwriter, and actor.-Background:Shamieh was born in San Francisco, California...
, Caveh Zahedi
Caveh Zahedi
Caveh Zahedi is an American film director and actor of Iranian descent.-Early years:Zahedi was born in Washington, D.C. to Iranian immigrant parents. He studied philosophy at Yale University...
, as well as such established playwrights as Naomi Wallace
Naomi Wallace
Naomi Wallace is a playwright, screenwriter and poet from Prospect, Kentucky, United States.-Life:Wallace obtained her Bachelor of Arts from Hampshire College and did graduate studies at the University of Iowa....
, Eric Ehn, Israel Horovitz
Israel Horovitz
Israel Horovitz is an American playwright and screenwriter.-Theatre career:An American dramatist, Horovitz has written more than 70 produced plays, many of which have been translated and performed in more than 30 languages worldwide . The 70/70 Horovitz Project was created by NYC Barefoot Theatre...
, and Motti Lerner
Motti Lerner
Motti Lerner is an Israeli playwright and screenwriter- Early life :He was born as in Zikhron Ya'akov, a village south of Haifa, in Israel. His great-grandparents immigrated to pre-state Israel in 1882 from Romania and Russia, and became farmers.- Education :He was educated at the local and...
.
The critical response to the ReOrient Festival has, over the years, been general acclaim: Robert Hurwitt with the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
calls it “Haunting and provocative…with reverberations far beyond its immediate cultural context,” and Rob Avila with the San Francisco Bay Guardian
San Francisco Bay Guardian
The San Francisco Bay Guardian is a free alternative newspaper published weekly in San Francisco, California. The paper is owned mostly by its publisher, Bruce B...
states “Golden Thread triumphs with the ReOrient Festival.”
Fairytale Players
Over the past three years, Golden Thread has developed programming for youth in the community. In 2006, the company launched The Fairytale Players as part of their Children’s Traditional Theatre Program, created by an ensemble of actors who work together in a workshop setting to create and tour fairy tales from around the Middle East. This project is rooted in their past efforts on The Norooz Story and An Iranian Fairytale, both based on ancient tales and utilizing traditional performance elements, music, and dance from the region. These short fairytale performances were presented at the Asian Art MuseumAsian Art Museum of San Francisco
The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco is a museum in San Francisco, California, United States. It has one of the most comprehensive collections of Asian art in the world....
, the San Francisco TheatreFest, and Asian Pacific Islander Festival, as well as Park Day School and the Ferry Building
Ferry Building
The San Francisco Ferry Building is a terminal for ferries that travel across the San Francisco Bay and a shopping center located on The Embarcadero in San Francisco, California. On top of the building is a large clock tower, which can be seen from Market Street, a main thoroughfare of the city...
. Golden Thread has also recently developed an after-school program in partnership with Krouzian-Zekarian-Vasbouragan Armenian School
Krouzian-Zekarian-Vasbouragan Armenian School
Krouzian-Zakarian-Vasbouragan Armenian School is a bi-lingual Elementary school in San Francisco, California. The school is the only Armenian school in Northern California.-External links:*...
in San Francisco, and plans to expand their roster of venues in 2009 to include schools, libraries, museums and community centers.