蜜桃导航

From a parade of life-sized animal puppets to stories of ordinary people caught in the middle of a revolution, the curtain is about to rise on four days of theater in Cleveland.  The is bringing over 100 artists from around the world to perform in 40 productions in theaters and on downtown streets.

Opening night on Wednesday includes a new play about the impact of the Syrian revolution on ordinary citizens of that war-torn country. Director Naila Al-Atrash said the production is the North American debut of an English translation of 鈥淲hen Farah Cries.鈥�

鈥淭he playwright based the play on a true incident that took place during the uprising back in Syria in 2011, when a young girl was arrested on the Syrian-Jordanian border,鈥� said Al-Atrash.

Naila Al-Atrash [BorderLight]

Cleveland鈥檚 Dobama Theater is providing production support for the play.  Al-Atrash  described the show鈥檚 lead character as a young woman who accidentally wanders into the revolution.

鈥淭he playwright doesn鈥檛 slip into generalizing the issues or stereotyping the characters,鈥� she said.  鈥淗e introduces us to very ordinary people who live the crisis.  They are very far from being heroic.鈥�

Actor Jay Abdo recently had a touching encounter with some ordinary Clevelanders who share his Syrian heritage.  Abdo was pleasantly surprised during a visit to Cleveland鈥檚 West Side Market when he was mobbed by some produce vendors who recognized him from his film roles and clamored for selfies.

Jay Abdo [BorderLight]

鈥淚t was cool, and we made some photos and we chatted and we spoke about the beautiful days back in Syria before the revolution,鈥�  Abdo said, pausing for a moment when words failed. 鈥淲hat can I say? It was very warm.鈥�

Members of the public are also rehearsing this week in preparation for their performance as animal puppeteers Saturday afternoon. South African puppet maker Roger Titley and master puppeteer James Thomson have brought a menagerie of white, plastic beasts to town as part of a parade that will travel from the Cleveland Public Library to Public Square. The volunteers actually wear these life-sized, skeletal animal replicas or manipulate them with poles.

鈥淲e鈥檝e got a mother and a baby elephant, a giraffe, a buffalo, a kudu, we鈥檝e got two cheetahs, two ostriches, three egrets,鈥� said Thomson, counting off the inventory.  鈥淎nd I鈥檓 running a workshop with 20 ravens that you can make on the day.鈥�

That鈥檚 another part of this interactive wildlife experience. Some of the local puppeteers will get to cut out some raven parts from a sheet of plastic and assemble them into a flock of birds as a part of the procession.

鈥淲e鈥檝e taken 20 people from Cleveland, some are puppeteers, some of them work in offices, and we are training them to move our creatures in an interesting way,鈥� Thomson said.

Puppet maker Roger Titley prepares one of his elephants for Saturday's parade [BorderLight]

The parade of puppets will be led by an ensemble of dancers and drummers with the Djapo Cultural Arts Institute and it鈥檚 co-sponsored by the Cleveland Public Library.  Organizers of the BorderLight festival are hoping that this year鈥檚 collection of performances from around the globe will become an annual event.