Three Graces & The Struggle For Rights
The title, Three Graces, has a historical reference to Greek mythology. The three graces include beauty, delight and creativity. These characteristics were oftentimes depicted by three young, frequently nude, women who were meant to fill the world with pleasant moments and goodwill. In art these three women are frequently shown dancing around in a circle to the divine music of Apollo. Since the play was written by an American woman with Greek roots, Ruth Margraff, I assumed the historical references had relevance.
The play opens in modern day Istanbul. Istanbul has long been both the cultural and economic capital of Turkey, while Ankara is the political capital of the nation. This is similar in kind to the national role of New York City in the U.S. vis a vis the governing role of Washington, D.C.
The play references recent modern day events - the Spring 2013 riots of Taksim Square / Gezi Park in Istanbul, where reportedly 11 people were killed and thousands significantly injured when the Turkish government / police cleared the park of a sit-in to protest a new government-lead real estate development in Taksim Square and Gezi Park. As is frequently the case, embedded in the protest were a number of issues and themes that went well beyond the real estate development itself.
Click here for the rest of our review of the Three Graces play w/ photos at the LaGuardia Performing Arts Center in LIC.
Three Graces & The Struggle For Rights
August 7, 2014 / Long Island City LIC / Theater In Queens / Queens Buzz. Continued.
We enter a Turkish Café where three musicians are playing Mediterranean music with an aromatic smokiness of Greek and Turkish cultures. There was a soccer match going on between Greece and Turkey on the television. While the two teams are fighting for victory in the soccer game, there’s a conversation going on between a Greek [Michales], a Turk [Cengiz] and a man dressed as a puppet [Karaghiozis]. Historical references to Greek / Turk conflicts of centuries ago are made as part of a flowing conversation that includes references to Constantinople, the
We find that Michales, the Greek, is actually a Greek American from Chicago who has come to join the Turkish protesters at Taksim Square at Gezi Park. The Turk, Cengiz, is also a protester so they appear to be on the same side of the modern day issue, but some of the historical Grecian / Turkish cultural animosity lingers in the air and in time erupts.
Roxelan, the sister of the Turkish guy, Cengiz, rushes into the café out of breath. She’s been protesting at Taksim Square / Gezi Park and tells the others what has been going on. There are real photos of the event flashed on the stage to support her story. Students, teachers, artists and journalists are all at the protest and are being violently rounded up and jailed.
The discussions go on in tandem with the action. They go out into the streets and return again to regroup. They talk about living up to one’s past, how the new consumer gadgets are the modern weapons of protest, and Roxelana says she feels so alive in her defiance of the oppressive government forces.
But the reality of real protesting isn’t pretty. And the images we see on the stage bring that home. There’s talk about how America is tapped out, Europe is a mess and so many other nations are struggling to break free of very oppressive regimes.
There’s a bit of a love story, a fight, food & culture and the story ends with the three main characters chanting,
There's a growing amount of social unrest worldwide, which was shown to us on the video releases in the background at the end of the performance [see slide show]. We saw only a bit of this sort of unrest in this country just a few years ago with the Occupy Movement. I have begun to notice that the art and theater of Queens appears to be reflecting some of the frustration that's not yet found a clear voice.
Oscar Wilde once said, "Life imitates art, more than art imitates life." Perhaps through art and theater, this frustration will eventually find productive channels through which to express itself. And perhaps that is why the playwright chose the title Three Graces, hoping through the creative process to bring to the world pleasant moments and goodwill.
The play is an original script written by Ruth Margraff, with original music by Nikos Brisco and the production was directed by Handan Ozbilgin of the LaGuardia Performing Arts Center.
Many thanks to all of them as well as the actors, actresses and musicians for a thought-provoking performance. The actors and actresses included John Cosentino as Cengiz, Ahsan Ali as Michales, Julio Trinidad as Karaghiozis an Marisol Demonte as Roxelana. The latter three actors / actresses are LaGuardia students or alumni.
Three Graces Photos & Slide Show
Click here to view the Three Graces photos.
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