THE GAZA MONOLOGUES - an OPEN MIC READING at the OLD SCHOOL GALLERY Sunday, February 23 2pm to 4pm (see flyer below)
Each monologue was written by a Gazan teenager as part of a healing and creativity project in 2010 and in 2024, organized by Ashtar Theatre, in Ramallah Palestine.
“Before the war I was a child… But after the war I discovered I’m not a child any more, and that Gaza, unlike all cities of the world, doesn’t have children in it. - Mahmud El Turk, Born 1994, Al Jalaa' Street
The Monologues are “a living expression of hope in the face of pain,” writes Iman Aoun, the co-founder of Ashtar Theatre. Since October 2010, more than 2000 people from around the globe in more than 80 cities in 40 countries have presented these monologues in 18 languages. They have also been presented at the UN. More info: www.gazamonologues.com
Join us for a contemplative, participatory reading woven with meditations and movement. English copies of The Gaza Monologues will be available for participants. You can choose a monologue and read it out loud.
The event will be facilitated by writer/performer Shebana Coelho who has worked with Ashtar Theatre on the project, Land Out Loud. Coelho is the founder of Faraway is Close, “cross-cultural creative encounters for self-expression and healing.” (shebanacoelho.com)
The February 23 reading will culminate with participants making small paper boats and sending them symbolically into freedom and peace. This reflects a similar gesture by the teenage writers of the Monologues who first presented the play in Gaza itself on October 17, 2010. But since the region was under blockade, they couldn't leave to perform it elsewhere. Instead, that morning of October 17, the writers gathered on the beach in Gaza. They recited their monologues and sent small paper boats onto the waves and out into the world.
For more information, contact Shebana Coelho via cell 623 208 1928 or email: shebana@gmail.com
The Old School Gallery in El Morro, NM is home of EMAAC - The El Morro Area Arts Council, a vibrant, non-profit organization which celebrates diversity, thrives on the sharing of creative ideas through programs, exhibitions, and workshops, and supports a community-centered activity hub for traditional and contemporary arts. Visit elmorroareaartscouncil.org
SOME LINKS:
READ THE GAZA MONOLOGUES
https://www.gazamonologues.com/
ABOUT ASHTAR THEATRE
https://www.ashtar-theatre.org/
ABOUT MY PROJECT WITH ASHTAR: LAND OUT LOUD PALESTINE
https://www.landoutloud.com/palestine.html
AL JAZEERA ARTICLE: Storytellers of ramallah
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/8/24/the-storytellersoframallah.html
INSPIRED BY THE GAZA MONOLOGUES
last year, I spoke two monologues out loud
