Documentaries "Loxandra Lucas" & "The Journey" and public talks
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“Diverse As We Are” (DAWA), the International Festival of Inclusive Culture presents:
Loxandra Lucas breaks the stereotypes
Documentary with public talk
© Patroklos Skafidas
Language: Film: Greek with Chinese and English subtitles; Talk: Greek with Chinese interpretation and Chinese sign language
Date: Thursday, September 22, 2022, 19:00–20:00
Guests: Eleni Efthymiou (Director), Sofia Eftychiadou (Dramatist and Advisor to the Art Director)
The Journey: Looking Forward
Documentary with public talk
© The Journey of young refugees
Language: Film: Greek with Chinese and English subtitles; Talk: Greek with Chinese interpretation and Chinese sign language
Date: Thursday, September 22, 2022, 20:00–21:00
Guests: Irene Moundraki (Head of Drama, Library, Archive & International Relations Departments of National Theatre of Greece), Sophia Vgenopoulou (Director)
Venue: Department of Culture and Education of the German Consulate General in Shanghai, 101 Cross Tower, 318 Fuzhou Road, Shanghai (Accessible Route Directions)
Admission: Due to current security regulations, the number of participants will be limited to 50. Please be sure to register via Huodongxing beforehand for this activity.
DAWA Access Hotline: 0086 189 3064 4730 (Operating hours: 8:00–22:00 from September 7 to October 9, 2022)
Email: ArtsAccessShanghai@outlook.com (Please include “DAWA Access Inquiries” in the email subject line. We will reply within 24 hours.)
If you are unable to attend the event due to personal reasons after registering, please cancel your registration on the Huodongxing platform at least 24 hours before the event starts. For those who are unable to register because the event is at capacity, please follow the instructions on the registration page to receive notifications if someone cancels their reservation.
In order to enter the Department of Culture and Education, visitors must have a green code with a negative nucleic acid test within 48 hours and scan the corresponding location code. Visitors who do not have a smartphone can apply for an offline code in advance; in this case, you must bring valid identification.
The event may be postponed or canceled depending on the conditions of the pandemic. Registrants are advised to check their mobile phone messages or our WeChat posts for updates.
Loxandra Lucas
breaks the stereotypes
Introduction of Documentary
Loxandra Lucas is the first person with Down Syndrome to work as an actress at the National Theatre of Greece. Loxandra played the role of the Child in Fuenteovejuna by Spanish playwright Lope de Vega, in a performance directed by Eleni Efthymiou. The production was part of the National Theatre’s 2021-2022 season and was staged at the Central Stage of the famous Ziller Building.
This mini-documentary directed by Patroklos Skafidas traces all the crucial moments and decisions that made Loxandra’s dream come true: how director Eleni Efthymiou chose her for the role, how Loxandra and her family first responded, the challenges and the multiple gains from such an exciting encounter both for Loxandra and the National Theatre of Greece.
Actors and actresses of the company who worked together with her talk about the rehearsal process, what impressed them, what made them rethink how they themselves approach the art of acting after having shared the stage with Loxandra. Through their accounts it is more than obvious that this has been a mutually beneficial collaboration.
Moreover, Loxandra’s mother, an actress herself, reflects on the impact this collaboration has had in their relationship and her daughter’s life -a kind of a rite of passage- in a moving, caring and daringly honest way.
And, of course, Loxandra is at the core of the narration, talking on camera, dancing, singing, rehearsing, and performing.
Introduction of Guests
Eleni Efthymiou
She is active as a director, actress and singer. She studied directing and acting at the Theater Department of the University of Athens, and received a diploma in soloism in the class of mezzo-soprano Rossitza Troeva. She is interested in the use of sound and especially music and song as dramaturgy tools and to achieve this, she incorporates and arranges pre-existing music or composes original musical themes herself.
For the last nine years, she has been working steadily with the group of young people with and without disabilities En Dynamei, having completed the "The Other Normal" trilogy with them. As a director, she has collaborated with stages in Athens, the Region, abroad as well as with domestic and international festivals.
Sophia Eftychiadou
She is a Theatrologist-Dramaturgist. She has collaborated as a dramatist with the National Theatre, the House of Letters and Arts, the Athens Festival, the Experimental Stage of "Art", the KTHBE, the DIPETHE of Kozani, the DIPETHE of Ioannina, the En dynamene group. Her constant partner is the director Eleni Efthymiou. She has also collaborated with directors Yiannis Paraskevopoulos, Maria Maganari and Glykeria Kalaitzi.
She was a member of the Committee of Artistic Advisors of the 48th Dimitrios with responsibility for the Artistic planning of the Theater program. From 2018 to 2022, she was in charge of the theater criticism column at elculture.gr. From January 2022, she is the Artistic Director Advisor at the National Theatre.
The Journey:
Looking Forward
Introduction of Documentary
In July 2017 the Young People’s Stage of The National Theatre of Greece launched the project “Theatre in Greek”, an intensive drama workshop which used drama as a tool for learning Greek as a foreign language.
At the workshop – under the guidance of Mrs Sofia Vienopoulou, director and head of the Young Peoples' Stage – participated 20 refugees - aged 14-19, coming from Open Accommodation structures (domes) and Transit Accommodation Facilities for Unaccompanied Minors, 5 Greek teenagers - participants of past workshops - and a group of 10 actors members of the National Theatre’s troupe. The uniting force of this intercultural group was the belief that theatre can truly transform people’s lives.
During the workshop were presented eight short episodes of a child’s journey, from its country torn by war to some safe place in Europe. A journey from the dangerous known to the secure unknown; a journey from childhood to adulthood. This journey was brought to life through the participant’s stories, memories, nightmares and fairytales. The outcome affirmed the power of theatre to ward off fear.
Art isn’t always beautiful neither is truth. Therefore, we explored theatre’s beauty in its tools rather than in its content. Our aim was to get to know each other through our stories, to truly look in each other’s eyes and touch one another, in order to truly be able to share. Only when we free ourselves from prejudices do we manage to endure loss, fragility, solitude, shame and death itself.
Being part of a group strengthens the sense of trust, which combined with the delight of collective creativity facilitates the procedure of bonding. This “journey” proved to be a necessary course of action in helping these children to adjust and interact within their new cultural community/environment. And a necessary step for us all as audience to really engage with a side of current reality that we partially ignored.
Introduction of Guests
Irene Moundraki
She is responsible for Drama, Library, Archive and International Relations at the National Theatre, where she has been working as a special artistic associate since 1999. Inspirer, creator and manager of the GreekPlay Project (GPP), the bilingual online platform for the study, enhancement and promotion of modern Greek project (greek-theatre.gr) with which, among other things, she annually organizes the Greek Play Project New York. She is Vice-President of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Union of Theater and Performing Arts Critics.
Since 2000 she has been working as a theater critic and has edited dozens of theater programs. Her texts, studies and reviews have been published in magazines, newspapers and collective volumes and she has participated with her speeches in numerous conferences and theater meetings in Greece and abroad.
Sophia Vgenopoulou
She has been working in Athens since 2001 as a director and child psychiatrist, after a decade in the USA where she studied theater, drama therapy and child psychiatry. Since May 2017, she has been in charge of Mikros Ethnikos, theater workshops and social programs of the National Theatre.
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Wednesday, September 21, 2022, 19:00-20:30
Friday, September 23, 2022, 18:30-21:00
Saturday, September 24, 2022, 19:00-21:30
Sunday, September 25, 2022, 14:00-15:10
Sunday, September 25, 2022, 15:30-17:00
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