Presented by Rattlestick Theater in partnership with New York Theatre Salon, this one-of-a-kind festival is dedicated to showcasing the work of international and immigrant theater artists living in the United States and abroad. Through workshop presentations of new works, panel discussions and knowledge-sharing sessions, Global Forms Theater Festival (GFTF) explores humanity, freedom, home and isolationism, this year with the theme of Green Theater.
The Global Forms Theater Festival consists of these four key programming sections:
Global Stage - Workshop Productions
This year's Global Stage features workshop productions of The Discarded by Tianding He (China), The Sacrifice of Cassamba Becker by João Victor Toledo (Brazil) and Steppe by Masha Makutonina (Ukraine):
The Discarded by Tianding He (China)
The Discarded is a thought-provoking, experimental, work-in-progress performance that combines live theater, object performance and multimedia installations to shed light on the impact of waste and migration on individuals and communities. Inspired by the themes of George Büchner’s Woyzeck, The Discarded presents a poetic and experimental performance that explores the intertwined journey of a piece of garbage used by a New Yorker and sold to developing Asian countries to become new products, and an Asian immigrant who immigrated to New York and eventually becomes a garbage collector. Both of them travel across the globe, experiencing deconstruction, ambition, self-doubt and revelation. These two stories seem unrelated at first, but as the journey goes on, their trajectories begin to overlap. The performance invites the audience to engage with the characters on a deeper, more personal level, as they confront the realities of waste, migration, and the human condition.
The Sacrifice of Cassamba Becker by João Victor Toledo (Brazil)
Conceived during the global coronavirus pandemic, The Sacrifice of Cassamba Becker is a monologue written and performed by João Victor Toledo. The play, whose central character is Cassamba Becker––the grande dame of Brazilian Theater that made a garbage dump on some beach in Brazil her home––discusses urgent issues such as poverty, consumerism, global warming and political crisis. The Sacrifice of Cassamba Becker is at its heart a political-marginal imagination that wants to rethink the present moment to envision something broader and sexier, in order to transform the garbage of the world into housing, transform sacrifice into freedom and thus imagine a place where it’s finally worth living.
Steppe by Masha Makutonina (Ukraine)
Steppe is a one-act play that tells an intergenerational story of an unexpected friendship against the backdrop of an ecological disaster. The story is inspired by the effects of war in Ukraine on the Chalk Flora Nature Reserve and the unexpected revelations that appear in places of purgatory. In a lobby of an administrative government office, partially under reconstruction, two people wait. Dmytro is a 50-year-old environmentalist who has been taking care of Kreidova Flora Nature Reserve in Ukraine before the war forced him to leave. Daryna is an economics student who is here to obtain her indefinite stay. Over the course of three brief visits to the government center, they strike an unexpected friendship.
Global Learn - Knowledge-sharing sessions
Global Learn is a series of three virtual Knowledge-Sharing Sessions curated around this year's GFTF theme, Green Theater. Presented over Zoom, these educational workshops will be delivered by a range of immigrant artists from all over the world, exploring the intersections of design, movement and healing through a climate lens. Curated by immigrant artist and producer James Clements (Scotland), these workshops are designed to inform, excite and connect.
Global Share - Artist video series
Global Share presents a series of artist-made videos that showcase distinctive aspects of their cultures. These videos both celebrate cultural practices and incorporate this year’s environmental theme. Curated by immigrant artist Dorothea Gloria (Philippines).
Global Gab - Panel discussions
Global Gab is a virtual, cross-cultural conversation series. Currently in its 3rd season at Rattlestick, Global Gab continues to bring relevant and thought-provoking conversations to the immigrant artist community. This series is curated and hosted by Jody Doo (Singapore).
