Ithaca College

Saviana Stanescu, Associate Professor of Playwriting & Contemporary Theatre, and Walter Byongsok Chon, Assistant Professor of Dramaturgy and Theatre Studies, will present at Drama Across Borders: The Politics & Poetics of Contemporary Theatre in Translation at Cornell University and The Cherry Artspace, May 11–12, 2018.

Saviana Stanescu’s presentation, New York with an Accent, will include Saviana’s photos of the American Flag displayed in NYC in the aftermath of 9/11, investigating the power of symbols/objects to perform and translate identity, as well as specific examples of cultural translation in her New York plays that explore the American Dream/Nightmare. Saviana arrived in New York two weeks before 9/11 to study at NYU, Tisch School of the Arts, as a Fulbright fellow in Performance Studies. Since then, her artistic work has been inspired and informed by the vibrant everyday life in the Big Apple's melting pot. She is committed to capture "NY through an immigrant I", "New York with an accent", and generally to explore that alien in-between space where most immigrants dwell.

Walter Chon will present a passage from his translation of Inching Towards Yeolha, a contemporary Korean play by Sam-Shik Pai, written in 2007. His translation was adapted into Walkabout Yeolha and produced at Columbia University as an M.F.A. thesis project for Korean director Kon Yi in 2010. Set in a nearly fossilized, fictive desert village, the play portrays the turbulence experienced during the village’s first encounter with an outsider whom the villagers call, the “exotic.” His presentation focuses on how elements of translation build a bridge between two distinct cultures.

For more information:

http://pma.cornell.edu/drama-across-borders