Banned Iraqi actors to appear at IMPACT 15 theatre festival via Skype
KITCHENER, ON, Sept. 21, 2015 /CNW/ - The IMPACT 15 International Theatre Festival will host an open forum this week with a group of Iraqi artists who were denied entry to Canada to perform their award-winning play, Camp.
The forum will take place at 5 p.m., September 26, 2015, at Kitchener's Registry Theatre, connecting theatregoers with the Iraqi artists via Skype and text. MT Space theatre will stage a short reading from Camp.
The play was cancelled after actors were denied visas.
"You can keep people out of Canada but you can't keep their stories out," said festival founder Majdi Bou-Matar. "At IMPACT 15, telling stories of refugees, of immigrants -- stories that resonate with us as Canadians -- that's important. With Camp, we are prevented from presenting their play but we can use technology to let people meet and talk to these artists for themselves."
IMPACT 15 runs September 22-27, 2015. The festival is produced by Kitchener's MT Space theatre to bring culturally diverse work to the region, including:
- My Name is Dakhel Faraj, the story of an Iraq refugee in Kitchener
- Return Home by Vancouver filmmaker Dima Alansari, who explores her own Palestinian narrative alongside the story of an Anishnaabe woman.
- Landline, by Secret Theatre of Halifax, a modern day theatre of the streets told through smart phones.
- Paradise, a co-production between MT Space and Gwaandak Theatre of Whitehorse
- Contemporary Indigenous dance by Raven Spirit Dance of Vancouver and Alberta Aboriginal Performing Arts of Edmonton.
Visit www.mtspace.ca for full festival listings.
SOURCE MT Space
please contact: Majdi Bou-Matar, IMPACT 15 artistic director, [email protected], 226-972-3416.
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