Ambassador Theater recognized by the MD Theatre Guide with the Award of the Best Ensemble of a Children’s Play Musical – “Best of 2012″
We admit it – when Artistic Director Hanna Bondarewska sent the Ambassador Theater’s press release for their upcoming performances at Flashpoint Gallery, our email back could be capsulized as “huh?â€
See for yourselves how the clever Bondarewska had us begging to know more:
Onstage at 8pm, January 31 and February 1, 2013 at Flashpoint Gallery
“Having spared no effort or cost, we present the official start of the year 2013 and a new era in the history of our theater marked with a golden stain on the sheet of History! Our dear ecstatic audience, you shall see in a moment (be patient) the first in a series of new and stunning performances. Ambassador Theater proudly presents the smallest theater troupe in the world, The Little Theatre of the Green Goose!â€
Enter Ray Converse, a member of the Green Goose ensemble, to explain:
Ray Converse: “These plays were written in the late 1940s by Konstanty Ildefons Galczynski , a much beloved Polish poet and humorist who is virtually unknown in the U.S.  Galczynski wrote these plays after spending all of World War II as a POW in a German camp [mainly at Stalag XI-A].
“The plays are vignettes that point the audience to the absurdities of life.  Written in the early years after the war, the plays were never performed during his lifetime for two reasons: first, he deliberately wrote the plays so they could not be staged, and second, with the onset of Stalinism in Poland, these plays were found incompatible with government-approved Socialist Realism.
“The first Green Goose performance of any kind was in the Grotesque Puppet Theatre in Cracow in 1955.
“The original intent was to do Green Goose as a staged reading.  After all the author originally did not intend them to be performed.â€
DCTS: and yet, you are performing them …
Ambassador Theater’s actor (and puppet) prepare.
Ray: “It quickly became clear that a staged-reading would not do justice to Galczynski’s work.  There is too much physicality in these plays for the audience to enjoy them with the artists with scripts in hand.  As a result, the original premise changed to doing a bare-bones production.  Even then, it soon it became apparent that the material needed to become more, a bare-bones production on steroids.â€
DCTS: What will the evening be like for the audience?
“The separate plays are strung together with the premise that the actors are part of
a scruffy, semi-inept medieval acting troupe journeying across the country.   (It might be compared to a medieval flash mob.)â€
DCTS: Hmm… interesting image.
Ray: “Each of the players has a distinct character and name which they bring to the role when they are not in their stage roles.  At curtain, the players arrive in town during a downpour as a Salvation Army Band led by a pamphlet-selling evangelist, perform their individual plays, pass the hat, and flee the town before the local constabulary can arrest them.
“The humor is slapstick on one level, but also operates on a higher level.â€
DCTS: For those who like to know what the plays are about …
Ray: “Two common threads appear in many of these plays.  They play with the idea of what happens if some unplanned random event messes up the universal plan?  Without divulging any secrets, the apple in the Garden of Eden could be too tasty to share?
And, the plays explore the consequences of people feeling too strongly – boredom, loneliness, love.  Devotees of Starbucks coffee will find themselves as the leading character in one of these and will be laughing about it as they exit the theater, looking for a nearby Starbucks. ..to read more
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 10, 2013
Contact: Â Â Hanna Bondarewska or Stephen Shetler
Telephone: (703) 475-4036
Email: Â ambassadortheater@aticc.org
Website: Â Â Â http://aticc.org/
THE LITTLE THEATRE OF THE GREEN GOOSE
DATES: Â January 31 and February 1, 2013 at 8 pm
WHERE: Â Mead Theater Lab at FLASHPOINT, 916 G Street, NW
PRESS luminaries, as well as you MILLIONS of spectators and enthusiasts of SMALL THEATER:
Having spared no effort or cost, we present the official start of the year 2013 and a new era in the history of our theater marked with a golden stain on the sheet of History!
Our dear ecstatic audience, you shall see in a moment (be patient) the first in a series of new and stunning performances. Ambassador Theater proudly presents the smallest theater troupe in the world,
The Little Theatre of the Green Goose! 
Conceived by the international Polish tiny playwright and jokester, Konstanty Ildefons Galczynski
with consultation and translation by the famous Professor Daniel Gerould
Featuring
Fiona Finch aka Sara Barker
Boris the 8-fingered Butcher aka Ray Converse
Cardinal  Reesha Lou aka Danielle Davy
Dovey Featherbreath aka Paula Rich
Lightheaded Tigress aka Karin Rosnizeck
Quizzical Quail aka Mary Suib
Fowl Humerus aka Rob Weinzimer
Knight N. Gale aka Ivan Zizek
under the direction of
White Eagle aka Hanna Bondarewska
and Rufus Hummingword aka Stephen Shetler
With lively music by breathtaking and unforgettable  Păsărica aka Craig Packard
Graciously beautified by most talented invisible Farrah Keats aka Deborah Pawlik
The Little Theatre of the Green Goose at Flashpoint, 916 G Street, NW, Washington DC 20001
January 31 and February 1, 2013 at 8 pm
Do not forget to pay for your ticket and enjoy a hilariously funny night of “Monty Python’s style” skits, interludes and the tiniest plays in the world presented by the inimitable Little Theater of the Green Goose!
Most noble journalist and media, please don’t forget to ring us to announce your notable presence! Send your credentials at ambassadortheater@aticc.org
We welcome you with fanfares!
Most Prescious Public, Reserve your tickets now online
Watch Your Step, and Save the Date!
Dr. Marvin Carlson is coming to Washington DC next weekend.
Ambassador Theater is pleased to announce a talkback with the legendary theater scholar Dr. Marvin Carlson at the Mead Theater Lab, 916 G Street next Sunday afternoon. Professor Carlson will be the guest of honor at Ambassador’s October 28th 2:00pm matinee of Trespassing, a double feature including The Visitor and The Peephole by 
Egyptian playwright Alfred Farag. The run is the US premier for both plays, and only the second time they have been performed worldwide. Dr. Carlson will join a panel of specialists to discuss these landmark pieces.
Professor Carlson is the Sidney E. Cohn Distinguished Professor of Theatre and Comparative Literature at the City University of New York, and is an award-winning author and theorist. His text Theories of Theatre has been translated into numerous languages, and read worldwide. His most recent books are The Haunted Stage (2001), Speaking Tongues (2006), and Theatre is More Beautiful than War (2009). Professor Carlson has also written about specifically Egyptian drama, both in his 1999 book Contemporary Theatre in Egypt, and in an online article putting the Arab Spring in social and theatrical context, recently reposted to Ambassador Theater’s website, ATICC.org.
Ambassador Theater is thrilled to welcome Professor Carlson, who will join experts like Agustine Blazquez, a gifted reproduction artist who has generously donated numerous Egyptian pieces to the set, in the discussion. Schedule permitting, a representative of the Embassy of Egypt will also join the panel. Be sure not to miss it!
WHERE:
Mead Theater Lab at Flashpoint, 916 G Street NW, Washington DC
Oct. 16– Nov. 3, 2012
TICKETS: $30 Gen. Adm.
Students & Senior Citizens $20
On line: http://www.aticc.org/
MEDIA: Please e-mail or call to reserve your seats
Contact: Hanna Bondarewska
(703) 475-4036
or James Randle
Ambassador Theater takes on trespassers and unexpected visitors with two madcap one-acts by Egyptian playwright Alfred Farag.
The first, The Visitor, tells the story of an actress and the policeman who comes to her apartment because a well-known serial killer has said he is coming after her. It’s tense and yet funny as the two discuss justice, fate, acting, and coffee, and wait for him to appear. It becomes clear quickly that all is not as it seems and ends with a fun twist. As the play went on, it was tough to tell if it was a thriller, a comedy, a philosophical treatise, or a farce, but it also didn’t matter. It was fun.
Hanna Bondarewska (Negma Sadiq) and Ivan Zizek (Mahmud Suliman) in ‘The Visitor.’ Photo by Magda Pinkowska.
The set design by Greg Jackson changes for each one-act, but both sets are sumptuous and beautiful. The Visitor features the artwork of prominent artist Agustin Blazquez. (He is from Cuba, but specializes in Egyptian art). His pieces, including an Egyptian mummy’s case, are complimented by fun things like a gilt stand telephone and a beautiful coffee set. In the second one-act, The Peephole, the set becomes more modern but no less stylish with slightly naughty hieroglyphs on the walls – and a couch set I wish was in my living room.
The Visitor, directed Gail Humphrey Mardirosian, makes full use of the stage and the set since at several points, the actors are sent around the stage searching frantically or hiding out. She keeps the pace up and the tension building admirably. Hanna Bondarewska (Negma Sadiq) revels in the role of the diva who is not to be cowed but is drawn to the killer and Ivan Zizek as the visitor makes an excellent foil. For the vast majority of the play, they are alone in that apartment and they and the director and the actors work hard to keep the audience mesmerized and involved, and everything moves quickly.
Costume Designer Elizabeth Ennis chose some great pieces. Both plays’ protagonists’ costumes do not disappoint. In The Visitor, Negma Sadiq wears sheer fabrics with endless sparkles and gold. In Peephole, the main character’s more modern wardrobe includes a shiny silver shirt and a fabulous leather jacket. It was obvious a lot of thought went into each character’s wardrobe.
After intermission and the transformation of the set, Hanna Bondarewska takes over as director for the second one-act, The Peephole, which is the story of another famous actor Hasan (Ivan Zizek), as he arrives home to find a murdered woman in his bedroom. He calls his neighbor, the lawyer Husayn (Stephen Shelter or James Randle on alternate dates) who calls a psychiatrist Hasanayn (Rob Weinzimer) and a criminal (Adam R. Adkins) who can take the body away. Why they need both a criminal and a psychiatrist is because the murdered woman keeps disappearing and reappearing throughout the play. Bondarewska also plays the woman in a suitably gory, gorgeous costume.
This one-act got more and more surreal as it went on.The actors just threw themselves into their roles and seemed to relish the zinging one-liners they lobbed at each other – and the possible mental breakdowns happening all over the stage. What was fun though was how it echoed the other play.The evening is called Trespassing, and between the frantic searches, the murderer in the first play and the murdered in the second, and the central role of a telephone, it was fun to see what they included and echoed in each act.
James Randle, Rob Weinzimer, and Ivan Zizek. The cast of ‘The Peephole.’ Photo by Magda Pinkowska.
Lighting Designer Marianne Meadows did a great job, especially with the more surrealThe Peephole. A large part of the plot rested on her design to let us know whether the ghost (real woman? Hallucination?) was there or not. Also, in the first one-act, her warm lighting design complimented the artwork beautifully.
Playwright Alfred Farag was born in the 1950s and wrote dozens of plays still known and studied in Egypt for their dialogue and use of Arabic. Translator Dina Amin has managed to capture some of that joy of language. Both plays had some good exchanges and running jokes, like the psychiatrist answering many queries with, “In your childhood or adolescence…â€
The Ambassador Theater International Cultural Center’s mission is to build international cultural awareness and succeeds with these plays, not because they showed us such a different and strange world, but because the world Farag wrote about is so familiar. The laughs work on every level and two stories about famous actors and their insecurities, lawyers, and shrinks are so universal.
If you are Egyptian or American or from any other part of the world you will enjoy these two quirky and funny one-acts. Their universal messages will hit home.
Running Time: Approximately two hours with 15 minute intermission.
Trespassing plays through November 3, 2012 at Ambassador Theater at Mead Theatre Lab’s Flashpoint – 916 G Street NW, in Washington, DC. For tickets, purchase them online.
Ambassador Theater’s ‘Trespassing’ by Assistant Director James Randle
When I first heard that Ambassador Theater was mounting Egyptian plays my mind immediately began swimming with imagery: the stereotypical pyramids, but also palms, gold, perfume, mud-brick, mummification, and the hard-beating sun. Egypt is a place and a culture which I have only ever read about – never visited or studied in depth – and that got me terribly excited. What would a play about or set in Egypt be like? What time period were the one-acts from? How much of what I already knew would I find in the text, in the story, in the characters?
Other than a passing familiarity with Egypt’s ancient and classical history, I was ignorant.  I had vague notions of several wars between Israel and Egypt (not to mention the rest of the Arab world), and that the conflict was cooled, but not resolved, by a peace treaty.
Hanna Bondarewska (Negma Sadiq) and Ivan Zizek (Mahmud Suliman) in ‘The Visitor.’ Photo Magda Pinkowska.
Washington, DC, September 2, 2012
–For immediate release—
Ambassador Theater Presents
TRESPASSING
“A self-realization challengeâ€
US Premiere of Two One Act plays from Egypt by Alfred Farag
Translated by Dina Amin
The Visitor Directed by Gail Humphries Mardirosian
The Peephole Directed by Hanna Bondarewska
Set Designed by Greg Jackson Costumes by Elizabeth Ennis Lights by Marianne Meadows
Assistant Director James Randle Stage Manager Jennifer Grunfeld
Featuring: Hanna Bondarewska as Negma Sadiq (The Visitor)Ivan  Zizek as Mahmud Suliman (The Visitor) and Hasan (The Peephole);  Rob Weinzimer as doorman (The Visitor) and Hasanayn(The Peephole); Stephen Shetler as Husayn (The Peephole); James Randle as Husayn (The Peephole); Adam Adkins as Shaldum (The Peephole)
WHERE:
Mead Theater Lab at Flashpoint,
916 G Street NW, Washington DC
Oct. 16– Nov. 3, 2012
TICKETS: $30 Gen. Adm.
Students & Senior Citizens $20
On line:
Media: Please e-mail or call to reserve your seats
WHEN:  October 16 – November 3, 2012
Previews: October 16, 17 at 8 p.m.
Opening: October 18, 2012, 8 PM
Press Performances: October 20, 2011, 2 pm & 8 pm
Thursdays, Fridays, 8 PM
Saturdays, 2 PM and 8 PM
Sundays, 2 PM and 7:30 PM
The Ambassador Theater invites you to trespass into a nighttime world of desperate crime and ruthless criminals. Or are they? Â Alfred Farag lures actors and spectators into playing the game of a lifetime in the US premieres of two suspenseful Egyptian one act plays. The Visitor deals with deception (both of others and of ourselves), while The Peephole addresses the soullessness of an unchained capitalist society.
This illustrious playwright brings the audience into the world of illusion and reality, utilizing the device of play within a play. He blurs the line between what is real and what is theatrical while posing questions regarding power and social status. Ultimately, both of his plays address themes that provoke thinking on subjects still relevant to the 21st century. The audience will find themselves laughing and crying whilst trapped in Farag’s psychological maze of mirrors, a fun house where we never know what is real. These plays give insight into Egyptian socio-economic culture, which ultimately gave rise to the Arab Spring, challenging traditional views about power.
By Mark Beachy – April 6, 2012
Highlights from Hopa Topa Kukerica!  This play was produced at the Ambassador Theater.  Conceived and Directed by Lilia Slavova.  The video was produced, shot, and edited by Mark Beachy.
Under the patronage of the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria, Ambassador Theater presents Hopa Tropa Kukerica!, an authentic celebration of Bulgarian culture! Lilia Slavova wrote and  directedhis whirlwind of song, dance, puppetry, and traditional masquerade. Hopa Tropa Kukerica!, was choreographed by Ivan Dimitrov. The second part – called Na Megdana - was directed and choreographed by Desi Jordanoff. The choreography for the entire production was full of joy, high energy, and pride. Featured talents included folk music group Orfeia, women’s vocal ensemble Svitanya, Bulgarian dance ensemble Zharava, and St. Kliment Okhridski Bulgarian School.
Hopa Tropa Kukerica! Photo courtesy of Ambassador Theater.
Set Designer Antonio Petrov framed a golden curtain with black ones, and strewed the stage with Bulgarian artifacts, such as animal skins, antlers, woven rugs and thick furs, and stick bundles. This creates a village-like atmosphere on which the large cast can sing and dance. The music, arranged by Petko Kolev, remained upbeat for the majority of the production. What really grabbed your attention, however, were the outfits. The women of Orfeia wore elaborate headdresses and glittery gold dresses, their feet peeping out from under the patterned fringe. The dancers were adorned with flowy white blouses that were paired with red-patterned skirts and vests, and there was not a single woman in sight that does not have a large blossom tucked behind her sleek braids.
The production began with a frightened young girl (Mimi, played by a sparkling Gwendolyn Torrence) shrieking about the Kukerica. Her family (Daniel Rovin as Georgij, Konstantin Hadjipanzov as Grandpa Petar, Amie Cazel as Biliana, and Daria Kondova as Baba Mara) decided to distract her by using plain objects (such as rags and gourds) to create puppets. These puppets, designed by Julia Tasheva, were incredibly creative. They made animals such as rabbits and turkeys from household objects, and then finally formed a man from mostly cloth, who then invited a young audience member onstage and presented him with a Bulgarian rose. The actors worked together, practically intertwined, to make these puppets move realistically, and the effect was very interesting and entertaining. Soon, music began and dancers emerged from the audience and danced around the room, with fun choreography by Ivan Dimitrov. It was quite a spectacle, as they joined hands and circled around each other in varying patterns, some beating on drums and chanting. Looking down at the colorful dancers moving together, it was similar to looking into a kaleidoscope. The gold jewelry clinked to the beat as they danced, adding their own unique chime to the music.
After the puppetry, music, and dancing, audience members were welcomed onstage to join the dance, while others walked down the hall to sample traditional Bulgarian food. Workshops with the actors and dancers were also held later in the day for people who wished to attend.
While the entertainment was great, I do wish that the audience behaved more gracefully. Flashes from cameras were constant, and from every direction, which proved to be a great distraction, and a safety risk for the actors and dancers.
The entertainment was well-executed. It was quite a display of talent!
