Presented By: Center for Armenian Studies
2024 Annual Dr. Berj H. Haidostian Lecture. Paradox and Liberation: Bones, Puppets, and Psychedelic Journeys in the Play of Identity
Sona Tatoyan, Hakawati
This event is by invitation only.
Actress, screenwriter, and storyteller, Sona Tatoyan, has been invited as this year’s distinguished guest to speak about and preview the art of Karagoz puppetry. Sona Tatoyan is a first-generation Syrian-Armenian-American actor/writer/producer with bases in Aleppo, Syria; Berlin, Germany; LA, California; and Yerevan, Armenia.
As an actress, her stage credits include world premieres at Yale Repertory Theatre, The Goodman Theatre, The American Conservatory Theatre, and others. She starred in The Journey, the first American independent film shot in Armenia (winner, Audience Award Milan Film Festival, 2002). As a writer, her first feature film script, The First Full Moon, was a 2011 Sundance/RAWI Screenwriters Lab participant and 2012 Dubai Film Connection/Festival Project.
As a writer and actress, Ms. Tatoyan created the storytelling piece Azad. The first iteration performances took place in April 2022 at the Pico Playhouse in Los Angeles, followed by solo iterations in Boston at NAASR and recently at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. Azad Storytelling gave birth to the multimedia theatrical experience entitled Azad (the Rabbit and the Wolf), which began development in January 2023 at The Vineyard Theater in NYC, directed by Bill Pullman, who remains Azad’s producer. It has continued development with two-time Obie Award-winning director and multimedia designer Jared Mezzocchi and was the recipient of the inaugural University of Connecticut Global Affairs Digital Media residency in May 2023 and the closing night performance of the Northeast Human Rights + film festival. It has also had residences at Harvard Artlab in September 2023 and received the Wake Forest University Character and Leadership guest artist residency and performance in January/February 2024. A final development residency is scheduled for September 2024 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Ms. Tatoyan founded Hakawati, a non-profit storytelling vehicle focusing on elevating the voices of frontline and marginalized communities. Currently, Ms. Tatoyan is in development on a TV series on Aleppo through the 20th century entitled Three Apples Fell from Heaven.
Ms. Tatoyan served on the World Cinema Jury of the Duhok IFF in Iraqi Kurdistan (2016) and as Rudolf Arnheim Guest Artist Professor at Humboldt University in Berlin, (2017). Speaking engagements include: “Storytelling as Spiritual Vehicle: A response to the Armenian Genocide and Syrian Refugee Crisis” at The Brandenburger Gate Foundation, Berlin; and “Trauma, Magic, Love: Being in Aleppo with Karagöz Puppets, My Ancestors and the Spirit of Osman Kavala” at CMES Harvard University. Ms. Tatoyan is a second degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and received her yoga teaching certification in Goa, India. She is a graduate of the William Esper Studio in NYC, where she studied acting with Bill Esper. Ms. Tatoyan is a graduate of Wake Forest University with a B.A. in English and Theater, where she was mentored by Dr. Maya Angelou.
Cosponsors:
University of Michigan Arts Initiative
Center for World Performance Studies, U-M
University of Michigan Museum of Art
Arab American National Museum
Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies, U-M
Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies, U-M
Department of Middle East Studies, U-M
Stearns Collection of Musical Instrument, U-M
If there is anything we can do to make this event accessible to you, please contact armenianstudies@umich.edu. Please be aware that advance notice is necessary as some accommodations may require more time for the university to arrange.
Actress, screenwriter, and storyteller, Sona Tatoyan, has been invited as this year’s distinguished guest to speak about and preview the art of Karagoz puppetry. Sona Tatoyan is a first-generation Syrian-Armenian-American actor/writer/producer with bases in Aleppo, Syria; Berlin, Germany; LA, California; and Yerevan, Armenia.
As an actress, her stage credits include world premieres at Yale Repertory Theatre, The Goodman Theatre, The American Conservatory Theatre, and others. She starred in The Journey, the first American independent film shot in Armenia (winner, Audience Award Milan Film Festival, 2002). As a writer, her first feature film script, The First Full Moon, was a 2011 Sundance/RAWI Screenwriters Lab participant and 2012 Dubai Film Connection/Festival Project.
As a writer and actress, Ms. Tatoyan created the storytelling piece Azad. The first iteration performances took place in April 2022 at the Pico Playhouse in Los Angeles, followed by solo iterations in Boston at NAASR and recently at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. Azad Storytelling gave birth to the multimedia theatrical experience entitled Azad (the Rabbit and the Wolf), which began development in January 2023 at The Vineyard Theater in NYC, directed by Bill Pullman, who remains Azad’s producer. It has continued development with two-time Obie Award-winning director and multimedia designer Jared Mezzocchi and was the recipient of the inaugural University of Connecticut Global Affairs Digital Media residency in May 2023 and the closing night performance of the Northeast Human Rights + film festival. It has also had residences at Harvard Artlab in September 2023 and received the Wake Forest University Character and Leadership guest artist residency and performance in January/February 2024. A final development residency is scheduled for September 2024 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Ms. Tatoyan founded Hakawati, a non-profit storytelling vehicle focusing on elevating the voices of frontline and marginalized communities. Currently, Ms. Tatoyan is in development on a TV series on Aleppo through the 20th century entitled Three Apples Fell from Heaven.
Ms. Tatoyan served on the World Cinema Jury of the Duhok IFF in Iraqi Kurdistan (2016) and as Rudolf Arnheim Guest Artist Professor at Humboldt University in Berlin, (2017). Speaking engagements include: “Storytelling as Spiritual Vehicle: A response to the Armenian Genocide and Syrian Refugee Crisis” at The Brandenburger Gate Foundation, Berlin; and “Trauma, Magic, Love: Being in Aleppo with Karagöz Puppets, My Ancestors and the Spirit of Osman Kavala” at CMES Harvard University. Ms. Tatoyan is a second degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and received her yoga teaching certification in Goa, India. She is a graduate of the William Esper Studio in NYC, where she studied acting with Bill Esper. Ms. Tatoyan is a graduate of Wake Forest University with a B.A. in English and Theater, where she was mentored by Dr. Maya Angelou.
Cosponsors:
University of Michigan Arts Initiative
Center for World Performance Studies, U-M
University of Michigan Museum of Art
Arab American National Museum
Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies, U-M
Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies, U-M
Department of Middle East Studies, U-M
Stearns Collection of Musical Instrument, U-M
If there is anything we can do to make this event accessible to you, please contact armenianstudies@umich.edu. Please be aware that advance notice is necessary as some accommodations may require more time for the university to arrange.
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