Pen World Voices Offers Free International Play Fest

The 2018 PEN World Voices International Play Festival

The 2018 PEN World Voices International Play Festival, including staged readings by ten playwrights from around the world, is gearing up.

The festival of free readings runs April 16, 17 and 21 at the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, at The Graduate Center, CUNY, 365 Fifth Avenue, at 34th Street.

“With playwrights hailing from four different continents, the festival aims to enrich awareness of global dialogues, by bridging American audiences and international theater-makers,” according to organizers. “All readings will be followed by discussion with the playwrights and directors.”

The festival seeks to bring voices and stories to New York theater that might otherwise not be heard here, sometimes tapping into stories very closely tied to other nations and experiences around the world.

“Programming this year was inspired by the shifting power of politics, the rise of right conservatism in Europe and the U.S, the humanitarian crisis in Syria, among other pressing issues,” said Frank Hentschker, Segal Center executive director and festival founder. “We envision that in bringing diverse stories, we will be able to understand who we are.”

Hentschker said he believes an international perspective on theater is more important than ever, in part as the world shrinks and local problems become of even greater international interest.

“In the service of International exchange, artistic programming becomes an imperative responsibility in the midst of our current political climate. If we do not do this now, then when?” Hentschker asked.

The 2018 Festival’s program features work by French playwright Magali Mougel, Romanian playwright Mihaela Dragan, Italian playwright Stefano Massini, Syrian playwright Liwaa Yazji, Burkina Faso’s Ariste Tarnagda, Austria’s Elfriede Jelinek, Taiwanese writer Wei Yu-Chia, Cameroon writer Edouard Elvis Bvouma, Chile’s Ana Luz Ormazabal and Israeli writer Yonatan Levy.

The festival, founded in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, was launched by Salman Rushdie, Esther Allen, and Michael Roberts. PEN World Voices is an international literary festival that has a human rights focus.

Since its founding, PEN World Voices has presented more than 1,500 writers and artists from 118 countries, speaking 56 languages.

The 2018 PEN World Voices International Play Festival has been made possible by the support of Susan and Jack Rudin and Marvin Carlson, Sidney E. Cohn Chair, The Graduate Center CUNY.

For further information on the 2018 PEN World Voices International Play Festival, and all of the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center’s ongoing programming, visit www.thesegalcenter.org.

The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, is at 365 Fifth Ave., at 34th Street. Subway: Herald Square, lines B, D, F, M, N, Q, R. More info. at www.theSegalCenter.org. and 212-817-1860.