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1. `Night over Erzinga’ Comes to New York
2. 2011 Armenian Night at the Pops Features Soprano Hasmik Papian, World
Premier by John Sarkissian
3. Medical Thriller Explores Near-Death Experience, Boundary between Science
and Religion
4. Commentary: Positioning for the Kazan Summit
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1. `Night over Erzinga’ Comes to New York
By Aram Arkun
Mirror-Spectator Staff
NEW YORK – `Night Over Erzinga,’ a play by Adriana
Sevahn Nichols, was
presented at the Lark Play Development Center in midtown Manhattan on June
7-12. It was the first play to be created through Middle East America: A
National New Plays Initiative, a program created in 2008 to support
American playwrights of Middle Eastern descent through a $10,000 commission.
`Night Over Erzinga’ is an intergenerational story that tells of the
Armenian Genocide, its aftereffects and immigrant life in America. The
story is given a different twist and parallel intergenerational line through
the Dominican husband of the American-born daughter of the
Armenian Genocide survivors. Three and even four generations appear,
sometimes simultaneously, on stage.
Ardavazt Khatchig Oghidanian fled Turkish persecution in Erzinga prior to
the Genocide, and industriously working in America, began with various
modest jobs, gradually improving his situation. He married Alice Hajian, a
Genocide survivor from Shabin Karahisar, and had a daughter, Aghig. Alice
was unable to shake off the horrors she witnessed, such as the rape and
murder of her younger 8-year-old sister, Anoushig, by Ottoman soldiers, and
the butchery of the rest of her family. Despite all of his efforts, Ardavazt
was unable to overcome the psychological burdens placed on her, as well as
his own trauma caused by the disappearance of his family in Erzinga. He
harshly halted Alice’s efforts to explore dance as a means of
self-expression. Alice descended into mental illness, and had to be
institutionalized, with unfortunate results. Their daughter Aghig had to be
placed in foster homes and orphanages for some six years.
Aghig as a young woman rejected her troubled Armenian identity, recasting
herself as the American Ava, of French ancestry. Rebelling against the
excessive protectiveness of her father, Ava becomes a dancer, and chooses to
marry a non- Armenian, Bienvenido, who, in a parallel with the Armenians,
has come to the United States to escape persecution in the Dominican
Republic.
Bienvenido has his name Americanized as Benny Ray, but resists becoming too
distant from his Dominican culture. He helps bring Ava back together with
her father, but, unable to remain faithful in his marriage, leaves Ava alone
to raise their daughter, Estrella. When Ava asked her father how he managed
to deal with his wife’s condition when Ava was a child, he finally
revealed
the cause of Alice’s mental distress. He had never explained to Ava/Aghig
the torments her mother experienced, or the story of his own family,
thinking that he could shield his daughter from this burden of pain.
Remembering the past helped all generations of the family deal with their
lives.
The New York production of `Night Over Erzinga’ was performed largely by a
cast of non-Armenian background, with the exception of the 11-year-old Mari
H. Bijimenian, who played the roles of young Aghig, Anoushig, Karine and
Estrella. She is a member of Hye Bar, and has performed with Antranig Dance
Ensemble. All cast members performed multiple roles in this `barebones’
production, in which the minimal background and setting allowed for a focus
on the story and text.
As a still-evolving work, perhaps it would not be fair to critique the play,
but I can say that it has considerable depth. It tells its story powerfully
and holds the interest of the audience. It tells a largely Armenian – and
American – story which becomes a universal one. There are a few sections
that might need shortening or editing. The pronunciation of Armenian names
unfamiliar to most of the actors (and audience) was at times disconcerting
to those who knew Armenian (e.g. Aghavni being repeatedly called `Agavni’),
but on the other hand many actors did correctly speak various short phrases
in Armenian, and one even recited the Lord’s prayer. Overall, the actors of
varied backgrounds convincingly portrayed their respective characters.
Author Nichols explained for the Mirror-Spectator that the play was the
result of her search for her identity. She has Armenian, Dominican and
Basque ancestry, and the death of her grandfather Ardavazt when she was 8
years old ended her main contact with her Armenian past. She grew up in New
York and Easter service at St. Vartan Cathedral and a few picnics were the
extent of her immediate family’s Armenian involvement. On the other hand,
she was surrounded with Dominicans because there was a large community in
New York.
Nichols’ parents were performers – her mother danced and her father sang –
therefore she grew up surrounded by passion for the arts.
She became a professional dancer, but an injury led her to acting. She had
no intention of becoming a writer, but she had a life changing experience
following 9/11, which a friend insisted that she write down. This led to her
first play, Taking Flight, which she performed as a one-woman show. It
went on to have seven productions, and won awards, launching her as a
writer.
In 2004, she moved to Los Angeles. Living near Glendale, she had a lot of
contact with Armenians, and little by little met Armenians in the arts. The
Armenians kept on asking her when she would write something for them. She
was invited as a performer and artist to an
Armenian International Women’s Association conference in 2007, and
there
without conscious forethought she blurted out that she would one day write
a
play honoring her Armenian grandfather, Ardavazt Khatchig Oghidanian.
The next year she applied for and won the Middle East American Distinguished
Playwright Award, which was developed by the Lark Play Development Center
with its partners, Golden Thread Productions in San Francisco and the Silk
Road Theatre Project in Chicago. Lark Artistic Director John Clinton Eisner
said that they defined the Middle East as widely as possible in order `to
help support Americans in understanding more about the kinds of distinctions
that exist between people in societies as different as Iraq, Syria, Israel,
Afghanistan, Iran, Armenia and Turkey where many cultures, traditions and
religions have lived side by side for ages.’ They wanted to allow artists
who define themselves as diasporan voices the opportunity to `represent’
their ethnic and cultural communities through good plays. When asked why
Nichols’ `Night Over Erzinga’ was chosen as the first winner of this award,
Eisner responded that `it was the sweeping scope of the story and its
particular grappling with change and survival that captured the committee’s
imaginations.’ Furthermore, `the fact that the play deals with survival of
individuals and their historic values makes it a very human story and also
one that feels particularly resonant to the struggles going on in the Middle
East for territory, identity, power and righteousness.’
Nichols related that after receiving the award, which is a commission to
write the play she proposed to them, she began her research. Her family
members began to remember things that helped her create an anchor for the
world of the story. She used part of the grant in 2009 to visit the Republic
of Armenia, and said, `I saw the wishing trees all over Armenia, holding the
wishes and prayers and dreams of the people who tied handkerchiefs to their
branches or left an article of the people who had something to pray for.’
This became an important symbolic element in her play.
She had the opportunity to spontaneously organize a drama workshop in
Armenia for the disadvantaged children at the Orran Center. She said, `Eight
to 15 year olds in a room is already a good challenge, but an even bigger
challenge was that I didn’t speak Armenian, and they didn’t speak English. I
asked one of my tour guides to translate and we had an incredible time. It
was heartbreaking because at the end, one of the little girls, as I was
saying goodbye, asked `when are you coming back again?’ My
heart broke
because I couldn’t say when. …When my play is up and running I want to go
back to Armenia for a longer time and do things like another workshop at
Orran.’
After the Republic of Armenia, Adriana went with Armen Aroyan to Western
Armenia, in present-day Turkey, to visit her ancestral villages. She saw the
bridge of Kemakh, off which the Erzinga Armenians were thrown in 1915. She
exclaimed, `The land around Shabin Karahisar was so mystical and biblical
that you couldn’t speak. Nature was so powerful that it demanded your full
attention. For me to have a chance to just quietly experience the beauty and
to know that that was where part of my family came from made me very proud.’
Adriana began a class in Los Angeles to learn Armenian, but this required
much time so she decided to first finish the play and then learn the
language. She was fortunate to have learned Spanish fluently from her
Dominican grandmother as a child.
As the play took shape, Adriana was crossing beyond the actual family story.
She said she felt she needed to ask permission from her family members to
have the freedom to `theatricalize the truth, to make it come to life in
such a way that people will sit in the dark and come on this journey with
you…In writing this play, I had to make a ritual of this story. I needed the
blessing of my family to be able to take all of the ingredients and make
something new of it.’ She initially `did not set out to tell a story of a
genocide. I set out to tell the story of a family.’ In this way, it connects
with people of all kinds of different ethnic backgrounds.
The play continues to evolve, as does Adriana’s knowledge of the past. Each
reading or workshop allows her to tweak various elements. There was an
initial reading in spring 2009 in Chicago, even before the creation of a
formal play, and the first workshop took place in November 2010 in San
Francisco. The casts change in the different productions, with the exception
of the lead actress Juliette Tanner, playing Alice as well as Jan. The plan
is for the play to be developed by the Lark, and the two collaborating
theaters in San Francisco and Chicago to also produce it. Afterwards, Night
over Erzinga will be submitted to theaters nationally and internationally
`to see what life the play has,’ as Adriana puts it. She hopes that a Los
Angeles production, where there are so many Armenians, and where she made
the initial promise to write the play, can take place eventually.
Meanwhile, Adriana just found out where her Armenian grandmother was buried
in the US. Nobody had gone to her funeral except her grandfather. As Adriana
continues to work on the play, to have its world premiere this fall, she
occasionally takes breaks to work on a new play, a romantic comedy called
`Running on Rollerskates.’
************************************************************
2. 2011 Armenian Night at the Pops Features Soprano Hasmik Papian, World
Premier by John Sarkissian
By Alin K. Gregorian
Mirror-Spectator Staff
VIENNA, Austria – Hasmik Papian, as the saying goes, has arrived. She is a
darling of the European and American top opera houses, as well as a veteran
solo performer. In fact, she will next perform in Boston at the Armenian
Night at the Pops on June 25. In a recent interview from her home here,
lyric soprano Papian spoke about her spectacular rise in the world of opera.
Papian was born and raised in Yerevan, and almost did not become a singer;
she was studying the violin. `The decision [to become a soprano] came very
late,’ she explained. `I always knew I had a voice, but I never thought I
would become a professional singer. My friends, for whom I was singing
popular songs at parties, they said if I can touch so many people, why
should I not try to become a professional singer?’
The instructors for whom she auditioned, clearly agreed. `I started with a
jog’ rather than small steps. `I was already a musician, so it was easy to
sing. It was so natural.’
Within three years, she was on the world stage. Her voice, she said, had
already been honed by her frequent singing along to the pieces she was
playing, as per the instruction of her violin teacher. In addition, she
diligently read about singing technique.
`I won four international competitions and after the first one, the son of
the great tenor, Mario Del Monaco, Giovanni, who was the head of Opera Bonn,
[in Germany] heard me sing. Bonn, at that time, was the capital of Germany.
If you sing well [ in a major city like that] it goes around quickly,’
Papian said. She got a contract and started singing there.
That was back in 1993. She started looking for opportunities at the end of
her contract there.
She was soon booked for a debut recital at the Vienna State Opera. `I was
there for rehearsals at 11 a.m. There was a big crowd at the artists’
entrance. I thought there must have been an accident, but it was only
spectators who had come to my rehearsals. They came to wish me good luck.
After my debut, I decided if I could not live in Yerevan, this is the place
I would love to live,’ she recalled.
While she called Yerevan her `beloved city,’ Papian said that Vienna has,
hands-down, the `best audiences.’ In fact, she said, the government does
much to promote opera, and the art form is so identified with the city that
there are planeloads of Japanese tourists who come for the weekend to attend
a single performance.
She added, `I never left Armenia. I almost look at [my absence] as
a
business trip.’ She noted that she goes back every year and added she plans
to live in Armenia at the end of her career.
As for her favorite stage, she said Metropolitan Opera in New York City `is
one of the best stages in the world.’
Papian, who specializes in singing bel canto, which includes the operas of
Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi, among others, said her favorite role is that
of Norma, in the opera of the same name by Bellini. `I have performed it the
most in my career – 150 times, in 26 different productions,’ she noted.
Papian said singing in an opera such as `Norma’ multiple times is exciting.
`It’s the music which every time sounds like new to me. Every production is
different, the staging is different, the set and partners are different. You
always find new colors. This music was written 150 years ago, but it is
still very contemporary.’
Papian combines a soaring international career with a family. `I am blessed
to be a mother. It is the most important thing in my life. It is a gift that
God gave me. My career is wonderful, but for every woman it is important to
be a mother,’ she said.
She is married to Konrad Kuhn, a dramaturge working for various European
theaters, and has one daughter.
Her husband’s profession of helping with research and development of operas
being staged, Papian said, allows him to provide tremendous support for her.
`Until [my daughter] went to school, we all traveled together. Now
she’s 10
and in school and we can’t travel,’ she added, noting that
she is very
grateful to have her mother live with them.
`It is very difficult to be away for six or eight weeks and the distances
have become great, like the US, Korea, Japan.’
`She loves to talk to me on the phone. We speak about an hour every day, but
she does not like to Skype,’ she noted.
Her daughter, incidentally, is taking piano lessons but no one in the family
is pushing her into a musical career.
Success on such a stratospheric level carries with it built-in restrictions
and prescriptions for maintaining one’s voice. Papian explained that when
she is in full rehearsal mode, she works about eight hours a day studying
and rehearsing. The goal, she said, is to hone one’s instrument, in this
case, the body, to such an extent that one’s moods and energy level do not
affect the performance.
Papian’s upcoming schedule includes performing in `La Gioconda’ by Amilcare
Ponchielli, which is `very rarely performed,’ at the summer music festival
in Split, Croatia, in July. `It is a very good chance for our family to be
at the seaside, all together. I will have fun.’
******************************************************************
3. Medical Thriller Explores Near-Death Experience, Boundary between Science
and Religion
Tunnel Vision by Gary Braver. Forge. Tom Doherty Associates. 2011. 384 pp.
$25.99. ISBN 978-0-7683-0976-1.
By Daphne Abeel
Special to the Mirror-Spectator
Bodies galore litter Gary Braver’s (Goshgarian) new novel
– dead ones, live
ones and some in between. And it’s the in-between sort that constitute the
driving theme of this medical thriller.

In this book, Goshgarian, who has written a string of novels with scientific
or medical themes, is exploring NDE, or, the near-death experience, and
coincidentally the disputed territory between science and religion.
The novel, set in Boston, opens with a shocker prologue. A man in his 50s is
brought to Jordan Hospital, ostensibly in cardiac arrest. EMTs and medical
staff at the hospital fail to revive him. He is declared dead. And yet, a
short time later, he is seen leaving the hospital, moving under his own
steam, although his vital signs are flat-lined.
Quickly, the central story gets underway. The protagonist, 24-year-old Zack
Kashian, a student at Northeastern University, is in a financial pickle.
A gambler, he has lost so much money at cards, he can’t pay his debts. On
his way home from a meeting with friends, he slams his bicycle into a
pothole and blacks out.
His mother, Maggie, a widow, has already experienced double tragedies. Her
older son, Jack, was beaten to death in a bar brawl several years earlier,
and her husband, Nick, after divorcing her and joining a Benedictine order,
has also died of cardiac arrest. Whereas Nick embraced religion, Maggie and
Zack are both committed humanists and atheists. In any case, she rushes to
his side.
Although Zack is in a coma, he begins to babble in Aramaic, a language his
religious Christian friend, Damian, identifies. As news of his strange
mutterings spreads, he becomes the focus of cultists who believe he is in
touch Jesus and the afterlife.
An important subplot of the story involves Roman Pace, a serial killer, a
chilling character who has been bumping off people for a living.
Pace, who has recently had a heart attack, is beginning to worry about what
may happen to him once he has dies as he has committed too many heinous
deeds. Raised a Catholic, he decides to go to confession and asks a priest
whether he can be saved. To his vast surprise, he is offered a path to
redemption by a priest who hires him to kill `one of Satan’s doormen.
Someone who’s blasphemed against the Lord God Almighty.’ It turns out that
Pace’s targets are a series of scientists and medical researchers,
who are
involved in exploring the near-death experience.
Simultaneously, Zack is being touted in the local press as `resurrected from
the dead.’ As a result, Dr. Elisabeth Luria, a professor at Harvard Medical
School, whose husband and son were killed in a car accident, has begun to do
research and experiments on the near-death experience, in the hope that she
may be able to get back in touch with the deceased members of her family.
Zack still needs money so when he is given a flyer advertising sleep studies
for money, he signs on, and finds himself in the hands of Dr. Luria.
Once Zack agrees to undergo the tests that Luria devises, he finds himself
drawn deeper and deeper into the exploration for life on the other side. In
the course of the experiments, he forms a romantic relationship with Sarah,
one of the researchers.
Another sub-theme of the book is Zack’s search for the father who deserted
them and who, supposedly, died in a monastery. While the novel explores a
number of technical aspects of near-death experience, the book does not come
to a clear conclusion as to whether there is truly life after death. But
Braver brings an energetic brio to the twists and turns of the plot. Having
been trained as a physicist, the author is able to infuse the novel with a
realism and factuality that commands the reader’s attention and keeps him
reading.
There is a given audience for this book amongst those interested in
near-death experiences and the subject is very much alive in the current
culture. There is even a Near Death Experience Research Foundation. Braver’s
book should appeal to this group and those beyond (not quite literally) who
enjoy a quickmoving thriller.
Braver (Goshgarian) will be available at two presentations and book signings
in the near future: June 23, 6 p.m., at Stellina’s Restaurant, 47 Main St.,
Watertown, Mass.; and June 30, 7 p.m. at Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard
St., Brookline, Mass.
********************************************************************
4. Commentary: Positioning for the Kazan Summit
By Edmond Y. Azadian
Expectations as well as doubts abound regarding the forthcoming summit in
the Russian city of Kazan, which will bring together the presidents of
Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia June 25-26.
The same presidents have walked the same road in the past, raising hopes for
a breakthrough, but disappointment has followed each and every meeting.
After issuing declarations and verbal commitments, the Azeri leaders have
raised the ante upon returning home. Most significant violations happened
especially right after the Meindorf declarations where the parties had
agreed to refrain from military solutions and concentrate on the
negotiations. But the ink was not yet dried on that declaration, when
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev provoked a border skirmish, claiming
many victims.
Based on this kind of checkered background, neither the pundits nor the
negotiating parties seem hopeful for a positive outcome. Although the Kazan
summit is ostensibly called to negotiate on the basic principles worked out
by the co-presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group, symbolism still matters if a
positive outcome will be ascribed to Russia whose president, Dmitry
Medvedev, will be mediating between President Serge Sargisian and Aliyev.
Certainly the other parties do not wish to lose the limelight. The summit
has already claimed one casualty, which was Iran’s president’s visit to
Armenia; it was supposed to take place on the eve of Kazan summit, but was
mysteriously postponed indefinitely. Although the Armenian government
presented the lame excuse that the documents were not ready to be signed,
another possibility which may not be ruled out is that should there be any
tangible results at the summit, Iran should not share any credit.
The Armenian side is skeptical of the outcome of the summit. The Azeri side
is even vocally pessimistic and already gloomy predictions have been issued
by high government officials.
Armenia’s Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian has announced that Yerevan has
positively responded to the basic principles worked out by the OSCE group
and has challenged Baku to do the same.
On the Armenian front, the negative voices are heard mostly from the
Karabagh leaders.
Recently, Ashod Ghoulian, the speaker of the Karabagh parliament, and Georgy
Petrossyan, the foreignminister, addressed a press conference.
Ghoulian’s prediction is: `No serious breakthrough is anticipated at Kazan,
because preconditions for that breakthrough are non-existent. But a
preliminary declaration is possible because the co-presidents of OSCE and
the mediators are hard at work to bring some results.’ But Karabagh leaders
also add that any agreement at the summit cannot be considered as final, if
the Karabagh government does not give its stamp of approval.
The Russian side is cautiously optimistic, while the spokesman for the Minsk
Group Anjei Kasprschik has even divulged some details about the basic
principles.
The US government has also sounded a positive note. Indeed in her farewell
message, the outgoing US ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch, has expressed her
regret that she is leaving Yerevan at a `critical’ and `historic’ moment,
indicating that an impending solution is about to happen to the most
intractable problem in the region.
The Russian president of the Minsk Group, Igor Popov, has specified that
`the documents which will be discussed at the summit need more refinement
and further deliberation, which are being conducted on the Foreign Ministry
level. We do hope that in Kazan the parties will demonstrate some
constructive approach.’
Even Turkey’s Foreign Minister Davutoglu has expressed a glimmer of hope.
The basic principles are composed of six steps, while those steps begin with
the evacuation of `occupied territories’ for Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister
Mamedyarov and the expression of the will of the people (referendum) about
the Karabagh status, Kasprschik indicates that the interim status of
Karabagh cannot be less than what the region enjoys at the present time, but
what is crucial is that Azerbaijan will have to acquiesce to that status
which eventually win international recognition.
One of the sticking points among the six principles is the composition of
the peacekeeping forces in the interim period while agreements begin to be
implemented on the ground. It is believed that the
Minsk Group negotiating parties will come up with that peacekeeping force.
So much criticism was directed at the Minsk Group negotiations that the
pressure is mounting on the opposing parties to move forward. Russia’s
Foreign Ministry has, in a way, verbalized that pressure through its
official representative, Alexander Loukashevich. He has stated: `There is
great hope that the Deauville declaration by the three presidents will help
the sides to realize that the process for a peaceful settlement has reached
a limit after which they have to come to an agreement to implement them. Any
delay beyond that point will indicate a destructive intention.’
The French co-president of the Minsk Group, Bernard Fazier, has similarly
expressed hope for action by stating: `We are hopeful that the presidents
will give their approval at the Kazan summit to the final draft of the
documents presented to them. We refer to the documents which were delivered
to them in March in Sochi.’
While pressure is mounting form all sides and hopeful signs are in the air,
Azerbaijan’s leaders continue their war threats or negative statements. Thus
the Azeri president has visited Serbia and although Baku does not recognize
Kosovo’s independence but Mr. Aliyev has seized the opportunity to
reiterate
his eternal refrain: `Serbia, like Azerbaijan, is suffering from separatism.
We hope that your territorial integrity will one day be realized.’
Two other contradictory statements from Azeri officials indicate that Baku
is in the process of using carrot and stick policy, hoping that one of them
will work.
Thus the spokesman for Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry, Elbar Sabiroglu, has
announced, `The Armenian side, through its actions is contributing
to the
possibility of a military solution to the Karabagh conflict. Azerbaijan will
be liberating its occupied territories from the enemy. We are in the process
of getting ready for war.’
Any government, prepared to sign a peace agreement, would prepare its
population for that situation. These announcements are far from preparing
Azeri people for a peaceful solution.
On the other hand, the deputy foreign minister of Azerbaijan has made an
contradictory statement, perhaps intentionally, for public consumption as a
carrot policy, saying: `We are not interested to renew the war. We
still
believe that there is possibility to resolve the problem through diplomatic
means. Why should we think about war?’
In this chaotic atmosphere where contradictory statements and political
pressures are in action, any positive step at the Kazan summit will
constitute a miracle and hailed by all parties.
From: A. Papazian
http://www.mirrorspectator.com