The José Pliya Project

Conceived and coordinated by Philippa Wehle, Professor Emeritus of Drama/French, Purchase College, State University of NY in association with writer, translator and co-director of the St. Barth Film Festival, Ellen Lampert-Gréaux. Playwright José Pliya, a French citizen originally from Benin, West Africa, has received accolades abroad, but until now, his work had not been seen in NYC. Thanks to Philippa Wehle and Ellen Lampert-Gréaux, New York audiences will have a rare opportunity to discover his work in The José Pliya Project: A Celebration of Francophone African Playwright José Pliya.

SCHEDULE

Tuesday, November 1 at 8pm
Cannibals (Cannibales) (Staged Reading in English): Cannibals is a conversation among three women who meet in a park. Gathered around a blue baby carriage, they discuss the loss of their children in circumstances real and imagined. The carriage itself is empty. Whose carriage is this, whose child? Who are these women, and why have they come together?

Wednesday, November 2 at 8pm
We Were Sitting On The Shores Of The World (Nous étions assis sur le rivage du monde) (Staged Reading in English): A confrontation between a man and a woman on a beach: The woman, a native of the island, has come home for a visit and is waiting for friends who are late in arriving.

Saturday, November 5 at 3pm
An Ordinary Family (Une famille ordinaire) (Staged Reading in English):
An Ordinary Family examines the challenges of personal survival for two generations of an “ordinary” German family living under the Third Reich

Friday and Saturday, November 4 and 5 at 8pm & Sunday, November 6 at 3pm
Trapped (Le Complexe de Thénardier) (Full production):
Directed by Vincent Colin with Sylvie Chenus and Hyam Zaytoun,
In Trapped, the siege of their nameless homeland ignites a life-and-death struggle between a middle-class woman, the Mother, and Vido, a genocide survivor. Performed in French in English surtitles.