The last two meetings of Connecting Stories were in Seattle  (Oct '09) and Amsterdam (Dec '09).
Yaser Khaseb has been performing and giving masterclasses in Seattle for three weeks.
It was the second American meeting for Connecting Stories and the first Iranian theatre performance coming to the United States since 30 years (!).

It was a great experience for all of us and very good to see him and Farin again.
We had a Connecting Stories presentation for the audience too. It was very successful, Yaser has gotten great reviews and the response was overwhelming.

 

In Seattle only a part of us was able to come. Linda's aim for the future is surely to bring over all Iranians to the United States for this cultural exchange, but now, with the financial crisis, they couldn't afford that.

 

We came together with all  of us from November 28 till December 7, during the Dancing on the Edge festival 2009 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Reza did present Man is man, a performance he made with Het Lab and Toneelmakerij, the first (new) performance that is a direct result of the Connecting Stories Network. We also saw Yaser's performance (Cloud) of course, attended more performances, talked and did set up new collaborations.

We worked closely together with Gary Feingold of the Dancing on the Edge festival and there was a presentation of our group on the festival on the 6th of December.

In our Connecting Stories meeting we decided it is important to come together again as soon as possible with the whole group, That will be in June 2010 in Chicago during the TCG (Theatre Communications Group) Conference. There will be presentations and workshops by members of the group.

 

 

The following persons and members of the Connecting Stories group were present in Amsterdam:

 

From North America:

Linda Hartzell, artistic leader/director Seatle Childrens Theatre, USA

David Saar, artistic leader/director Childsplay, Tempe, Arizona, USA

Daniel Brooks, artistic leader/director  Necessary Angel Theatre Company, Toronto, Canada

 

From Iran:

Farin Zahedi, Teheran, professor, translator

Azadeh Ganjeh, Teheran director

Hamid Pourazari, Teheran director

Reza Gouran, Teheran director
Yaser Khaseb , Teheran, performer

From the Netherlands:
Liesbeth Coltof, artistic leader/director Toneelmakerij
Dennis Meijer, artistic leader Het Lab
Saskia Janse, artistic leader/playwright Speeltheater Holland
Onny Huisink, artistic leader/director Speeltheater Holland
Moniek Merkx, artistic leader/director Theatergroep MAX
Moniek Corvers, artistic leader/director Het Filiaal