Programme 2022
06-08 Αυγ18:00-00:00 / Kera village
Kera A Stage
12€ κανονικό, 10€ μειωμένο
With the story of Antonousa in mind, the first revolutionist woman of the area, we will narrate the small revolutionary origins. The ones that spark motives and transgressions.
Kera A Stage – Antonousa
Theater
For the third year at Giortes Rokkas, the village of Kera is transformed into a gigantic stage and welcomes short performances, with the dramaturgy revolving around Antonousa Kastanaki, the heroine of the village. In conjunction with Greek Play Project and Irene Mountraki, five original theatrical plays were developed by five professional writers, based on her life, and are presented for the first time in Kera exactly 200 years after the Greek Revolution, where Antonousa Kastanaki played a significant role.
Antonousa Kastanaki is a symbol: A symbol of freedom, a symbol of a spirit that is disobedient, of anyone that fights against any kind or repression. A symbol for an unconventional creature who never obeyed to what its life, sex or nature, times or circumstances mandated.
The stage is where History meets the Legend. 200 years from the Greek Revolution work as a great opportunity to bring Antonousa on the stage, our own Jeanne d’ Arc, and cogitate over life and the choices that come with it. The challenge was huge. Our resources, both from her life and the myth around her, become the raw material that creates new, original theatrical plays. Her life is regenerated and transformed, and her example becomes an inspiration and a chance for reflection. Her vivid life becomes the reason to redefine, resolve and start new revolutions. A famous photograph of her taken at a photo studio in Athens, dictionary entries, historical and scientific literature, texts online, stories of her descendants and people from the village – memory fragments, the ruins of her house. This is the material that we had to dive into with the authors Akis Dimou, Sofia Kapsourou, Yannis Soldatos, Pela Soultatou and Dimitris Finitsis, to whom the theatrical plays were assigned -after a collaboration between Irene Mountraki and the Greek Play Project- with the goal to bring Antonousa back on the surface. A heroine that is still relevant, today.
The plays, different both in theme and in tone, set fundamental issues, with the primary one being the issue of identity and the roles that are imposed, sometimes in a suffocating way, within the social clusters, and also our need to be free and to live in world that is just. Are we what we seem or are we what we feel? How does our gender, our origin, our name, and in turn our color and religion define our lives? Till which point are our choices within limits? How do small or big revolutions, those that spark substantial world change, get started? And, how does that vivid change include us? How many fights do women (and not only them) still give daily? How many compromises and rigid notions should people overgo, to live the way they want?
The challenge for this whole venture gets even bigger, as the plays were written in order to be presented in the village of Kera, the origin of the heroine, between its ruins and its modern houses, between the memories and the people of the village, uniting the past with the present. A theater within the community, a theater that is inviting and interactive, a theater that activates and empowers.
Kera A Stage – ANTONOUSA
Artistic Direction: Mety Panagiotopoulou
Dramaturgy: Irene Mountraki
Writers: Akis Dimou
Sofia Kapsourou
Yannis Soldatos
Pela Soultatou
Dimitris Finitsis
Stage Curation: Xanthi Kontou
Lighting: Yannis Lykos
Kinesiology: Vasiliki Ntountoulaki
Production: Konstantina Papadimitriou
Production Assistants: Dina Kobrosly
Amjad Al-Mestarihy
Artist support: Katerina Maragkoudaki
THEATRICAL PLAYS
Knife in the clouds
by Akis Dimou
Direction: Theoni Koutsounaki
Interpretation:
Theoni Koutsounaki [Queen Olga]
Sissy Damoulaki [Antonousa Kastanaki]
Gynantra
by Sofia Kapsourou
Direction – interpretation: Sofia Kapsourou
An amazon at the roadblocks
by Yannis Soldatos
Direction:
Nikolas Hanakoulas
Interpretation:
Io Asithianaki [Antonousa]
Babis Galiatsatos [Dimitris]
Direction Assistance: Dimitra Mazi
Music: Mihalis Paraskakis
We would like to thank the Union of Pontiums in Chania “Panagia Soumela”
Amazons always return
by Pela Soultatou
Direction – Curation: Stellina Ioannidou [Antonousa]
Music: Mary Athanasiou
This is not my voice
by Dimitris Finitsis
Direction: Stella Skordara
Interpretation:
Stella Skordara [Zoe]
Grigoria Oikonomaki [Hara]
Aggeliki Kournidaki [Her]
Music: Ioannis Asimakoulas
DANCES
The dame
Aerial Dance
Movement direction: Kelly Nikolakaki
Interpretation: Stella Maria Kastanaki
The battle
Modern dance
Choreography – Interpretation: Aria Stamataki
The musicians of Rotonda are participating in the dancing happenings, under the guidance of Leonidas Lainakis: Aris Zouridakis, Aris Vlahakis, Petros Perakis, Panayiotis Darmarakis, Vasilis Stratoudakis, Anestis Kourtidis
TALKING ABOUT THEATER
Discussion on modern greek artwork
Coordinated by dramatologist Irene Mountraki
The writers Akis Dimou, Sofia Kapsourou, Yannis Soldatos, Pela Soultatou and Dimitris Finitsis, who wrote the theatrical plays for Antonousa Kastanaki, and theatrologist Irene Mountraki, discuss on modern greek artwork based on their experience. How did the story of Antonousa boost them? How did they handle their material, and how does History meet Theater? What are the goals of a dramaturgist and where do they seek their material? Basic dramaturgy issues that are set by the new era.
Speech “Two Antonousas”
Konstantinos Fournarakis
PhD Philology – Archivist
Antonousa Kastanaki, a chieftain and Antonousa Kampouraki, a poet, became symbols of their era and distinguished themselves, the one with the war and the other with the words as their weapons. How did these two women enter the public space and claim their place in that man’s world?
Speech “Cross dressing in theater”
Ioanna Lutsia
Theatrologist – Director, Member of the Hellenic Association of Theatre and Performing Arts Critics
Cross dressing in theater is very common. After all, the trancendence from one gender to the other places a mysterious and ritualistic challenge. Most of the time, heroines dress up like men to protect themselves, or to be able to do what they desire, overcoming the prohibitions and the narrow boundaries set by society. Either way, they are forced to dress like men do, in order to choose a path of their own. From ancient times through Shakespeare and elizabethan theater, from Carlo Goldoni through Bernard Shaw, heroines hide their sex under male costumes, in order to survive in a male-dominated world.
HAPPENINGS FOR KIDS
Fairytale for children – The daughter goes to war
Katerina Alexaki: Direction, interpretation
Vasilis Kazis: Music, actor, theater teacher
Fairy tale narrative with music for the whole family
The story of the daughter who decided to go to war takes us to a journey in the narrow paths of a male-dominated world, where the heroine is challenged to defend more than the honour of her family and her country, but her very need for self expression. But how will she manage to survive in this world and show what she is capable of?
A fairy tale inspired by the story of Antonousa and based on traditional stories, songs, and literature.
Theater workshop for adolescents – Talk to me about the sexes
Curation: Katerina Alexaki, Vasilis Kazis
More than a simple theater workshop, this experience is the means to explore the sexes’ role within the society, as well as gender stereotypes, and the ways we can create the circumstances for a much more equal coexistence.
Visual Workshops for children
Curation: Anna Nempavlaki & Theodoros Paraskakis
With: Yannis Markantonakis, Lamprini Mpoviatsou, Dimitris Grammenos, Nektaria Tsontaki, Konstantinos Fisher
What does revolution truly mean? How do we reach eco consciousness through a sculpture? How do we make a doll out of fabric? How do we discover and connect with history? These are some of the issues we will explore through these workshops for kids between 6 and 14 years old.
Theater Workshop
Instructor: Irene Mountraki
A wandering through the modern fields of dramaturgy.
What is the new-age Greek theater, where is it performed and in what terms? What are the basic streams, the trends, the significant representatives and the emblematic texts? What is the relationship between dramaturgy and theatrical action? Where does the 21st century, the crisis and the pandemic find us?
Addressed to professional actors and directors.
Instructions
Rokka and Kera villages are located in the northwest of the Prefecture of Chania, in the Municipality of Kissamos, 12 km from Kissamos, 39 km from Chania and 55 km from Chania airport. Following the E65 National Road from Chania to Kissamos, and turning to the Nopigia to Kera – Rokka hub, you will not have difficulty finding us. Rokka’s Square is located in the center of the village, right next to the main street from which you will come.