the birth of paper
by RealTime Interventions
with Milia Ayache
Beirut partner: Rusted Radishes Beirut Literary & Art Journal
Pittsburgh partners: Handmade Arcade, City of Asylum and Scribe Fine Papers
thurs-sat, jun 24-26 at 5 PM EST (midnight in Beirut)
sun-tues, jun 27-29 at 1 PM EST (8 PM in Beirut)
more about the project
Created to personally connect people in Pittsburgh and Beirut, The Birth of Paper begins with a transcontinental letter exchange among strangers and ends with a series of live, virtual shows centering on the mutual transmission of goods and goodwill among potential friends. In the shows, Beirutis living the fallout of the August 4, 2020 Port of Beirut and the ongoing political and economic freefall will receive gifts in real time designed by Pittsburgh makers from Handmade Arcade (Pittsburgh's largest independent maker community) and independent artists. A celebration of paper, ink, and the postal service as an ancient, global technology of connection. In collaboration with Pittsburgh's City of Asylum, Handmade Arcade, Scribe Fine Papers, and Rusted Radishes: Beirut Literary and Art Journal.
details for participation
First: connect. From April to June, nearly 30 Beirutis and Pittsburghers will connect via post in an email letter exchange spanning more than 5000 miles.
Then: assemble. Mailings designed to encourage connection between the Paris of Appalachia (Pittsburgh) and the Paris of the Middle East (Beirut), with items created by Pittsburgh makers, will be assembled by volunteers from Pittsburgh's City of Asylum.
Then: transmit. Beirutis will open these mailings live during a series of virtual performances guided by The Speaker (performer Milia Ayache) in the company of the rest of us, from Pittsburgh and beyond. Your ticket will allow you a part in and access to this transmission of goods and mutual goodwill.
For the first three shows (June 24-26), we'll meet simultaneously in the afternoon (5 PM EST) & at midnight (in Beirut).
For the last three shows (June 27-29), we'll meet simultaneously at lunchtime (1 PM EST) & in the evening (8 PM in Beirut).
All shows will take place in a virtual space.
Cast & Crew:
Milia Ayache, Performer
Molly Rice, Playwright/Producer
Rusty Thelin, Director/Producer
Emma Wagner DeFrange, Production Manager
Nate Kelly, Digital Stage Manager/Production Intern
Milia & Maya Ayache, Beirut Production Team
Allie Reefer, Marketing Consultant
Sequoia Marriott, Marketing/ Admin Assistant
Erikah Cudjoe, Social Media/Production Intern
Makers:
Katy DeMent, Seed-Paper & Tree-Pencil Artist
Amy Garbark, Candle Artist
Melanie Marshall, Envelope Artist
Sara Hargreaves, Fine Paper Pad Maker
Partners:
City of Asylum
Handmade Arcade
Scribe Fine Papers
Rusted Radishes
Letter Writers:
Pittsburgh / Beirut:
Hazel Leroy / Adib Rahhal
Ethan Heffley / Betty Gobna
Adil Monsoor / Natasha Gasparian
Tereneh Idia / Amina Hassan
Divya Rao Heffley / Perla Kantarjian
Leeann Younger / Romy-Lynn Attieh
Sequoia Marriott / Suha Zreik
Caitlyn Mayernick / Maya Ayache
Nate Kelly / Sarine Sahakian
Haida Bakhshi / Lina Mounzer
Emmanuelle Wambach / Sari Nuwayhid
Rusty Thelin / Serouj Hakissian
Elizabeth Ringler-Jayanti / Noha Khalife
Erikah Cudjoe / Grace Mouannes
City of Asylum/Packing Volunteers
Hannah Clark, Jane Graille, Emily Mattern, Gloria Mou, Leah Picker, Blain Schiff, Anne Schwan, Bill Steen, Susan Steen, Celeste Vitunic
Special Thanks:
Abby Lembersky, Tricia Brancolini-Foley, Rima Rantisi, Khalil Zeigler, John Hempel, Geoff Hurd, Alexis Jabour, Chelsea Sutton, Elsa Lepecki Bean, Squirrel Hill FedEx
& The RealTime Board:
Becky Johnson, Brooke Mullin, Kheir Mugwaneza, Divya Rao Heffley & Melanie Marshall
the creative team
Molly Rice (writer/producer) is a playwright, experience designer and musician who gravitates toward big, aspirational community collaborations; small, strange musicals; and site-specific, immersive enchantments. She works to unearth veins of the extraordinary in human experience through innovative collaborations between people from diverse walks of life. Molly’s work has been developed/ produced in NYC (the Public, Playwrights Horizons, Rattlestick, WP Theater , NYTW, Clubbed Thumb, etc.) and nationally. Commissions include NYU/ Tisch Acting MFA, New Georges, Drilling Company, Montclair & Pace Universities (with dir. Rachel Chavkin), Pittsburgh’s Office of Public Art. Honors: Brown University’s Weston Prize; Women’s International Theater Festival; Princess Grace and PONY Awards (finalist); O’Neill Playwrights’ Center (2-time finalist); New York IT Awards and Kesselring Fellowship (nominee). Recent productions: Khuraki, created with Afghan refugees (nominated for 2019 Mayor’s Award for Public Art); Angelmakers: Songs for Female Serial Killers; Futurity (book co-writer, additional text and story) at ART and Soho Rep/ Ars Nova (Lucille Lortel Award, Best New Musical, 2016); and The Saints Tour, a site-specific play occurring across the country since 2009. She is an Artistic Director of RealTime Interventions.
Rusty Thelin (director/producer) is a graduate of NYU/Playwrights Horizons Theatre School. He has worked with 13P, Clubbed Thumb, Soho Rep, The Brick and New Georges. Rusty graduated from the Commercial Theater Institute, and produced indie musicals ERNEST SHACKELTON LOVES ME by The GrooveLily’s; FUTURITY by The Lisps (A.R.T.); STRUCK by Rebecca Hart and SOMETIMES IN PRAGUE by Orion Johstone & Joshua Gelb; and Molly Rice’s CANARY (NYTW), directed by Tony Award Winner Rachel Chavkin. As a director, Rusty has developed new plays by Lucy Thurber, Maura Campbell, Justin Maxwell, and Molly Rice; as well as classics like DEATH OF A SALESMAN, ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD, and HAMLET. Rusty has appeared on stage as a number of Shakespearian characters, including Petrucchio in THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, Caliban & the villainous Antonio in THE TEMPEST, and the good Antonio in TWELFTH NIGHT; he was nominated for an Irene Adler Award for originating the role of Jess in PAPER CUP OCEAN. Rusty is an Artistic Director of RealTime Interventions, whose projects include THE SAINTS TOUR, SHARON, and ANGELMAKERS: SONGS FOR FEMALE SERIAL KILLERS. A documentary created by WQED on RealTime's recent "culinary play" created with Afghan refugees, KHURAKI, recently won a Golden Quill Award and was nominated for an Emmy.
MILIA AYACHE (performer in Beirut): Milia Ayache is a Beirut-based actor, writer, and Linux enthusiast. She originated the role of The Performer in [RealTime’s] Angelmakers: Songs for Female Serial Killers (2017) and recently recorded the entirety of Etel Adnan’s The Arab Apocalypse for the Sfeir-Semler gallery in Hamburg. Her piece “Vocal Hygiene for the Revolution” was published in Contemporary Theatre Review. Her writing has appeared in American Theatre Magazine as well as the book Stages of Resistance: Theatre and Politics in Capitalocene (NoPassport Press). Milia teaches playwriting and creative writing at The American University of Beirut and holds an MFA from The American Repertory Theatre/Moscow Art Theatre Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University.
