Workshops
Workshop sessions involve extensive interaction between presenters and participants around an idea or hands-on experience of a practice. These sessions may also take the form of a crafted panel, staged conversation, dialogue or debate – all involving substantial interaction with the audience. [45 min. each]
Iphigenia at Lesvos: Story of a Refugee
Workshop Presentation Lisa Schlesinger
This session will present on Iphigenia at Lesvos: Story of a Refugee, a multimedia performance by a collective of international award-winning artist/scholars from Syria, Lebanon, Greece, Russia, Korea, France, U.S. It is the culminating piece in The Iphigenia Project, a multi-year multimedia collaboration, begun in 2014, in response to the refugee crisis and seen through the lens of the Iphigenia myth. Iphigenia references Euripides’ plays and draws from the traditional form of the ancient Greek women’s lament from the Trojan and Peloponnesian War epics. It follows the plight of women and children refugees, the routes they travel to escape war, and the histories/stories they carry with them. In Euripides’ Iphigenia at Aulis there are two possible outcomes: Iphigenia escapes her death and a sacrificial animal is put in her place or she dies. This performance conceives of the passage between Aulis and her landing at Iphigenia at Taurus, as the refugees’ path, a state of “no way forward” and “no way back,” according to the ancients, a fate worse than death. The Iphigenia Project evolves over time using interdisciplinary forms including text/film essays, presentations and theatre with the goal of keeping the refugee crisis visible. To date these works have reached the public through public television, national film and literary festivals and publications. Iphigenia at Lesvos, the culminating multimedia performance will be produced at the University of Iowa Partnership in the Arts in 2018, premiere in New York City 2019 and then tour in the U.S. and Europe.
Refugee Children: Using Story to Help Refugee Children Navigate Cultural Differences to Gain a Sense of Belonging
Workshop Presentation Jerri Shepard, Deborah Nieding
The authors developed a series of stories highlighting animal characters who must overcome considerable cultural challenges in order to fit into new and changing cultural climates. The stories are accompanied by strategies and interventions, which foster a sense of belonging and develop problem solving skills, helping them to navigate new terrain. The process of story telling and strategy development focuses on developing and enhancing resilience in refugee children.
