`Women of Ararat,' a new play is in the works in Boston

[Yervant1]

`Women of Ararat,' a new play is in the works in Boston

by Tom Vartabedian

 

http://www.reporter.am/go/article/2013-07-06--women-of-ararat--a-new-play-is-in-the-works-in-boston

Published: Saturday July 06, 2013

 

 

Playwright Judith Boyajian Strang-Waldau.

 

BOSTON - The mission of getting the genocide recognized and bringing

more credibility to the resilient women who withstood its fury is

reaching a crescendo by Playwright Judith Boyajian Strang-Waldau.

 

But no one seems more aware that a journey toward any destination

begins with a single step. In her case, they're giant ones.

 

Last March she conducted a reading for the first act of her play,

"Women of Ararat," sponsored by the Armenian International Women's

Association (AIWA). The cast included several Armenian actors from

Greater Boston and New York including Nancy Tutunjian Berger, June

Murphy Katz, Judy Davis, Jennifer Guzelian Flanagan, Joy Renjilian and

Sofie Refojo.

 

"The result was unexpectedly moving when I heard my words making

people laugh and cry," she recalled. "The audience was mixed with both

Armenians and non-Armenians. Although Armenians have heard these

stories before, they cried along with those who were hearing them for

the first time."

 

Three Armenian women approached the playwright after the reading to

thank her for finally giving them a voice. It made that kind of an

impact, even with those familiar with our story.

 

"I still can't read the end of Act 2 without crying," she reveals. "It

is written in the voice of my grandmother whom I adored. When I think

about what she lived through in the old country and when she came to

America, I am astonished by her continued strength and loving nature,

despite what she saw happen all around her. This play is dedicated to

my grandmothers from whom I was given such a rich heritage. They lived

in Watertown."

 

Her resume appears both diverse and fulfilling. She resides in metro

west Boston with a husband, three dogs and a cat. She majored in piano

at the Boston Conservatory of Music, securing degrees in vocal/opera

performance from the University of Southern California and Arts

Administration from New York University.

 

She's worked in marketing and development at the Metropolitan Opera

and Carnegie Hall, along with the Olympia Dukakis' Whole Theater in

Montclair, NJ. At the New England Conservatory of Music, she served as

director of Institutional Development for the Preparatory School.

 

Currently, Strang-Waldau gives private piano and voice lessons in

Wellesley and Natick and will begin a teaching position in Sherborn

this coming fall. She also runs an annual scholarship competition for

advanced high school musicians through the Harvard Musical

Association.

 

Make no point about her ethnicity. She's 100 percent Armenian -- the

product of genocide survivors from Mersin, Turkey -- and was

christened at St. James Church in Watertown. She's been a church

soloist and was asked to sing a service during which the lay preacher

gave a sermon on the Armenian genocide.

 

The preacher had recently read Samantha Power's book called "A Problem

>From Hell - America and the Age of Genocide" and delivered an

impassioned homily on what the Armenian people experienced.

 

Strang-Waldau was deeply moved that a non-Armenian could be so

sensitive to this period of terrorism and reopened a deep wound that

was a critical part of her family's history rarely discussed in her

presence.

 

"I remember during President Obama's first term how he addressed the

topic of genocide acknowledgement with the Turkish government and was

unable to change their position," she points out. "This `amnesia'

within the Turkish government is horrifying to the Armenian people. I

decided that I wanted to find a way to honor the centennial."

 

"Women of Ararat" is a full-length drama that spans roughly 10 years

from 1965-75. The opening scenes are based upon the playwright's

childhood. She represents the fifth generation of women living on her

maternal side.

 

It's written to commemorate the 100th anniversary in April 2015.

Strang-Waldau hopes the play will educate those who are unaware of

this infamous period in history and make us more responsible to those

around the globe who are victims of political injustice.

 

It's about a family of Armenian women who've survived the genocide and

the great-granddaughter who interprets their condition in a more

modern and global world.

 

It is also a story of how women love, care for one another and cope

with the aftermath of war and inhumanity.

 

"Women of Ararat" is also about secrets, not thoughtlessly made, but

to spare a child her innocence and help survivors stop reliving their

excruciating past.

 

Although sad in content, there are humorous and light-hearted ways the

women relate to one another. It's about women, written by a woman,

based on humanity more than a history lesson. There is one male in the

cast and it is his character that brings tension into their protected

world.

 

"I grew up with a great-grandmother and two grandmothers whom I

visited regularly," she traced back. "They didn't like to speak about

what happened during the years they were forced to leave Turkey and

wandered until they made it to the United States. My paternal and

maternal grandmothers had very different stories that are relived in

the play. I was a young adult before I was told what actually happened

to them."

 

"Women of Ararat" was also selected for a reading in the "Voices 7"

women playwrights' festival at Wellesley College where it attracted

considerable interest.

 

"The most moving part was when three Armenian women in the audience

thanked me for giving them a voice," she said. "I couldn't have asked

for a more meaningful gift."

 

Her research included all Peter Balakian's books, most recently

"Armenian Golgotha." She continued her research at Ellis Island and

reading everything she could find online. Discussions with family

members and friends were replete with feedback.

 

A visit to Turkey was made last summer, spending time in Istanbul

where the genocide was still being considered as "the Armenian

problem."

 

"It was clear that the attitude toward our history had not changed,"

said Strang-Waldau. "I also spent time in Mersin where my grandmothers

lived. It was no longer the beautiful seaside town filled with fruit

trees, rather a sprawling Mediterranean city of high hotels and

condominiums."

 

The playwright brought along copies of family photographs to bury

there but found no space in the cemetery. Instead, she took the photos

to a beach where her grandmothers may have played and let them drift

out to sea.

 

"I'm very fortunate to have been guided by many theater professionals

in the Boston area who've helped me through the playwrighting

process," she says. "I've worked with local playwrights, directors,

theater administrators and actors, all of whom have given a great deal

of their time to this project as they value its importance."

 

A most unusual experience occurred during a writing class she was

taking to develop the play. Strang-Waldau was in a class of 10 people

and upon being introduced found herself seated next to a Turk from

Istanbul.

 

As it turned out, the student was a Turkish-Jew whose grandfather had

been unjustly imprisoned by the Turkish government.

 

"After reading the script, he suggested that I produce it in Turkey

since it reveals the deep emotional impact of the Turkish government's

actions on the Armenian families they persecuted," said Strang-Waldau.

"Meeting my Turkish colleague in my first playwriting class could be

none other than divine intervention. He was more than supportive. He

was encouraging."

 

Strang-Waldau is looking to produce her work throughout various parts

of the country during the 2014-2015 theater season. She hopes to

attract sponsors either through a centennial committee or an

independent producer. She's prepared to meet her obstacles and secure

the necessary media hype surrounding it.

 

"Boston can boast a population of extremely well-educated residents,"

she points out. "However, I often meet people who've never heard of

the Armenian genocide. Once they learn, they are not only appalled by

the history but that the Turkish government has not acknowledged their

wrong-doing."

 

Looking back over her life, Strang-Waldau never imagined writing a

play as a musician and music teacher. Through it, she looks to create

a level of understanding and empathy that will motivate people to

assist us in our work --- and have this historical atrocity

acknowledged by the Turkish government.

 

"Choosing to write a tragic historical drama that focuses upon people

I love was an enormous undertaking for a first-time playwright," she

feels. "This is the story I most wanted to tell. My hope is that

people of all nationalities will want to listen."