Say Logos / Say Word
SAY LOGOS SAY WORD (exploring the other-side of my hyphenated self) is a play that explores ancestral lineage, and stretches the line between the early 20th century folk music of Rembetika in Greece and Hip Hop today. Same ethos and content, different geography and time.
The piece will be developed at Legion Arts in Cedar Rapids, Iowa supported by a National Performance Network residency and won a 2007 new Jersey State Council on the Arts Playwriting Fellowship. The play is choreographed by and featuring Chicago-based artist ASIMINA CHREMOS, with music and beatboxing by YAKO from Open Thought Productions and MAVROTHI T. KONTANIS playing the ancient string instrument the Oud. Also, tracks featuring BZ JAM’s bouzouki hip hop from his album My Big Phat Greek…
Standing in the long line of tradition, what is our responsibility now based on who and what came before us? Because it’s all Greek to me, how can we fill the gap between Ancient Greece and Greece, and why is there a difference? Is being a poet, an orator, a philosopher in the blood? What would Aristophanes laughingly say? Or Aristotle think? Studded to the sounds of Zorba’s Dance, the remix, by DJ O. See ancient dialogues at the Lyceum with Anaxamander and in the kitchen with Hercules, the modern day hero-big brother.
A Greek comedic-tragedy set in New Jersey, about home, familial love, and the longing for a land never seen. Say Logos/ Say Word was originally commissioned in its one–act solo version by the People’s Light & Theatre Company in Malvern, PA, Artistic Director Abigail Adams.
NOTE: Since this summary statement, I did visit Greece for my second time in twenty years, and the only thing I can add to it is this: I am not Greek. I am Greek-American. Word.
