lee meir

Across the Middle, Past the East

An Unsettled Cabaret

A temporary collective of female identified artists with Eastern Mediterranean origins are delving into the complexity of the region. Together and apart we are uncovering the configurations of cultures, nations and identities, and how they mesh together into our conflicted histories, narratives, desires and dreams. What distinguishes us from our citizenships and how can we de-nationalize ourselves without erasing our cultural identities? How do we speak and work together taking into consideration privilege, political-social conflicts and struggles, and cultural differences? Can working together be a way of resisting systemic oppression? Through the eyes of our ancestors and our female role models from previous generations we are looking at the capacities and intentions to making art in a time and place of heightened patriarchy. Many things have changed, some things haven’t - one still finds herself needing to look for or find a new home. We are reclaiming the right to have a complex identity, to exchange and correspond with the bodies living next to us, to travel to unknown destinations passing through new homes and exiles. In the tradition of the cabaret the performance tackles intense political and intimate matters with tunes and wiggles, drinks and nibbles, all for your European gaze.

CREATION AND PERFORMANCE: Enana, Fulvia Dallal, Roni Katz, Sirin Malas, Lee Mèir, Moona Moon, Rasha Nahas, Miriam Schickler / CONCEPT: Roni Katz & Lee Méir, with dramaturgical support of Fulvia Dallal / GUESTS: Prince Emrah, Selin Davasse SOUND DESIGN Miranda De La Frontera/ TECHNICAL DIRECTION, LIGHT, SOUND: Gretchen Blegen, Catalina Fernandez / GUEST EXPERTS: Sandra Noeth, Kattrin Deufert, Nedjma Hadj Benchelabi / PRODUCTION: Saskia Schoenmaker, Annett Hardegen

A production by Roni Katz + Lee Méir in collaboration with Vierte Welt. Funded by the Capital Cultural Fonds and the foundation Zurückgeben. Previous performances supported by the Senate Administration for Culture and Europe. Current performances are supported by Fonds Darstellende Künste with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media within the program NEUSTART KULTUR.

Premiered on the 25th-28th of January 2018, Sophiensaele, Berlin

Photos by André Lewski and Dorothea Tuch.