“My Mother’s Sin ” by G. Vizyenos

The performance “My Mother’s Sin” by G. Vizyenos, placed already under the auspices of the General Secretariat of Greeks Abroad – Hellenic Republic Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Hellenic Republic Ministry of Tourism and the Greek National Tourism Organization, will be presented for the first time in English. The performance is going to travel around the US in November 2018 and will be presented at universities and a wider audience of Hellenism abroad.

“My Mother’s Sin”, an autobiographical short story written by Georgios Vizyenos in 1883 speaks of forgiveness, guilt and atonement in a confessional manner.

The aim of this venture is to reveal Vizyenos’s therapeutic confession abroad, beyond Greek borders.

The story’s central figure is Annio, a sickly little girl, around whom the plot is developed.

We follow the course of the girl’s illness and the mother’s vain efforts to save her, in order to redeem herself from a hidden sin.

Absorbed in her daughter and her illness, the mother seems to have forgotten that she has three other boys, as well. After the death of her daughter, she proceeds to successive adoptions of little girls, evoking reactions from her remaining children.

Director’s Note

One body both transmitter and receiver of speech, encompasses all the characters, the souls and the voices, of both the living and the dead. One by one each emerges in order for its own voice to be heard. Guided by poetry, rhythm and musicality a static body gradually arrives at a state of conflict with itself. A human enacts the drama, reviving the ancient trauma and gets one step closer to the Platonic A-litheia*.
*A-litheia means “Truth” in Greek. α-ληθεια = α (=non) + ληθη (=loss of memory). Α-litheia is the disestablishment of oblivion, the regaining of memory.

Tour November 2018

Harvard University – Monday,12 November, 2018
Location: Fong Auditorium, Boylston Hall
Event time: Monday, November 12, 2018 – 6.30 p.m. to 7.45 p.m
Contact: dourou@fas.harvard.edu

Yale University – Wednesday, 14 November, 2018

Location: Crescent Theater (304 York Street New Haven, CT 06511)
Event time:Wednesday, November 14, 2018 – 6 p.m. to 7.20 p.m
Contact : Hira Jafri, hira.jafri@yale.edu, 203-432-0061

Columbia University – Saturday, 17 November 2018

Location: 612 Schermerhorn Hall (1190 Amsterdam Ave. New York, NY 10027)
Event time: Saturday, November 17, 2018 – 6.30 p.m. to 7.45 p.m
R.S.V.P. to Ms. Ioanna Messini-Skordas at im2505@columbia.edu

Floridan Palace Hotel, Tampa, Florida – Thursday, 29 November, 2018

Location: Grand Ballroom, Floridan Palace Hotel (905 N. Florida Ave.Tampa, FL 33602)
Event time: Thursday, November 29, 2018 – 7 p.m. to 8.15 p.m

University of Illinois at Chicago – Wednesday, 5 December, 2018
Location: 1044 W. Harrison
Event time: Wednesday, December 5, 2018 – 7.30 p.m. to 8.45 p.m