{news} Reminder: CT Green-sponsored event: Refugee Children Theater Troupe performances, Falls Village, Hartford

[Justine McCabe]

CT GREENS 

PLEASE TRY TO ATTEND THESE GPCT-SPONSORED PERFORMANCES
PALESTINIAN CHILDREN's THEATER TROUPE, Falls Village, Hartford (press release/directions below) 

SPECIAL NOTE:  Before Friday's performance, there will be greetings by playwright and Green Congressional candidate, BILL C. DAVIS.  Bill is the author of MASS APPEAL, AVOW and the upcoming  THE SEX KING, and many political/cultural essays on COMMON DREAMS.
Let's see some GREEN presence.  Spread the word.
Thanks,  
Justine McCabe

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Palestine Right to Return Coalition 
For Immediate Release , June 2, 2005
 
Contacts: Justine McCabe, 860-354-1822; Gale Toensing, 860-824-7636; Hassan Fouda, 860-514-1544
 PALESTINIAN CHILDREN'S THEATER TROUPE COMES TO CONNECTICUT
 Connecticut residents are in for a cultural treat this month when the Al Rowwad Children's Theater, a troupe from a Palestinian refugee camp, performs a play and traditional Middle Eastern dances here. 

 On  Friday, June 24, at 8 p.m.,  Al Rowwad Center Children's Theater will perform the play We are the Children of the Camp at Housatonic Valley Regional High School, Warren Turnpike & Rte. 7, Canaan (Falls Village). Tickets are $10 each at the door, at Falls Village Town Hall, or by calling the above numbers. All proceeds will benefit the non-profit independent  Al Rowwad Children's Theater.

 On Saturday, June 25, at 5:30 p.m. Al Rowwad  will join other international dancers and musicians at the  13the Annual Grove Festival at the Town Grove on Lake Wononscopomuc in Lakeville/Salisbury where they will perform Dabka --  traditional Palestinian dances. The festival is sponsored by Project Troubador, a nonprofit organization that builds bridges of peace and friendship throughout the world through the universal language of music. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children.  Parking is free and plentiful. 

On Sunday, June 26, at 2:30 pm, the Al Rowwad Children's Theater  will perform the play We are the Children of the Camp at Charter Oak Cultural Center, 21 Charter Oak, Hartford.  Tickets are $15 for adults, $8 for children available at the door or by calling the above numbers. All proceeds will benefit the non-profit independent Al Rowwad Children's Theater.


These events offer unique opportunities to experience Palestinian culture while enhancing knowledge of the realities of the daily lives of children who were born under military occupation and have lived their entire lives under military occupation.  Connecticut is one of four states hosting Al Rowwad on its first US tour. The children will also perform in New York City, Vermont, and Kentucky.


Established in 1998 by Dr. Abed Abu-Srour, Al-Rowwad Children's Theater and Cultural Training Center provides artistic and theatrical training for children in and around Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem, Palestine. The six-acre camp is home to 4,500 refugees from 35 Palestinian villages in what is now Israel. 

Al Rowwad means ``the pioneer."  Both the staff and children at Al Rowwad are pioneers in attempting to provide relief from and alternatives to the daily violence of occupation by teaching and practicing peaceful means of self-expression-- poetry, theater, dance, film.  Since 2000, Abu Srour has taken the children to perform in Sweden, Denmark, Egypt and France.


 "These exchanges fulfill a central role at Al Rowwad. They project positive images of Palestinian children to the outside world, as opposed to the violent representation often portrayed by most media outlets.  It's also important that these children know what is normal life without checkpoints, and to continue to have hope," Abu-Srour said   For the past seven years, Al Rowwad has nourished that hope for more than 800 children.


The troupe arrives in Connecticut June 23. Interviews with Abu Srour are available in advance by calling 011 (972) 522 401 325 or emailing alrowwadtheatre at yahoo.com.  For more information call 860-354-1822,  860-824-7636, or  860-514-1544.

The Al Rowwad Children's  Theater tour is sponsored in Connecticut by Al-Awda-CT, The  Palestine Right of Return Coalition  [a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization], P.O. Box 1172, Derby, CT 06477, and supported by  Connecticut United for Peace; Connecticut Alliance for Peace in Palestine & Israel; Northwest Connecticut Coalition for Peace and Justice; Center for Peace and Justice (Burlington, VT); Middle East Crisis Committee; We Refuse to Be Enemies; Connecticut Council for National Interest (Cnionline.org);  Connecticut If Americans Knew (IfAmericansKnew.org); Palestinian American Congress; and the Green Party of Connecticut (www.ctgreens.org)

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DIRECTIONS:

-Friday, June 24 Performance at 8 p.m. in Falls Village, Canaan

Take Route 8.  Get off at exit 44, Downtown Torrington.  At the end of the ramp there is a light.  Go straight one block.  At the next light make left onto Route 4 West.  Go 6.5 miles and go right onto Route 63.  Go 10 miles on Route 63 and then make left onto Route 126.  Go 2 miles and then at the flashing light on Route 7 make a left onto Route 7.  Go 1.5 miles.  At the light make a right onto the Warren Turnpike.  Housatonic Valley Regional High School is a few hundred feet on the left.   Plenty of parking.  

 [Alternatively you can take the scenic route and go from Woodbridge all the way up 63 and pass through Litchfield, Goshen and Cornwall and then look for route 126]

 -Sunday, June 26, 2:30 performance at the Charter Oak Theater (starting from the southern part of the state).

 Take I-91 north to exit 29a which is a left hand exit.  It puts you on a short highway headed for the Capitol area.  Go to its end.  Just before it ends you'll go underneath a library.  When you pass the library the road ends in front of a traffic circle with a grassy area in the middle. 

Go almost all the way around the circle (the 9  o'clock position) and exit onto Hudson St.  Take a left on the second light which is Buckingham St.  Go a few blocks.  Buckingham crosses Main St. and becomes Charter Oak Avenue. Immediately look for the 2nd building on the right, an old converted synagogue.  

 It's 21 Charter Oak Avenue.  Park on the street or make a left at the next intersection and park there or in the church parking lots on the street.



 

 
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