Leslie Ayvazian Appearance At Red Barn

Award-winning New York playwright Leslie Ayvazian will make a special one-night-only appearance at 7 pm, Monday, March 28 at the Red Barn Theatre in Key West. She will read and perform from her newest work-in-progress, “Mention My Beauty”. General seating tickets are $15 and are available by calling the Red Barn box office at 305-296-9911.

Ms. Ayvazian is in town for the Key West premiere of her critically-acclaimed play, “Out of the City”, currently playing at the Red Barn through April 26. She and the play’s director, Murphy Davis, have known and worked together in New York. The reading of her new work is a rare opportunity to look into the development of a major new play.

“It’s in the early stages,” Ayvazian said. “It’s exciting to me, and I’m careful where I go to try things out. I like small, compact, theatrical theatres. The Red Barn and Key West will be a wonderful place to do it.”

Ayvazian, an Adjunct Professor of Dramaturgy at Columbia University’s Graduate School of the Arts, has had her plays produced at some of New York’s most prestigious theatres, including Atlantic Theatre Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, and South Coast Repertory Company. She has won several awards, including the John Gassner/Outer Critics Circle Award and the Roger L. Stevens Award (both for Best New American Play for “Nine Armenians”).

“Mention My Beauty” is a rare theatrical animal: a woman alone on stage, speaking directly to the audience. Men have done it for years – think Spalding Grey, among others – but theatrical storytelling has not historically been performed by women.

“I’m interested in distilling theatre down to the essential story,” she said, “to have the most clarified version on stage. That’s what I’m doing here. It’s highly crafted. I speak directly to the audience, telling my stories so they feel that they’ve been somewhere.”

Ayvazian says her latest is intensely personal, and very timely, given world events.

“It’s centered on my youth,” she said. “What it was like to grow up with the women’s movement and being threatened by it instead of lifted by it. I also delve into what it’s like to be in a family of refugees from Turkey, and how that makes for a kind of insanity. It’s that insanity that permeates many, many groups of people who suffer in ways that the world is turning a blind eye to.”

But Ayvazian stresses that the work is not about victimization but rather about finding a way to prevail. “I lived through those years and went on to have a great life with a great love. I’m very grateful for my life.”

The March 28 solo performance will actually be Ayvazian’s second appearance at Red Barn. This Saturday, she will attend “Out of the City” and participate in a talk-back with director Murphy Davis and the audience after the performance. Anyone holding a ticket that evening is welcome to stay afterward and talk with Ayvazian.

[livemarket market_name="KONK Life LiveMarket" limit=3 category=“” show_signup=0 show_more=0]