Aram Kouyoumdjian

Aram Kouyoumdjian is a celebrated playwright, director and artist.

Kouyoumdjian is the winner of Elly Awards for both playwriting (“The Farewells”) and directing (“Three Hotels”). His writing credits also include "The Delicate Lines" and "Velvet Revolution."

Kouyoumdjian has been critically hailed for his "adventurous artistic sensibility for intelligent productions."

"Protest," Kouyoumdjian's theatrical solo performance about the Armenian genocide, premiered in London in a production at the Finborough Theatre in November 2005. It was presented as part of a program of spoken word and poetry billed as "I Wish to Die Singing." The production, devised by Neil McPherson, opened on November 6 and had a limited run until November 20.

"Protest," originally debuted at the Downey Museum of Art in 2000, has been performed in most major California cities, includingLos Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, and Fresno. In the beginng of 2005 actor J.D. Rudometkin performed the piece in a three-city tour that culminated at the El Portal Forum Theatre inNorth Hollywood.

"Protest", the one-act monologue, is partly-autobiographical piece begins at a demonstration against Turkish denials of the Genocide. Its centerpiece, however, is a dream sequence in which the protagonist finds himself stranded in the middle of a desert, where he encounters the ancient Armenian goddess Anahid and contemplates life as it would have been if his ancestors had been spared the Turkish campaign of extermination.

As for 2005 Kouyoumdjian was collaborating on the script of "Little Armenia," commissioned by the Fountain Theatre and slated for production early in 2006.

Sources==

• "Protest" Premieres in London, December 18, 2005