Inflatable rafts on the Mediterranean. Dark holds of cargo trucks. Family photos wrapped carefully in a backpack that crosses border checkpoints. These are some of the powerful images of modern-day humanity-in-motion depicted in the theater piece CARTOGRAPHY. Sewn from stories of young Eritrean and Syrian refugees, CARTOGRAPHY fuses dance, film, map-making and projections to explore the tragedy and wonder of young lives in motion.

About the Making of CARTOGRAPHY

Author and illustrator Christopher Myers joined forces with theater director Kaneza Schaal, who cut her theatrical teeth with such highly regarded ensembles as Elevator Repair Service and The Wooster Group. Myers and Schaal, who have collaborated before, began developing CARTOGRAPHY after working in Munich with young refugees. Although separated by language and tradition, the children had critical experiences in common from their migrant journeys. "There was one moment where a young woman from Syria, who was living in the same residence as someone from Nigeria, realized they had both been on inflatable rafts on the Mediterranean," says Schaal. "There was this moment of understanding between them: you know what I am talking about." CARTOGRAPHY aims to extend this moment of understanding beyond those who are classed as refugees and out towards the audience, especially young people. "It's such a gift to understand the world as one of migration as opposed to these hot points of tension and trauma," says Myers. "We wanted to use theatre to create a point of contact through which people who have experienced this kind of hardship and the people who have never experienced this kind of hardship could meet and see each other."

This performance is supported by the New England Foundation for the Arts through the New England Arts Resilience Fund, part of the United States Regional Arts Resilience Fund, an initiative of the U.S. Regional Arts Organizations and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with major funding from the federal CARES Act from the National Endowment for the Arts.

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Also funded in part by the Virginia and James Giddens 1959 Fund and the Andrew J. Greenebaum 1984 Fund.

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Photos: Elman Studio