For eight summers, REMAP contributed to a professional residency and conservatory training program in a mythological birthplace of Orpheus and Western theatre & drama on the Greek-Bulgarian border. Based at the Rhodope Drama Theatre (RDT) in Smolyan, Bulgaria, the Lab brought together artists from around the world for intensive training in performance forms and collaborations built around parallels in global mythology.
REMAP artist-researchers provided demonstrations and hands-on explorations of applications of emerging technologies for the RITL at large, and co-created new works as collaborations with artists practicing traditional and contemporary approaches from six continents, such as The Virgin and the Unicorn and Primer/Lem.
The Center’s participation was funded by multiple grants from the Trust for Mutual Understanding. The Lab was co-created/co-directed by Bulgarian director Peter Karapetkov and UCLA alumnus Jared J. Stein, previously resident playwright of the RDT. In 2012, REMAP and the RITL co-organized the REMAP/RITL Workshop for Digital Media, Theatre & Design in Formello, Italy.
Rhodope Mountains—2005-2012.
Video documenting the first two years of the RITL: