KHACHATUR ABOVYAN ARMENIAN STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY

Once again a theatrical première is on the stage of the Pedagogical University; on this occasion Richard Kalinoski’s play “Beast on the Moon” was performed.  On the threshold of the centenary of the Armenian Genocide the stage director and the ASPU Lecturer Herbert Gasparyan, who gave a new spirit to the story of the beast on the moon, slightly deriving from the Polish playwright’s story inspiring a more optimistic note.

The third year students of the Department of TV direction presented in the “Beast on the Moon” the lives of the Genocide survivors Aram and Seda after the crime of 1915, when the heroes manifesting a collective image of Armenians in 1920s were trying to set up a new life in Milwaukee. 

“It was a full moon; the Moon was shining brightly; the Turks were howling like wolves; everybody was killed. If the Moon did not shine so brightly, may be they also would not have slaughtered so many people; I hate the Moon”, the husband of the main heroin Seda tries to assuage her nightmare by playing Ludwig Van Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” and persuading that the Moon is a beautiful luminary.    

“The story of a whole nation becomes more thrilling and worthy as it is being presented through a foreigner’s view and with his words. The beast’s tone is quite little in the play, while the main peculiarity of the performance is the sacrament of the continuation of life and the good news of fertility of the main heroin who had become infertile because of hunger”, mentioned the director of the performance and added that Kalinoski’s moon was changed in the performance, the main darkness was missing, a lot of parts have been cut down or added, a reflection of the bright life was present. No matter how cruel life can be, it still goes on.

In his turn, Mr. Arman Ayvazyan playing one of the main heroes of the performance Aram, a man who lost his family in the Genocide and settled in the USA, confesses that he does not like his hero very much; “he is not the hero”. However, the future TV Director admits that on the way of creating the hero and living another person’s life he grew up and realized that the image of an Armenian person does not imply being wretched but rather being strong.

“My hero copes with his memories and overcomes the slave inside him; he is a victorious hero”. The audience welcomed the director’s and the actors’ work with applauds. 

“For two continuous months the whole actor’s team grieved and suffered; there can be neither theater nor performances without loyalty”, Director Herbert Gasparyan added and expressed his hope to perform on other stages too before 24 April.