The play “Gomidas'' staged by the Istanbul based Yolcu Theater and accompanied by the Lusavorich Choir was performed in Yerevan on August 26-27, 2022. The play was performed at the Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art (NPAK) which was also the venue of the exhibition Hrant Dink: Here and Now. The play was performed in French with Armenian supertitles to a full auditorium. A local audience of around 250 people from the fields of art and culture, language, literature, memory and history had the opportunity to watch the play and interact with the members of the theater and the choir afterwards.

“Gomidas” was a solo performance by the actor Fehmi Karaarslan during which the Lusavorich Choir, founded in 1929 in Istanbul, accompanied the actor and gave voice to the works of Komitas Vardapet. The play took the spectator on a biographical journey through Komitas Vardapet’s life, spanning from Kutahya to Paris.

Following its premier at the 24th Istanbul Theater Festival, the play had been previously staged 32 times and viewed by over 8000 spectators in the Vortvots Vorodman Church in Istanbul. The play set a precedent in Turkey as the first play about Komitas Vardapet produced and staged by a non-Armenian theater group. The performance in Yerevan was not only symbolic but allowed for interaction and dialogue between the people of the two countries. While the audience had the opportunity to interact with the theater group and the choir after the performances on both nights, the group was able to experience the theater production process in Armenia and visit sites of importance in Komitas Vardapet’s life.

The Yerevan performance of the play was supported by the Hrant Dink Foundation in the framework of the programme
“Support to the Armenia-Turkey Normalisation Process: Stage 3” funded by the European Union.