THE IDEA behind our staged readings

At Restart Theater Athens, we believe in the power of staged readings to bring writers, audiences, and communities together in meaningful and transformative ways. Through our workshops and performances, we create a collaborative environment where literature is not only read but experienced. Our staged readings serve as a platform for emerging literary works, allowing them to share their voices with a broader community while receiving valuable feedback from both performers and audiences.

By mixing professional actors with non-actors in the production of these staged readings involving actively our community members in parallel activities, we foster a rich, dynamic atmosphere that promotes learning, collaboration, and mutual respect. This approach creates opportunities for personal growth for participants while enriching the overall experience for the audience. At Restart Theater Athens, we aim to create a space where literature, theatre, and community intersect, giving rise to new interpretations, connections, and creative possibilities. Through these staged readings, we continue to inspire, engage, and build stronger bonds within the communities we serve.

The Value to Participants

For non-actors, participating in a staged reading provides a transformative opportunity for personal growth. Stepping into the role of an actor—whether for the first time or as an experienced participant—allows individuals to engage with literature on a deeper level, exploring both its intellectual and emotional dimensions. The process helps participants expand their empathy and perspective while building confidence and communication skills. As they bring characters to life, they also gain a deeper appreciation for the nuances of language, storytelling, and performance.

The mixing of professional actors and non-actors in staged readings creates a unique environment for learning and collaboration. Non-actors benefit from the technical skill, experience, and interpretive expertise of professional actors, gaining insights into performance techniques and theatrical dynamics. At the same time, the authenticity and fresh energy that non-actors bring to the stage often inspire professionals, fostering a creative dialogue between experienced and new performers. This collaborative atmosphere not only enriches the performance but also nurtures mutual respect and shared learning. Non-actors gain confidence, experience, and valuable skills, while professional actors are reminded of the transformative power of engaging with new perspectives.

The Value to the Audience

Staged readings of literature offer an innovative way to reconnect audiences with the power of words. By bringing literature to life through live performance, these readings create a dynamic, immersive experience that bridges the gap between traditional reading and theatre. While the text itself remains unchanged, the live performance adds layers of meaning through the actors’ voices, expressions, and gestures, creating a more immediate and engaging connection to the material.

This format also makes literature more accessible. For those who may find reading daunting or time-consuming, staged readings offer a condensed yet rich experience, sparking curiosity and encouraging further exploration of the full text. The combination of performance and storytelling enhances the material, making it feel more alive and relevant to contemporary audiences. The shared, communal nature of the event allows for deeper emotional engagement and reflection, fostering a sense of connection among the audience and the performers.

Staged Readings of Literature: An Innovative Approach to Engaging Audiences and communities with Literature

The Value to the Authors

For emerging writers or lesser-known works, staged readings provide a powerful platform to introduce new voices to the public. These readings offer a unique opportunity for authors to see their work come to life in front of an audience, allowing them to experience firsthand how their words resonate in performance. The feedback from both performers and audiences can offer invaluable insights and inspiration for the writer, helping to shape future revisions or new projects.

Additionally, staged readings offer writers the chance to engage with their work in a new way. As actors interpret and breathe life into the text, they may uncover hidden meanings or bring new dimensions to the characters and themes, opening fresh possibilities for the writer. The interaction between writers, actors, and audiences fosters a dynamic space for creative growth, enabling the writer to see how their work exists in the context of the living theatre.

We inaugurate the second cycle of STAGED READINGS FOR ALL 2025, this time in collaboration with a group of artists from France and Belgium, and co-organized with the Association Konstantinos Graham (Paris) and Aparsis Editions (Athens). Continuing our "Theater, Literature, and Society" productions which began as a pilot project in 2024 in collaboration with writer and Theater Critic Maro Triantafyllou (who proposed the authors and works) and presented works by Greek authors Mitsos Kasolas, Spyros Tzokas, and Maria Tzardi, this initiative also continues to build the exchanges that have begun with international artists from our first year of operations.

RESTARTING THEATRE, LITERATURE AND SOCIETY

«Θέλω να γίνω Άγγελος / Je veux être un Ange

/ I want to be an Angel»

by Konstantinos Graham

WEDNESDAY, 26 FEBRUARY 2025

20.00 at RESTART THEATER ATHENS

a tri-lingual production in Greek, French and English organised by Restart Theater Athens, in collaboration with a group of artists from France, Greece and Belgium, and co-organized with the Association Konstantinos Graham (Paris) and Aparsis Editions (Athens)

Part of a research-based workshop process at our Athens studio (between 20 February - 1 March 2025 process) involving guest artists—musician Norma Jordao (FR), composer Philippe Blanchard (FR), director/writer Marc Moreigne (FR), translator Aïda Karanxha (FR), visual artist Laurent Trézegnies (BE) —and, from the Greek side, director Angeliki Kasola, musician Rigas Diplas, and actresses Irini Mela and Anastassia Politi, we jointly present in public a trilingual theatrical-musical STAGED reading based on the work of young Greek-American poet and rapper Konstantinos Graham (1997 – 2017). His texts and poetry were collected, translated, and edited by Anastasia Politi, Konstantinos Graham's mother, that formed the trilingual book I Want to Be an Angel / Je veux être un Ange / Θέλω να γίνω Άγγελος who also authored the testimonial book Konstantinos Graham: My Life Near You (Editions Aparsis, 2023)

STAGED LITERATURE READINGS 2025

The prize is aimed at young people aged 18-25, who are invited to submit a poetic text of 2 or 3 pages or a 3-minute audio file in Greek, English, French, or all three languages by March 31, 2025, to the email: asso.konstantinos.graham@proton.me.

The winner of the award will be announced on April 24, 2025, at 8:30 p.m. at the Maison de la Vie Associative et Citoyenne (181, avenue Daumensil, Paris 12e).

According to theater critic and journalist Paul Ben Itzak (Paris – San Francisco):

‘This award reflects a mother’s desire to extend the life and dreams of her son and to heal the nightmares of other young people, which were also Konstantinos’ nightmares, channeling them into creation.’"

INTERNATIONAL POETRY COMPETITION Konstantinos Graham Poetry Prize – Prix de poésie Konstantinos Graham

the production

«Θέλω να γίνω Άγγελος / Je veux être un Ange / I want to be an Angel»

by Konstantinos Graham

Texts: Konstantinos Graham, Anastassia Politi
Stage Direction: Angeliki Kasola
Music: Philippe Blanchard, Rigas Diplas
Piano: Norma Jordao
Visual Research: Laurent Trézegnies
Translation Advisor: Aïda Karanxha
Technical Direction: Stavros Chasiotis
Social Media: Bilio Mourgela

The recorded voices of Konstantinos Graham and Julie Ward are heard

Performed by: Irini Mela (GR), Marc Moreigne (FR),
Anastassia Politi (GR, FR, EN)

Introduction by the critic and author Maro Triantafyllou

Organized by:
Restart Theater Athens
Co-organized by:
Association Konstantinos Graham (Paris), Aparsis Editions (Athens)

Konstantinos Graham is no longer with us.

In his short time on earth, he left behind some beautiful writings—his thoughts on life and literature, his existential concerns, and a great poem in which he captured his anxieties, hopes, bitterness, and expectations.

A musician, actor, and poet, he was (for those who knew and loved him, he still is) a being full of ideas, clever and radiant. A highly promising and extraordinarily sensitive young creator, who, had he lived longer, would have amazed us with his work.

Konstantinos also had—how could it have been otherwise?—social and political concerns. Those who carefully read the book, where his mother, Anastasia Politi, actress and director, lovingly gathered his writings and many photographs of him, will come to know a wonderful young artist. Alongside his own writings, you will read the heartbreaking text by Anastasia, where, without exaggeration or sentimental ease, she recorded the story of her child and shared with us her soul—the anguished soul of a mother who saw her child fade away in her arms."

Maro Triantafyllou

Konstantinos Graham (1997 – 2017)

A young Greek-American rapper and actor who lived until the age of twenty between Paris, Montpellier, and California, with frequent visits to Greece—the last one in Tinos in 2016. He wrote songs and poems in three languages, read Plato, Epicurus, and Gandhi, studied the saxophone, and recited in French the lyrics of Pavlos Fyssas, Mattia Eckar, and Andreas Empirikos.

Konstantinos contributed to the documentary-theatre performance: "Pavlos Lives, Greece Resists," dedicated to Pavlos Fyssas, which was presented at the Antoine Vitez Municipal Theatre in Ivry in 2016 by the artistic group Irinna. As an actor-narrator, he participated in the performances: "Gypsy Poem" and "Song of Light," staged by the Irinna artistic group in Montpellier in 2017.

In his writings, Konstantinos sought roots and meaning in life during the era of globalization, set against the backdrop of family breakdown, romantic disappointment, social injustice, and encounters with troubled youth. He searched for childhood innocence and the transcendence of limits. He expressed a thirst for love and freedom, for a sense of sacredness regardless of religion, within a relentlessly cynical world that creates suicides.

"Every now and then / De temps en temps / Πότε πότε"
is a trilingual poem by Konstantinos, which won the international poetry competition for young people aged 18-25, Mattia Eckar 2017, and was published in the “Anthology of Young Writers – Volume 9” by the Academy of Montpellier in Southern France, edited by Marie Gola.

Konstantinos Graham (1997 – 2017)

Irini Mela

Actress

Anastassia Politi

Actress, writer

Maro Triandafyllou

Writer / Theatre Critic

Aïda Karanxha

Literary translator / Interpreter

meet the artists

Angeliki Kasola

Stage Director

Philippe Blanchard

Music Composer

Norma Jordao

Musician/ performer

Rigas Diplas

Music Composer

Laurent Trézegnies

Visual Artist

Marc Moreigne

Director/ author