Presented as part of ALIEN AND ORDINARY: A POETS THEATER SYMPOSIUM, curated by Ethan Philbrick
by Bassem Saad and Sanja Grozdanić
performed by Omar Berrada and Kim Rosenfield
Permanent Trespass (Beirut of the Balkans and the American Century) is a script-based performance jointly authored by Sanja Grozdanić and Bassem Saad that contends with the possibility and mutability of mourning through protracted catastrophe. While the performance begins with two discrete roles—that of traveling eulogists—the frame of who or what is being mourned appears to shift and unsettle as the work unfolds. The nameless duo recalls both the recent and distant past as if from a discontinuous identity. Their memories and musings are recurrently interrupted by the spectral presence of a third voice invoking what is called “the American Century” (1948–present). Did the Century end in Afghanistan, Syria, or Bosnia? Is it unending? Shifting tenors from the comic to the nostalgic, the melancholic to the absurd, a digressive back-and-forth between these “post-conflict” landscapes and psyches builds toward an uncertain eulogy.
Across numerous iterations since 2021, Permanent Trespass has developed a distinct formal language through a process of continuous re-writing. To quote the opening lines of the performance—everything must go. For this reading at The Poetry Project, Grozdanić and Saad present the first performance of Permanent Trespass with new readers—Kim Rosenfield and Omar Berrada.
A newly commissioned performance of the work by The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center will expand the artists’ original script-based work to include a new sound score, film material, and additional projections. This fully-staged version of Permanent Trespass will premiere on October 25th in Troy, and will include material from the in-progress film of the same name, plus archival footage.
Tickets to Permanent Trespass (Beirut of the Balkans and the American Century) are $15 in advance, or $20 at the door. Attendees can also purchase a pass to all five events of ALIEN AND ORDINARY: A POETS THEATER SYMPOSIUM for $40.
This event will also be livestreamed for free on The Poetry Project's YouTube channel.
Alien and Ordinary: A Poets Theater Symposium is generously supported and made possible by funding from the Axe-Houghton Foundation.