Draumasmiðjan has opened applications for the Second International Deaf Theater Festival of Iceland, DREAMS 2009.

DREAMS 2009 will be held from 24th to 31st of May 2009 in Reykjavik. The Icelandic National Theatre will host the festival at one of its stages, The Box.

The festival will include theatre performances, workshops and lectures and the theme this time is “sign language – theatre language”.  Teacher at the workshops will be Lars Henning from Denmark and more  and lecturers are among others Marianne Aro from Finland, who will give a lecture about the use of sign language in Opera and Monique Holt from U.S.A. who will give a lecture about the use of sing language on stage.

Deaf Theatres far and wide are welcome to apply, but professional theatres will have priority over semi-professional ones but amateur theatres are not eligible. You would have to get yourselves to Iceland but we will pay for your transport, board and per diem in Iceland.   We will however pay for maximum of 5 persons, but if you want to bring more people we will be happy to assist you with arrangements.

We are looking for following:

•    Something new
•    Something interesting
•    Something different

If your Theatre has a performance to send to Iceland or just some questions, then don´t hesitate to contact us to the following address This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  

Due to the great demand it has been decided to add two extra shows for the comedy pay "Hvar er (K)Lárus?"

on saturday 6th of December
and sunday 28th of December.
Both shows are at 20:00.

The shows are at the Kópavogstheater, Funalind 2, Kópavogur and tickets can be ordered through the Dream Workshop email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or through the phone 898 4429 for 3G sign language or 824 2525 for Icelandic.  Ticket price is 2.200 kr. (group discount applies).

The theater group Deaf Roots will premier "Hvar er (K)Lárus?" in the Kópavogstheater on the 15th of November.  The play is an hour long black comedy and follows the search for a man named Lárus (his sign name is Smart (Klár)) but he seems to have vanished.  The author is Már Ólafsson and received first price in the Deaf Author workshop competition by the Dream Workshop earlier this year.  The theater group Deaf Roots is the amateur theater group from the Dream Workshop and is wholly compromised of deaf individuals.

All the participants are deaf, the director is Jan Fiurasek, lightning director is T. Marianne Aro, hair and makeup is done by Hanna Lára Ólafsdóttir and the stage and costume designed is by the theater group.
Actors are: Arnar Ægisson, Berglind Stefánsdóttir, Elsa G.Björnsdóttir, Gunnar Björn Jónsson, Hjördís Anna Haraldsdóttir, Hulda Halldórsdóttir, Kolbrún Völkudóttir and Robert Groom.

For those that don't understand sign language but want to see the play, it is voiced by the actor Margrét Pétursdóttir.  She describes the progress of the play, not unlike a live commentary from a sports event.   The music is written by Bragi Bragason.

The premier is almost sold out, but there are still available seats for the shows at 21st and 22nd of November.  Tickets can be ordered by email, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or through phone 898 4429 (only text or sign language through 3G) or through phone 824 2525 (for Icelandic).

 

Summer school for deaf in the Nordic countries was held for the second year this year at the Odsherred Teaterskole (www.nyscenekunst.dk).  The school qualifies as professional acting school and the curriculum consists of Physical Theater, Acting, Mask Workshop and Workshop for sign lanuage on stage and in play.  Two happy participants returned after great studies.

This time the students were from Norway, Denmark and Iceland, 15 people in total of all ages, shapes and sizes.  The teachers were mostly Danish but there was also one deaf teacher from Sweden.  We had Norwegian translators who were really good at international sign laguage.  This was a great week and the aim is to go back to the summer school next year.

A few photos showing the work done there are up already and more should be added to teh album, along with pictures from the first summer school.

Þær Dídí og Díana, heimsþekktir áhugaljósmyndarar, voru fengnar til að taka myndir af gestum og gangandi á 17. júní hátíðarhöldunum í Reykjavík. Er óhætt að segja að þær hafi einfaldlega slegið í gegn og er ekki ólíklegt að fólk eigi eftir að sjá töluvert mikið meira af þeim stöllum í framtíðinni. Þær myndir sem teknar voru verða síðan setta inn á myndasíðuna www.flickr.com/draumasmidjan eftir öfráa daga. Hægt er að panta þær stöllur á netfanginu draumasmidjan (hjá) draumasmidjan.is eða í síma 824 2525.

Már Ólafsson is the winner of the play competition which was held as a follow up to the author workshop.  The winning play is called "Hvar er (K)Lárus?" and is a black comedy.  Already the newly formed amateur theater group Roots has started rehersals.  The premier is estimated to be on the 29th of August.