I_LEFT

Αt the edge of the city, by the rail, there exists a nearly century-old neighborhood that is home to refugees from Asia Minor. This district is now hosting Station Athens Theatre Group, a group of actors that are themselves refugees from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The group settles into the narrow houses with the white chalk yards and the blossomed gardens, while the pebbled streets compliment the neighborhood and the primary school continues to educate generations of refugees. The past and the present are intertwined dramatically around Mikrassiaton Square and art becomes the means of exploration, truth and nostalgia. It is the testimonies of each character that embodies individual experiences, and it is with their presence that brings new meaning to their space. All the spatio-temporal elements of the performance come together to form a unique experience for the audience.

As the members of the group tell their stories, they also share physical objects from their native countries and present documents and photographs to showcase their memories. They yell, they sing, they work, they talk over Skype, they learn Greek; it's all real life interactive performances that produce such diverse experiences. The group comes together to create a performance for the 8th consecutive year but it's the first time they are doing a residency in a neighborhood, inviting everyone to walk, explore and discover who they are on and off stage.

These refugee stories date back to 2014, when the first version of the performance, E_FYGA was created and presented. That performance was presented in a different space of SYNERGY-O, which was a five-storey building in the area of Metaxourgeio. The presentation of E_FYGA in the area of Synoikismos in Ano Elefsina is a result of the later exploration of the group who worked from scratch to adapt the performance to the neighborhood.