The Scandinavian American Theater Company (SATC) introduces a new generation of Nordic playwrights in a series of staged readings representing Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Finland, and Denmark, including Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

SATC is a collective of theater artists founded to provide Scandinavian perspectives through the new generation of Scandinavian playwrights and theater artists. SATC presents contemporary plays and inventive takes on the classics from the Nordic region, which includes Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Denmark, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands. SATC is committed to strengthening the relationship between Scandinavia and the United States through collaborations and interdisciplinary artistic exchange that examine and challenge the cultural status quo.

Westend

Written by Pasi Lampela (Finland, 2005), translated by Nely Keinänen (Finland), & directed by Henning Hegland (Norway). What happens to people who have sacrificed their lives to achieve success and what price did they pay for that success? Lampela examines the illusion of sanctity and success that wealth supposedly provides, illustrating the impact that a high-tech, Anglo-

American style of capitalism has had on the nature of the traditional Finnish family. Westend is a powerful depiction of twenty-first century Finland, where people’s internal conflicts are suppressed behind a hard exterior.

About the playwright

Pasi Lampela is a Helsinki-based playwright, screenwriter, theater director, and novelist. He studied dramaturgy at the Finnish Theater Academy from 1994-98 and then began to work as a freelance playwright and director.

Lampela is one of the most talked about and productive playwrights in Finland; his plays examine the problems of modern life and its hidden pressures. In form they are intimate chamber pieces, usually focusing on a family or other small group. Lampela attempts to analyze the world and contemporary phenomena by telling stories about what is happening around us right now.

About the director

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Photo by Tuukka Ervasti Millesgården

MON – 3-10-2014 – 8:00 PM
Pre-reception 7:30 pm
free