CULURAL SUMMER 2024

Sunday, July 28, 2024 - 9.00 p.m.

CHILDREN's THEATRE LONGOS

C A N C E L L E D The CHILDREN's THEATRE LONGOS will present an adaptation of the plays "The rabbit ladder" and "The tickler" on Sunday, July 28, 2024, at 9.00 p.m. at the Cultural Centre Longos. ADMISSION FREE

STAGE DESIGN and VIDEO:    Werner Charilaos Sollbach       LIGHT and SOUND:    Mantikas/Egio       COSTUMES and MUSIC SELECTION:    Maria Dourou-Sollbach       POSTER DESIGN:    Georgios Sollbach       BACKSTAGE ASSISTANT:    Vasiliki Antonopoulou       DIRECTION and TOTAL MANAGEMENT:    Maria Dourou-Sollbach The actors:       Marios Zisis       Thomai Vitali       Christophoros Dimou       Froso Bouloubasi       Sotiris Bouloubasis       Panagiotis Paschakis       Sofia Papagiannopoulou       Dimitris Drasio       Marianna Vitali       Panagiotis Paraskevopoulos       Angeliki Giannoulatou       Maria Oikonopoulou

"The rabbit ladder" is a fairy tale by Maria Giagiannou. An original, creative story designed to bring the child into contact with the beauty and challenges of art and knowledge, but also an invitation to self-discovery. A first journey of self-discovery for the little rabbit, on which he not only learns how he can help, but also that you don't always have to aim high to be happy - friendship and wisdom have both feet firmly on the ground.

The author Maria Giagiannou was born in 1978. She studied communication and media, cultural management and philosophy of art. She is a writer and art theorist. Maria Giagiannou curates art exhibitions and other cultural events and has worked with galleries, advertising agencies, magazines and newspapers. As a theatre maker, she has already staged several plays, including "Clara Schumann: the charismatic faces of a super puppet", "Angria", "Callas: Divestiture", "Beyond the Ego", "No Music". In recent years, she has devoted herself to writing children's books and is already making a name for herself with her small but remarkable catalogue. Her latest book is "The room family", illustrated by Iris Samartzi, published by Psychogios. A family in a new house, with empty rooms, with fantasy, with non-decisions that become decisions, with love and beauty from what you can't see.

Her first fairy tale "The Rabbit Ladder" (Publisher: K. Theocharis, Kalendis, 2021) was nominated for the Charti Awards and the IBBY (Circle of Greek Children's Books). Her story "I have a good grandfather" (Publisher: N. Stamatadi, Smili, 2022) was on the Elniplex Gold List for 2022 and was nominated for the Charti Awards. She participated as a playwright in the project "HUMANITAS/ From the Stage for the Human Rights of LGBTQ Youth" (March 2023) and in the "Writing Studio of the Teenage Stage" of the National Theatre (2022-2023). Her most recent book is the prose essay "R.I.F. Death on Facebook" (Stereoma, 2022). Maria Gigiaannou lives and works in Athens.

"The tickler" is a musical fairy tale by Dimitris Balsam. The story of the tickler is as simple and understandable as a folk tale. A quirky robber who can see the pure, gurgling laughter of a child with his eyes. So he decides to travel the world in search of children whose laughter is in short supply. His aim is to "steal" it and, like another Robin Hood, distribute it to children who rarely laugh. In the performance, loneliness coexists with tenderness as its opposite. It is present, but not dominant. As a reminder of its existence. "When children laugh together, everything certainly changes," writes the tickler in the letter he leaves behind. We say that today, more than ever, it seems that the tickler is needed, and we wish that there will be many more of them.

The author Dimitris Paslamouskas, better known by his stage name Dimitris Baslam, is a Greek musician and author of fairy tales. Born in the city of Edessa in the prefecture of Pella, he moved to Thessaloniki at the age of 16 to study music, in particular double bass. He worked with several artists from the Greek rock and alternative scene and contributed to many albums. Dimitris Baslam published his first children's story, "The Tickler", in December 2005. This was followed by "Agisilagos" in 2007, "Angry Concrete Mixer" in 2009, "Pulover" in 2019 and "I Say I Want to Fly" in 2011.