Human being is a part, limited in time in space, of a whole we call "Universe".

When I was a boy my father handed me a book called the beginner’s mind and in it I read of the state of satori. He died not long after that. Satori… ‘a sudden flashing into consciousness of a new truth hitherto undreamed of…it is a new birth…the acquiring of a new view point.’ (D.T. Suzuki) the adventure of creating Satori has been, for all of us, a deeply personal and spiritual journey of uncovering, discovering and accepting the changes we are facing in our world and ourselves today.The process has taken us from the pristine alps of Switzerland and the origen festival cultural where first solo was conceived and performed to the creative spaces of Portugal, London, Munich, Berlin and the humble healing wounded world of the battle beaten Belgrade, each place being, if you will, a “bardo” or an opportunity for discovery and insight into who we are and what we want to say in our inward and outward reflectionon the world in our work. The writing was painted on the walls telling us the story all the way as we came down from our mountain meditation at origen, not unlike the Greek Gods coming down from olympus or siddhartha behind the palace walls questioning his father about the sounds of suffering beyond his realm of comfort and privilege.We observed the world is crying out to be heard, and, at times, the points of view were strongly divided and somewhat brutally rigid, filled with subtle contempt and prejudice for where we had been or where we were headed on our journey. Yet, as a creative team, we listened to the voices of each tribe. We sought to understand each point of view. In our travels to the Coliseum the writing on the walls has been ever-present, crying out again and again for an identity and balance in these turbulent and catastrophic times that appear to be dividing and fragmenting us as a human family. Adding to the turmoilit appears that we are becoming more and more absorbed in the abstract version of ourselves on a screen or in a post to the point that we lose touch with the most precious moments that live between our breath – the moments we hear that still small voice of hope and compassion for all living things. In today’s world, buzzing with distraction and distortion causing a restlessness and paranoid perception of what peace might be, the writing on the walls, in the streets, on the underground in the tunnels, on the bridges connecting east to west all seem tobe asking the same question – who are we? Satori is asking who am i? Albert einstein– ‘a human being is a part of a whole called by us the “universe”, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest – a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circlesof compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.

PS Satori is for my friend, Sergei, and I dedicate it to my father whose favourite teacher was Einstein.

- Gabriel Marcel del Vecchio, Director

GABRIEL MARCEL DEL VECCHIO

Director

LISA GILLESPI

Assistant Director

ANGELINA ATLAGIC

Costume Designer

KONSTANTIN BINKIN

Lighting designer

LORENZ DANGEL

Composer