Brattleboro ~ Smith College professor Ellen W. Kaplan will tell how she brought the experiences of Syrian refugees to the theater stage in a talk at Brooks Memorial Library in Brattleboro. Her talk, is part of the Vermont Humanities Council's First Wednesdays lecture series and is free and open to the public and accessible to people in wheelchairs.

Rojava, a revolutionary experiment in Kurdish Syria, attempts to create an inclusive democracy safe from ISIS, Turkish incursion, and Syria's civil war. Professor Kaplan will discuss how she interviewed women, activists, refugees, and fighters from the Rojava region, and transformed their experiences into theater.

Kaplan is Professor of Theatre at Smith College, a Fulbright Scholar, an actress, director, and playwright. Recently she directed Turn of the Screw and The Tattooed Man for Silverthorne Theatre and performed in David de Sola's La Nieta del Dictador, touring to Puerto Rico, and the Midwest. She has directed and performed in China, Israel, Costa Rica; she has been a Professor at Tel Aviv University and the University of Theatre and Film in Bucharest, Romania, and Distinguished Artist/Scholar at Hong Kong University. She also works extensively with underserved communities and at-risk groups, offering workshops in writing and theatre.

The Vermont Humanities Council's First Wednesdays series is held on the first Wednesday of every month from October through May in nine communities statewide, featuring speakers of national and regional renown. The statewide underwriter for the First Wednesdays 2019-2020 series is the Institute of Museum & Library Services through the Vermont Department of Libraries. The First Wednesdays 2019-2020 series in Brattleboro is underwritten by Chroma Technology Corp. The Brooks Memorial Library programs are sponsored by Against the Grain, Brattleboro Autobody & Detailing, Brattleboro Retreat, Everyone's Books, GPI Construction, New Chapter, The Richards Group, The Vermont Country Store, Windham World Affairs Council and the Friends of Brooks Memorial Library.

For more information, contact Brooks Memorial Library at 802.254.5290 or visit www.brookslibraryvt.org.

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