BOSTON, Mass.—The mission to get the genocide recognized and bring more visibility to the resilient women who withstood its fury is reaching a crescendo with Playwright Judith Boyajian Strang-Waldau’s play, “Women of Ararat.”
But no one seems more aware that a journey toward any destination begins with a single step. In her case, they’re giant ones.
Last March she conducted a reading for the first act of her play, which was sponsored by the Armenian International Women’s Association (AIWA). The cast was made up of several Armenian actors from Greater Boston and New York, including Nancy Tutunjian Berger, June Murphy Katz, Judy Davis, Jennifer Guzelian Flanagan, Joy Renjilian, and Sofie Refojo.
“The result was unexpectedly moving when I heard my words making people laugh and cry,” she recalled. “The audience was mixed with both Armenians and non-Armenians. Although Armenians have heard these stories before, they cried along with those who were hearing them for the first time.”
Three Armenian women approached the playwright after the reading to thank her for finally giving them a voice. It made that kind of an impact, even with those familiar with our story.
“I still can’t read the end of Act 2 without crying,” she revealed. “It is written in the voice of my grandmother whom I adored. When I think about what she lived through in the old country and when she came to America, I am astonished by her continued strength and loving nature, despite what she saw happen all around her. This play is dedicated to my grandmothers, who gave me such a rich heritage. They lived in Watertown.”
Her resume appears both diverse and fulfilling. She resides in metro west Boston with a husband, three dogs, and a cat. She majored in piano at the Boston Conservatory of Music, securing degrees in vocal/opera performance from the University of Southern California and arts administration from New York University.
She’s worked in marketing and development at the Metropolitan Opera and Carnegie Hall, along with the Olympia Dukakis’ Whole Theater in Montclair, N.J. At the New England Conservatory of Music, she served as director of institutional development for the Preparatory School.
Currently, Strang-Waldau gives private piano and voice lessons in Wellesley and Natick and will begin a teaching position in Sherborn this coming fall. She also runs an annual scholarship competition for advanced high school musicians through the Harvard Musical Association.
Make no point about her ethnicity. She’s 100 percent Armenian—the product of genocide survivors from Mersin, Turkey—and was christened at St. James Church in Watertown.
She’s been a church soloist and was asked to sing a service during which the lay preacher gave a sermon on the genocide. The preacher had recently read Samantha Power’s book A Problem From Hell–America and the Age of Genocide, and delivered an impassioned homily on what the Armenian people experienced.
Strang-Waldau was deeply moved that a non-Armenian could be so sensitive to this period of terrorism and reopened a deep wound that was a critical part of her family’s history rarely discussed in her presence.
“I remember during President Obama’s first term how he addressed the topic of genocide acknowledgement with the Turkish government and was unable to change their position,” she points out. “This ‘amnesia’ within the Turkish government is horrifying to the Armenian people. I decided that I wanted to find a way to honor the centennial.”
“Women of Ararat” is a full-length drama that spans roughly 10 years, from 1965-75. The opening scenes are based on the playwright’s childhood. She represents the fifth generation of women living on her maternal side.
It’s written to commemorate the 100th anniversary in April 2015. Strang-Waldau hopes the play will educate those who are unaware of this infamous period in history and make us more responsible to those around the globe who are victims of political injustice.
It’s about a family of Armenian women who have survived the genocide and the great-granddaughter who interprets their condition in a more modern and global world.
It is also a story of how women love, care for one another, and cope with the aftermath of war and inhumanity.
“Women of Ararat” is also about secrets—not thoughtlessly made, but to spare a child her innocence and help survivors stop reliving their excruciating past.
Although sad in content, there are humorous and light-hearted ways the women relate to one another. It’s about women, written by a woman, based on humanity more than a history lesson. There is one male in the cast and it is his character that brings tension into their protected world.
“I grew up with a great-grandmother and two grandmothers whom I visited regularly,” Strang-Waldau traced back. “They didn’t like to speak about what happened during the years they were forced to leave Turkey, and wandered until they made it to the United States. My paternal and maternal grandmothers had very different stories that are relived in the play. I was a young adult before I was told what actually happened to them.”
“Women of Ararat” was also selected for a reading in the “Voices 7” women playwrights’ festival at Wellesley College where it attracted considerable interest.
“The most moving part was when three Armenian women in the audience thanked me for giving them a voice,” she said. “I couldn’t have asked for a more meaningful gift.”
Her research included all of Peter Balakian’s books, most recently Armenian Golgotha. She continued her research at Ellis Island and reading everything she could find online. Discussions with family members and friends were replete with feedback.
She visited Turkey last summer, and spent time in Istanbul where the genocide is still being considered as “the Armenian problem.”
“It was clear that the attitude toward our history had not changed,” said Strang-Waldau. “I also spent time in Mersin where my grandmothers lived. It was no longer the beautiful seaside town filled with fruit trees, rather a sprawling Mediterranean city of high hotels and condominiums.”
The playwright brought along copies of family photographs to bury there, but found no space in the cemetery. Instead, she took the photos to a beach where her grandmothers may have played and let them drift out to sea.
“I’m very fortunate to have been guided by many theater professionals in the Boston area who’ve helped me through the playwriting process,” she says. “I’ve worked with local playwrights, directors, theater administrators, and actors, all of whom have given a great deal of their time to this project, as they value its importance.”
A most unusual experience occurred during a writing class she was taking to develop the play. Strang-Waldau was in a class of 10 people and upon being introduced found herself seated next to a Turk from Istanbul.
As it turned out, the student was a Turkish-Jew whose grandfather had been unjustly imprisoned by the Turkish government.
“After reading the script, he suggested that I produce it in Turkey since it reveals the deep emotional impact of the Turkish government’s actions on the Armenian families they persecuted,” said Strang-Waldau. “Meeting my Turkish colleague in my first playwriting class could be none other than divine intervention. He was more than supportive. He was encouraging.”
Strang-Waldau is looking to show her work throughout the country during the 2014-15 theater season. She hopes to attract sponsors either through a centennial committee or an independent producer. She’s prepared to meet her obstacles and secure the necessary media hype surrounding it.
“Boston can boast a population of extremely well-educated residents,” she points out. “However, I often meet people who’ve never heard of the Armenian Genocide. Once they learn, they are not only appalled by the history but that the Turkish government has not acknowledged their wrong-doing.”
Looking back over her life, Strang-Waldau never imagined writing a play as a musician and music teacher. Through it, she looks to create a level of understanding and empathy that will motivate people to assist us in our work, and have this historical atrocity acknowledged by the Turkish government.
“Choosing to write a tragic historical drama that focuses upon people I love was an enormous undertaking for a first-time playwright,” she said. “This is the story I most wanted to tell. My hope is that people of all nationalities will want to listen.”
Tom Vartabedian
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I would like to contact Judith re the presenting of the play