SEPTEMBER 2021
DIRTY TURK AKA DIRTY IMMIGRANT
AT THE DALLAS MUSEUM OF ART
TWO NIGHTS ONLY - SEP. 17 & 18 - 8PM
ABOUT DIRTY TURK
Dirty Turk is a live, immersive performance piece featuring video installations, original music, and large-scale puppetry. This emotionally charged production examines the struggles of first generation children of immigrant, migrant and refugee populations assimilating in to the United States.
Enter the mind of Ozlem as she processes cultural assimilation, racial terror, and never feeling like she was enough in Turkish or American societies. Witness her memories unfold, sometimes simultaneously, as you meet the different generations of her family.
Testimonies from Dallas immigrants, migrants, and refugees are incorporated into the script.
THE REVIVED EXPERIENCE
Artstillery first launched “Dirty Turk aka Dirty Immigrant” in August 2018. The experience was sold out for two months in West Dallas. Now it returns at the Dallas Museum of Art.
Written by Ilknur Ozgur, this piece explores cultural assimilation, cross-generational communication & social injustice towards migrants, immigrants and refugees in the United States. This immersive journey is grounded in the character Ozlem’s malleable memories.
This event is presented in conjunction with MyIGration at the DMA which traces the migration of people, objects, and ideas in art across times and cultures. The exhibition is on view now in the Center for Creative Connections.
TWO NIGHTS OF ARTS
Thank you all for attending.
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Reviews from the original 2018 Production
“I once heard the leader of a regional theater deliver a speech about the theater being an "empathy gym" for both the practitioner and patron. As such, Artstillery and Dirty
Turk offer quite the workout. It’s a piece of theater more people need to see. ”
Mark Lowry
Teacher, Arts Journalist & Cofounder of Theater Jones
published Monday, September 3, 2018
Review: Dirty Turk | Artstillery
Outside In
Teresa Marrero, Jin-Ya Huang and Mark Lowry have a conversation about Dirty Turk, an immersive work about immigrants, migrants, and refugees created by Artstillery.
by Jin-Ya Huang, Teresa Marrero, and Mark Lowry
"Just recently over Independence Day, I had shared images of fireworks [with the Refugees I work with]... One of the women confessed to me later, that she ducked and took cover with her children, not knowing what was happening...This PTSD response rang true in Dirty Turk, it vividly depicted stories much like these, compiled from real-life immigrants, refugees and migrants. These relatable characters became the granule of truth. ”
JIN-YA HUANG
Founder of
published Monday, September 3, 2018
Theater Jones - Review: Dirty Turk | Artstillery
Outside In
Teresa Marrero, Jin-Ya Huang and Mark Lowry have a conversation about Dirty Turk, an immersive work about immigrants, migrants, and refugees created by Artstillery.
by Jin-Ya Huang, Teresa Marrero, and Mark Lowry
“I came to the U.S. as a child Cuban refugee. My first experiences in this country were those whose papers were stamped as REFUGEE. This collectively devised piece represented a variety of cultural heritages, including Mexican, Bangladeshi, Turkish, Russian, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Persian, German and Korean. One is a DACA recipient. Another performer is non-binary. The talented ten-year-old Ava Whatley is of Vietnamese and Czech descent and has been a student at Dallas Children’s Theater for five years. We all came to the conclusion that this piece represents a beautiful diversity we’d love to see more of on and behind DFW stages. ”
Teresa Marrero
Professor of Latin American and Latinx Theater in the Spanish Department at the University of North Texas.
published Wednesday, January 2, 2019
Theater Jones - The Year in Latinx Theater
Teresa Marrero on a memorable 2018 for Latinx theater, and collaboration, in North Texas.
