Hail the conquering heroes! Sunera Foundation recently participated in the Biennale of Theatre and Psychiatry in Padua, Italy, where we staged a brand new performance titled The Last Two Minutes. However, even our wildest dreams were outmatched by the thunderous enthusiasm the Italian people showed for our work, which culminated in us receiving a very special award.
We already felt proud of our performance and were thrilled by the audience response, which led to no less than three encore bows by the cast of six tsunami-affected TTOP participants and one member of our Butterflies Theatre Company. However, we were just amazed when it was our name that the announcer called out on Awards Night!
Our Award titled “Premio Speciale della Giuria” which means Special Award from the Jury, was in special recognition of The Last Two Minutes’ ability to increase understanding of socially-related mental traumas and our ability to highlight such issues through the medium of Sri Lankan religion and culture. This is a significant achievement as we received one of only four of the awards issued at the Biennale.
Our Creative Director Rohana Deva received the award on behalf of Sunera. On the same stage, merely a week beforehand, he had terrified and titillated the audience in his majestic performance as the Maaria, or as the Italians know him – Il Morte! Assistant Creative Director Ramani Damayanthi also deserves special recognition for choreographing the many dance pieces that made The Last Two Minutes so memorable.
The Last Two Minutes is the story of a man reviewing his life, from the innocence of childhood to the horrors of war and beyond.
Sunera’s work received some official recognition this month when our Creative Director Rohana Deva was honoured with a Presidential Award for his services to the differently-abled.