Theatre group of Marpissa
Up: Aris Rigas, Katerina Zileli, Stratis Kritikos, Victoria Ragoussi, Afroditi Afentaki, Maria Pouliou, Antonis Bourantas, Giorgos Petropoulos.
Down: Tassos Varvelis, Charis Pavlidis, Maria Kritikou, Lamprini Gemeliari, Marousso Laouraki, Katerina Vintzilaiou, Eirini Louridou.

Theatre group of Marpissa

Text: Avgi Kalogianni | Photos: Maria Perantinou

What’s going on at Marpissa?

A famous festival, two active associations and two museums at a village of 300 inhabitants, not to mention the renowned Performances on Good Friday – a good reason for celebrating Easter at Paros.

Here’s a portrait of the theatre group of Marpissa. The group with a ten-year history in the theatrical life of Paros, was founded to support the village’s two associations- the Women Association and the Marpissaikos. Tassos Varvelis the group’s organizing director for the past three years and one of its first members has spoken to us about the theatre group’s history and this year’s successful performance.

“The group was founded so that we could organize some events in the winter and present plays which would help people to escape from their routine. In the past ten years we’ve given performances of ten different plays and this year we gave a highly successful performance of the play “The in-laws from Tirana.”

There have been numerous productions of this play which was written in 2008 and is a topical social comment on the coexistence of Greeks and Albanians in the contemporary Greek society.

When asked about the impact of the play on the Albanians of the village, Tassos Varvelis told us that they watched the play and enjoyed it together with the Greek spectators. We were also told that the group comprises at least 30 people. Some of them take part in the various performances while others are involved in the difficult tasks of stage management. They are the people behind the stage, responsible for the lighting, the entrance and the costumes – in general, everything needed to present a perfectly organized performance.

Winding up, Tassos Varvelis told us that the group has also a children and youth section which has given two performances. “This year we hope to put on a play written and directed by me and present it in the 31st Aegean Amateur Theatre Groups Meeting, due to be held on the island of Rhodes in October. Our group has been a member of the Aegean Amateur Group Federation from the first moment. The meetings take place on a different island every year and taking part are about 24 groups from all the Aegean islands.”

Summer 2019