Left to right: Taylor Gaines and Caridad Svich (© Jody Christopher)

Translating for the stage is a special skill, and sometimes plays pass through several hands on their way from their original language (such as French or Spanish) into English. In this brief conversation, Taylor Gaines (translator of Snow by Blandine Savetier and Waddah Saab) and Caridad Svich (playwright and translator of many plays from Spanish) will speak about the challenges of bringing the Festival’s three plays into English.

Moderated by Susan Bernofsky, Writing.

Taylor Gaines is a French to English translator and theatre maker based in Brooklyn. Her translation of the theatrical adaptation of Snow by Orhan Pamuk previously received a staged reading at the Segal Center. Her supertitles have appeared at the Seuls en Scène festival at Princeton University and in the recent independent theatre production Fragments of a Star.

Caridad Svich is a playwright, translator, editor and publisher. She received the 2012 OBIE for Lifetime Achievement.

Sponsored by Columbia University School of the Arts Writing Program/Literary Translation at Columbia.

Organized by Carol Becker and David Henry Hwang, Theatre, this marquee festival presents readings of three plays by living international playwrights alongside conversations with the playwrights and translators.

The Second Columbia University School of the Arts International Play Reading Festival features:

Snow, written by Blandine Savetier and Waddah Saab, France
The Sickness of Stone, written by Blanca Domenech, Spain
You Shall Love, written by Pablo Manzi, Chile