Worldwide Readings Project: War against Ukraine/Ukrainian plays – Three letters to the international theater community from John Freedman
A global initiative to support and share new Ukrainian plays
March 3, 2022
Colleagues, the Ukrainian Component (as we will call it) of the Worldwide Readings Project is, indeed, taking on a life of its own. That is ENTIRELY thanks to all of you who are stepping up.
1) I realized today that I needed to get a handle on what is coming, so I culled all your emails, messages, texts, SMSs, comments on FB posts, etc, and I came up with the following working list. I have not included a few of you who reached out because the general interest you expressed contained no specifics. I have brazenly included a few of you who were actually working on projects before we all came together. If you prefer to remain independent and not be included in the loose coalition of the Worldwide Readings Project, please say so. I will understand perfectly well and will remove you with no hard feelings.
2) I'm working on getting translators - John Farndon in London and Dmitry Troyanovsky in NY will be helping one way or another. Still: If you know any good translators from Ukrainian to English, I would very much like you to put me in touch with them. In any case, we will do NO translations without receiving the full agreement of the authors.
3) If you are in the list below and information is incorrect or incomplete, inform me.
4) If you are planning on doing something and are not listed below, inform me!
5) A spelling error in the name of playwright Olga Braga slipped in a time or two in the past. It is written correctly here.
6) Please remember: all authors ask that fundraising be a part of any reading or event.
7) I know many of you are waiting on the short plays to come from the Kyiv Theater of Playwrights. I am too.
8) Playwright Olga Braga has sent a newer version of her play Return to Sender. Those of you who are considering working with this play - please use the version attached below! She will also make changes to the other play sent - I will forward that when I receive it.
The Ukraine Component
This is a preliminary list of projected readings of Ukrainian plays. The situation is fluid, developing by the hour and even minute. I have received notifications from others who expressed interest in organizing readings, but I’m holding off adding them until they provide more specific information.
AUSTRIA
Multiple events organized by Andreas Merz-Raykov
BELGIUM
Organized by Sietse Remmers
CZECH REPUBLIC
Olomouc, organized by Martina Palusova
ENGLAND
ARTEL and Maketank, Exeter, Devon, Bryan Brown/Olya Petrakova
Bradford, dir. by Alex Chisholm: Return to Sender by Olga Braga
The Fence, London, organized by Sarah Grochala and Jonathan Meth
Finborough Theatre, organized by Kristin Milward & Neil McPherson
JW3, London, organized by William Galinsky
Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts, organized by Cami Rowe
Leeds Studio, dir. by Alex Chisholm: Return to Sender by Olga Braga
Royal Court, organized by Sam Pritchard and Molly Flynn
FINLAND
Helsinki, organized by Dan Henriksson
GERMANY
Multiple events in multiple cities organized by Andreas Merz-Raykov
HONG KONG
Blank Space Studio, dir. by William Wong: He Who Opens the Door by Neda Nezhdana
ISRAEL
Where?, organized by Mikhail Teplitzky
ITALY
Rome, organized by Jonathan Levi
LITHUANIA
Balcony Theater, Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, Vilnius, dir. By Laura Kutkaite
Vilnius Maly Theatre, dir. Stas Zhyrkov: Take Out the Garbage, Sasha by Natalya Vorozhbyt
ROMANIA
National Theater, Iasi, organized by Silvia Ghilas
Various theaters, TBD
SCOTLAND
Organized by Maggie Kinloch (extracts from plays by two writers in Scottish village, and from three plays by Ukrainian writers.)
Organized by Pauline Lynch
Tron Theatre, Glasgow, dir. Gillian Garrity: Bad Roads by Natalya Vorozhbyt
SLOVAKIA (organized by Romana Storkova Maliti)
Festival Dotyky a spojenia in Martin - 20. - 25 June - reading/discussion
Festival Nová dráma / Theatre Institute Bratislava - 16 - 21 May - they are already in direct contact with Natalya Vorozhbyt and asked her to be festival patron; stage reading of one of her plays
Old Theatre in Nitra - interest in text suitable for youth and children - reading - they can do it immediately when they get translation
Slzy Janka Borodáča in Prešov - independent theatre company - they can do it immediately when they get translation
Cultural Centre Záhrada + Academy of Arts in Banská Bystrica - they can do it immediately when they get translation
Bábkové divadlo na Rázcestí in Banská Bystrica - positive reaction, they will come back with more information about what they can do
bod.K7 + Association Divadelná Nitra - they can do it immediately when they get translation
UNITED STATES
Organized by Robert Olinger
Akropolis Performance Lab, Seattle, Joseph and Zhenya Lavy
Arlekin Players Theater, Boston, MA, dir. by Igor Golyak
Austin, TX, organized by Robert Matney
Charlottesville, VA, organized by Rachel Vigour
HERE Arts Center, NY, organized by Kristin Marting
Los Angeles, TBD, via Joanna Klass: work?
McCarter Theater, Princeton, organized by Julie Felise Dubiner
Minneapolis, TBD, via Joanna Klass
Novi Most, Minneapolis, Vladimir Rovinsky and Lisa Channer
Tantrum Theater, Ohio University, organized by Joshua Coy
Tufts University, Medford, MA, organized by Barbara Wallace Grossman
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, organized by Markus Wessendorf
West Village Arts Organization, NY, organized by Nicole Kontolefa
Wilma Theater, Philadelphia, dir. Yury Urnov: Bad Roads by Natalya Vorozhbyt
March 2, 2022
Dear Colleagues!
1) Over the last 24 hours we had many people ask to be included in the Ukrainian segment of the Worldwide Readings Project.
2) We have two new plays from Olga Braga. As Sarah Grochala tells me, Olga is a Ukrainian playwright from Odessa who is based in London and is currently on attachment with the RSC. Her plays are written in English, so this will simplify the matter of translation into other languages.
3) Molly Flynn tells me that the representative of the Theater of Playwrights in Kyiv, from whom we are expecting several new short (2-page) texts written in the heat of history, has reached safety in Europe, and is headed to a safe haven in a neighboring country. Once there, the rep will sort and send selected texts (in Ukrainian).
4) I just received this letter from playwright Neda Nezhdana:
Thank you a lot for your attention and support. Yes, my colleague Oleksandr Viter and I are making rights available for free for all forms of distribution of our plays in any translation, perhaps as readings, if they help to bring public attention to the truth about Russian aggression, and to collect funds for the defense of our country.
Yes, we are happy for our plays to be translated into other languages on the basis that it would all be pro bono for now as it would all be to raise donations and awareness for Ukraine - but that there would be an agreement that a formal arrangement would have to made if anyone then wanted to produce one of the translations commercially.
About translations of the plays in Ukrainian (that aren`t translated yet) and their English translations are no problem with rights both of the author and the translator and if someone wanted to do another translation too.
About French, Turkish and Polish translations - the agents of them know about this decision and agree with it but I think it`s not about another translation of the same text. I could send their contacts if you need them.
I don`t have Internet all time because sometimes wifi doesn’t exist and sometimes we need go to the basement for a protection (I`m in Kiev region now)
As always, let me know if you have questions or suggestions! Thank you, and all best, JOHN Freedman
Olga Braga – Return to Sender Olga Braga – Slava Ukraini.
March 1, 2022
Dear Colleagues!
Things are moving quickly on the Ukrainian segment of the Worldwide Readings Project. Up front I would like to thank: Molly Flynn, Sarah Grochala, Natalya Vorozhbyt, Sasha Dugdale, and Maksym Kurochkin and the Theater of Playwrights in Kyiv. Let me be as brief as possible, while providing the maximum of information.
1) I have received notes of interest from 20 or 30 of you already - thank you for your quick, even overwhelming response.
2) This part of the project will work differently from what we have done previously.
3) Instead of my presenting a single play for everyone to work with, I will offer numerous plays. Each of you can choose the texts that suit you best.
4) I expect soon to have several new short plays - probably actually written during or just prior to the ongoing war. Maksym Kurochkin and a group of Ukrainian writers were in the process of founding a new Theater of Playwrights in Kiev, and these texts were being written for that event. The war postponed its opening, as Maksym and others are patrolling the streets of Kyiv with machine guns, rather than writing or reading plays in the comfort of their homes. I repeat, we hope to have access to these short plays (2 pages) soon - they promise to be extremely interesting.
5) All plays coming out of Ukraine are written in Ukrainian. I do not translate from the Ukrainian. Some are already translated into English. I have access to Ukrainian-English translators
6) I am attaching interesting plays by Neda Nezhdana and Oleksandr Viter.
7) Natalya Vorozhbyt provides access to two plays, Bad Roads and Take Out the Rubbish, Sasha. As translator Sasha Dugdale informed me, however, there are likely to be problems with rights, agents, etc. The film version of Bad Roads is Ukraine's Oscar nominee this year. So it will have limits - especially where it would concern translations. It is possible that straight, strictly non-commercial readings of Bad Roads might be okay. There may be fewer limits on Take Out the Rubbish. Both plays are attached for you to peruse. If you wish to read/translate either of them, you will have to communicate with the writer's and translator's agents. Sasha Dugdale can help with that.
8) I hope everyone will use readings to share information about donations to Ukraine and Ukrainians. Here is a good list to start with. Natalya Vorozhbyt requests that any readings of her works include a fund-raising element.
9) This is very much a project-in-the-making. I'll do my best to stay ahead of the curve, but I can't anticipate all the twists and turns ahead. Feel free to contact me with ideas, suggestions, questions, corrections.
10) I am deeply moved that so many of you, who have been supporting Belarus via Andrei Kureichik's plays for 2 years, are now standing up to support Ukraine. As you surely understand, this is one and the same struggle, one and the same cause.
Moving forward with hope and determination. All my best, JOHN
Negdana – Maiden Inferno
Negdana – Maiden Inferno – English version
Nezhdana N - Pussycat For Memories About
Darkness Nejdana N - OTVETKAUA
Nejdana N - He Who Opens
Doors Oleksandr Viter - LABYRINTH
Natal’ya Vorozhbi - TAKE THE RUBBISH OUT, SASHA
Dugdale S - Natal’ya Vorozhbit – BAD
ROADS Неда Неждана - ЗАГУБЛЕНІ В ТУМАНІ
НЕДА НЕЖДАНА - КИЦЬКА НА СПОГАД ПРО ТЕМІНЬ