Mothermotherland, by Slovo. Theater Group, is an original devised theater performance developed by Ukrainians in residence with playwright Audrey Rose Dégez. The performance is based on the artists’ personal experiences, the war in Ukraine, and takes inspiration from Mykoly Khyvylovy’s 1924 novella I am (a Romantic), where the head of the local Cheka, a communist law enforcement agency, must decide whether or not to sentence his mother to death in the name of the ideals of the Commune. Click here to view the playbill.

 
Doors open at 5PM, and the performance begins at 6PM. The performance will run approximately 60 minutes and will be followed by a talk-back. This performance is free and open to the public. While the program is free, advance registration is strongly encouraged as seating is limited.

Slovo. Theater Group was founded in April 2022 to fight against oppression of Ukrainian culture by promoting Ukrainian culture abroad. Scheduled to write and workshop a play at Residency Slovo in Kharkiv, Ukraine in September and October 2022, Audrey Rose chose the short story “I am (a Romantic)” by Exterminated Renaissance author Mykola Khyvylovy as inspiration. She had hoped to research the topic of Motherland and to raise awareness about the cyclical nature of history and cultural oppression in Ukraine. In this 1924 novella, a man must decide whether or not to execute his own mother to protect his idea of a commune beyond the hills.

 

To make the work possible despite the invasion, Audrey Rose selected 5 artists from Kharkiv: actress and puppeteer Daria Holovchanska, actress and PR manager Yuliia Linnik, actor and director Maksym Panchenko, actress, director, and organizer Olesia Zakharova, and artist, dancer, and linguist Veronika Shuster to join her and her daughter Lili Maritchka Dégez in her birth town of Pittsburgh; and since May the group has been devising an original performance in the styles of Les Kurbas, Jacques Lecoq, and post-documentary theater.

 

Mothermotherland is a performance that explores motherland, maternity, and self through the lens of the short story “I am (a Romantic)”. The piece is the first original work co-written and co-directed by the members of Slovo. Theater Group.