Dream of Donetsk, Poetry of Serhiy Zhadan and the War
Yara Arts Group premieres their latest work, HITTING BEDROCK, a response to the crisis in Ukraine and its effects on the city of Donetsk.
"OUR DONETSK IS DYING"
a Ukrainian Journalist speaks out
“Our Donetsk is dying… Day by day, minute by minute… Our people are dying, our friends, our neighbors… in every home. My childhood is dying, our river, the Calmius, is dying. Shevchenko Boulevard is dying. We don’t laugh anymore at the women in fur coats with their Infinities and Lexus in Donetsk City Mall on weekends. We aren’t on the lookout for mayors and governors anymore. Our city, our region is dying in front of our eyes. We did not manage to protect it, or ourselves. We absolutely failed. Millions of refugees are disappointed, offended and abandoned. Individuals are trapped in the occupied area, their human rights trampled. We’re a people without a future, a region without a territory. Who needs us now? Where shall these millions go? Everyone only wants to go to home. But now there is no home, our home has died, as did all our hopes, dreams, our past and present, and some have even lost their future. Not enough strength to even crack a smile.”
– Oleksiy Matsuka, a journalist in Donetsk, Ukraine and editor of Novosti Donbassa and Donetskaya Pravda, often been targeted by corrupt officials and pro-Russian separatists. Translated by Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps.
Performed by Marina Celandar, Andrew Colteaux, Sean Eden, Chris Ignacio, Julian Kytasty & Maria Pleshkevich
Costumes: Keiko Obremski
Set: Watoku Ueno
Translations: Virlana Tkacz & Wanda Phipps
Projections, photographs & graphics: Volodymyr Klyuzko
Yara Arts Group is a resident company of La MaMa Experimental Theatre