Photo Flash: Public Belarus Free Theatre's BEING HAROLD PINTER, et al.

La MaMa and The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis, Interim Executive Director Joey Parnes) began previews on  April 13 for the return engagement of the acclaimed Belarus Free Theatre. The group performs encore performances of BEING Harold Pinter and ZONE OF SILENCE, which were sold-out hits at this year's Under the Radar Festival, as well as the New York premiere of DISCOVER LOVE. The three shows will run in repertory for five weeks only through Sunday, May 15 at La MaMa (66 East 4th Street) with an official press opening on Monday, April 18. Single tickets are $35 for each show and are available now at 212-475-7710 or www.lamama.org.

New Yorkers have another chance to see this moving and powerful company that Ben Brantley of The New York Times called "truly passionate, truly political theater...Being Harold Pinter isn't just admirable, it has virtues beyond its relevance and bravery." The troupe barely escaped imprisonment in December and had to sneak out of the country to come to New York to perform at The Public's Under The Radar Festival. For the past several months they have been performing in the United States, most recently in Chicago, because they are unable to return to their homeland for fear of persecution.

Adapted and directed by Vladimir Shcherban, BEING Harold Pinter incorporates transcripts from Belarusian political prisoners with excerpts from Harold Pinter's lifetime of writings. Creating visually striking images with simple means and underscoring the fierceness of Pinter's words with the intense physicality of the actors, BEING Harold Pinter blurs the boundaries between art and reality, delivering a poignant contemporary commentary on violence, oppression, freedom and human dignity.

Directed by Vladimir Shcherban and conceived by Shcherban, Natalia Koliada, and Nikolai Khalezin, ZONE OF SILENCE consists of three independent chapters reflecting on various taboos which are not open for wide discussion in Belarusian society. In the first chapter, "Childhood Legends," actors tell their own stories from their childhood; in the second chapter, "Diverse," actors relay stories collected by extraordinary Belarusians who experience the pressures of unmotivated social aggression; the third and final chapter, "Numbers," explores the dry numbers of Belarusian statistics.

Written and directed by Nikolai Khalezin, DISCOVER LOVE is a love story based on real events. The show is based on real facts from the life of Irina Krasovskaya, whose husband was kidnapped and murdered for lending assistance to the democratic body of Belarus. The story follows a wife's reaction to the news of her husband's murder: the shock, the realization, and most powerfully the loss of a love that continued to blossom. DISCOVER LOVE is the 11th production created by Belarus Free Theatre.

BELARUS FREE THEATRE (BFT) was founded in 2005 in Minsk by Natalia Koliada along with her husband, Nikolai Khalezin, who is the company's General Director and Producer. In Belarus the troupe has neither a permanent stage, nor space for rehearsals, nor financial support. The theatre is a member of European Theatre Convention, laureate of the Prize of the French Republic for human rights defense in 2007 and "special mention" jury prize of the prestigious theatrical prize of "Europe for Theatre." The company features Pavel Garadnitski, Irene Iarochevitch, Nikolai Khalezin, Yana Rusakevich, Aleh Sidorchyk, Dzianis Tarasenka, and Maryna Yurevich.

Photo Credit: Joan Marcus