New York Theatre Workshop to Host ARE WE THERE YET World Premiere Presented by Teens Ukraine Theater

New York Theatre Workshop host the world premiere of Are We There Yet, theatre told verbatim by Ukrainian teen refugees. Presented by Teens Ukraine Theater, Are We There Yet is a documentary theatre piece centered on children's experience in New York City during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Performances will be Saturday March 25 at 7:30pm, and Sunday March 26 at 1:00pm & 6:00pm, at New York Theatre Workshop's Fourth Street Theatre (83 East 4th Street, New York, NY 10003).

ARE WE THERE YET is the culmination performance piece of the TUT program. TUT, which translates into "here," is a theatrical laboratory for Marks JCH refugee teenagers from Ukraine who found their way to New York City during the last 12 months as a result of the full-scale Russian invasion. TUT has engaged Ukrainian teens ages 12-17 via workshops in an exploration of their personal stories through verbatim theatre technique and educational theater.

ARE WE THERE YET is a multidisciplinary verbatim theatre production derived entirely from personal stories of ten teen immigrant/refugees from Ukraine, displaced and uprooted by war. Some of their families are still in Ukraine beneath the bombs. They feel the dissonance while stuck in a vacuum wanting to go back to the fateful day of February 23rd or to find themselves after the war has already ended so they can finally return home. Where is home and how can they shelter themselves from this horrific reality? When will the war end? What if? Are we there yet? These questions are just the tip of the iceberg as they relive their traumas, reflecting the experience of thousands of refugees and echoing the voices of those who are still in Ukraine.

This production draws surrealistic and yet vivid images of life broken by the war. Millions of people have left their homes fleeing from bombs...leaving behind broken objects and homes, but their memories continue living, traveling along with them. The stories in the play echo through these teens' personal prism - the impact of the invasion, and what happens in the aftermath.

The TUT project is created, directed and curated by actor and pedagogue Anya Zicer who has developed a unique method of working with teenagers in the field of educational drama as part of her theater company, Lost & Found Project. The award-winning company was founded in 2011, but at the beginning of the war in 2022 refocused its work on raising awareness as well as producing several productions in support of Ukraine. The project is also led by actor/teaching artis Dima Koan and musician/composer Mariya Vasilevskaya.

In May 2022, the company produced a staged reading of Bad Roads, a play by the acclaimed Ukrainian dramaturg Natalka Vorozhbyt at La Mama Experimental Theatre Club. The production raised funds in support of the Emergency Performing Arts Fund in Ukraine. Lost & Found Project also created an immersive theater installation, RE:LOCATION, in upstate New York featuring plays by Ukrainian dramaturgs and NYC-based performers.

The TUT project mission is to amplify the voices of Ukraine. To echo and amplify the voices of those still there, as well as those here. To raise awareness of the ongoing war. To support Ukraine in the aftermath of the full-scale war that has been waged against the country and to create a way for this new refugee community to feel safe. The program seeks to lower the barrier entry point barrier both for newcomers and provide community for refugees and to create a dialogue.

The project is sponsored and presented by Marks JCH of Bensonhurst which has been an instrumental organization in providing comprehensive resettlement services to more than 5,000 Ukrainian refugees in New York, as well as providing humanitarian aid to communities in Ukraine all throughout the war. Of the millions of Ukrainians displaced by the war, nearly 20,000 have resettled in New York City. Most of them are women with children. The Marks JCH has welcomed Ukrainian refugees who have fled Ukraine and arrived to Brooklyn since February of 2022. Marks JCH Ukraine Crisis Response Center utilizes three decades of expertise serving immigrants and offers resettlement services such as case management, and childcare, mental health supports, English classes and job readiness programs to support Ukrainians and their family members. Though the Marks JCH is able to provide support and stability, what the children and youth need most is normalcy; a collaboration with Lost & Found is an effort to showcase the childhood that was lost and provide a firsthand account of war displacement.

TUT is also affiliated with The Worldwide Ukrainian Readings Project, an initiative led by John Freedman who created the largest database featuring Ukrainian playwrights and plays written both before and during the war. The final pieces written by the teens will become a part of this database which will then be read globally as part of the initiative.

Tickets are $30 and are available at www.jchb.org/event/yet-theatre-told-verbatim-ukrainian-teen-refugees/.

ABOUT NEW YORK THEATRE WORKSHOP

New York Theatre Workshop empowers visionary theatre-makers and brings their work to adventurous audiences through productions, artist workshops and education and community engagement programs. We nurture pioneering new writers alongside powerhouse playwrights, engage inimitable genre-shaping directors, and support emerging artists in the earliest days of their careers. We've mounted over 150 productions from artists whose work has shaped our very idea of what theatre can be, including Jonathan Larson's Rent; Tony Kushner's Slavs! and Homebody/Kabul; Doug Wright's Quills; Claudia Shear's Blown Sideways Through Life and Dirty Blonde; Paul Rudnick's The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told and Valhalla; Martha Clarke's Vienna: Lusthaus; Will Power's The Seven and Fetch Clay, Make Man; Caryl Churchill's Mad Forest, Far Away, A Number and Love and Information; Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen's Aftermath; Rick Elice's Peter and the Starcatcher; Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová and Enda Walsh's Once; David Bowie and Enda Walsh's Lazarus; Dael Orlandersmith's The Gimmick and Forever; Heidi Schreck's What the Constitution Means to Me; Jeremy O. Harris's Slave Play; and eight acclaimed productions directed by Ivo van Hove. NYTW's productions have received a Pulitzer Prize, 25 Tony Awards, 2 Grammy Awards and assorted Obie, Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel Awards. NYTW is represented on Broadway with Anaïs Mitchell's Hadestown developed with and directed by Rachel Chavkin and the upcoming Merrily We Roll Along, directed by Maria Friedman.

To post a comment, you must register and login.