Staged Reading of BAD ROADS Will Take Place at LaMaMa This Week

On May 12th at 7:00PM at LaMaMa, a staged reading in support of Ukraine featuring the play Bad Roads by the acclaimed Ukrainian playwright Natalka Vorozhbyt at LaMaMa Theater will be presented to raise funds for the people of Ukraine.

A statement from Anya Zicer the producer and director of the reading: "A few weeks ago time stopped. The war walked into our lives uninterrupted, unexpected, unprecedented.. in both physical and non-physical sense, it came into all corners of the world no matter where we find ourselves in. After hours of paralysis, levitating on the border between fight or flight, we came back to the origin - the text, the language of performing arts, which is the only one we know how to speak. We began collecting plays of fellow colleagues, Ukrainian playwrights written both before and during the war, some of which were sent to us from bomb shelters by the playrghts. We wanted to find a way to give them a voice while also thinking about how we can help support Ukraine as a whole.

We are a group of American, Ukrainian, Belorussian, Israeli actors and musicians who join hands and voices during this challenging time for a meaningful and honest dialogue through theater. While many of our fellow actors and colleagues in Ukraine are suffering, and our Russian colleagues are forced to remain silent and are being oppressed for speaking up, we- will not remain silent and will not stand still. It is essential that we practice our freedom of speech in these times through the performing arts. We believe that especially in times like these, performing arts serves as a tremendous tool. A tool to support our fellow artists in Ukraine, and to hear the voices of New York based actors with strong ties to this war, who simply cannot remain silent. To this end we formed a series of staged readings in support of the Ukrainian Emergency Performing Arts Fund."

Bad Roads, in the darkest recesses of Ukraine in 2014, a war is raging. A heartbreaking, powerful, and bitterly comic account of what it is to be a woman in wartime. Bad Roads presents short stories set along the roads of Donbass during the war. There are no safe spaces and no one can make sense of what is going on. Even as they are trapped in the chaos, some manage to wield authority over others. But in this world, where tomorrow may never come, not everyone is defenseless and miserable. Even the most innocent victims may have their turn at taking charge.

Donations made from tickets reservations will go to the Ukrainian Emergency Performing Arts Fund, non-profit organization supporting artists that stay on the territory of Ukraine or try to escape in time of war.

The reading will take place in English.

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