La MaMa Presents IN THROUGH THE DOORWAY OUT
Running February 7, 8 and 9, 2025.
By: A.A. Cristi Feb. 03, 2025
IN THROUGH THE DOORWAY OUT will be presented at LaMaMa Experimental Theatre, Community Art Space (74 East 4th Street New York, NY 10003).
IN THROUGH THE DOORWAY OUT is the second original production by the TUT (Teens Ukraine Theatre) laboratory for Ukrainian teens and young adults refugees presented at LaMaMa Experimental Theatre Club. This production is a documentary verbatim theater piece centered on the personal stories and struggles of a group of 10 young adults who were all forced to leave Ukraine at the beginning of the Russian full scale invasion. As the war still goes on, these young individuals find themselves in New York city still searching for answers in their self identification as new versions of themselves, unable to go back or fully assimilate in the new space. The upcoming limited run will also feature a guest star Ukrainian actress and TV host Sia Rovinska who surges as a UNICEF ambassador, influencer, and social activist. She came from Kyiv to New York over two years ago right after the invasion.
IN THROUGH THE DOORWAY OUT is a reflection of their continuous exploration of who they are after the sold out run of the first show ARE WE THERE YET, now focusing on the topics of continuation and their growth from a place of loss and the desire to go forward despite the difficult circumstances they faced at the beginning of their migration to New York.
We live in a multiple choice world, in which we have endless possibilities and doors to which we can't always find the keys or know how to access them, doors into our dreams, our past, doors which we are forced to open despite our desires. How do we know which one to open? What exactly is waiting behind these doors? Is it just a transition that separates us from the before and after? Is there a manual we can turn to to find the answers? The essence is in not losing the key and being able to be the key holder to your own doors.
IN THROUGH THE DOORWAY OUT is a production of the TUT (Teens Ukraine Theatre) initiative for Marks JCH refugee teens from Ukraine. Produced by Lost & Found Project. It is now brought back for a limited run at LaMaMa Experiemntal Club after it's original sold out premiere run in June 2024
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 project is led and co curated with the actor/teaching artis and director Dima Koan as well as the musician/composer Mariya Vasilevskaya. 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.
In May 2022, the company produced a staged reading of “Bad Roads,” a play by the acclaimed Ukrainian dramaturg Natalka Vorozhbyt at LaMaMa 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 key 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 supports 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 first hand account of war displacement.
“As you probably know helping Ukrainian refugees and especially children and youth that end up here in New York is very personal to me and one of the top priorities for the Marks JCH. I'm very thankful to incredibly talented Anya Zicer and her team for collaborating with us and providing teens that we serve here at the J with unique experience offered by Teen Ukraine Theater. Its about unique instrument of theater that's being used by Ukrainian teens to provide an opportunity to share and heal while creating a totally new positive layer in their unbearable darkness of being.” — Alex Budsnitky (Executive Director of the sponsoring organization, Marks JCH of Bensohurst)
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.
More info @ www.lnfproject.com/
ABOUT LA MAMA
La Mama Experimental Theatre Club is dedicated to the artist and all aspects of the theatre. La MaMa's 63rd Season, The “La MaMa Beyond Season” expands our efforts to develop creative methods and tools for greater access to the arts. Pop up performances and installations will be happening in parks, neighborhood community centers, as well as online. By going beyond La MaMa's physical campus, new audiences and artists from different contexts are welcomed into the creative process.
La MaMa has been honored with 30+ Obie Awards, dozens of Drama Desk, Bessie Awards, Villager Awards, the 2018 Regional Theatre Tony Award, and most recently a 2023 New York Drama Critics' Circle Special Citation. We are a creative home to artists and resident companies from around the world, many of whom have made lasting contributions to the arts, including Blue Man Group, Bette Midler, Ping Chong, Jackie Curtis, Robert De Niro, André De Shields, Adrienne Kennedy, Cole Escola, Bridget Everett, Harvey Fierstein, Diane Lane, Charles Ludlam, Tom Eyen, Spiderwoman Theater, Tadeusz Kantor, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, Meredith Monk, David and Amy Sedaris, Stephanie Hsu, Julie Taymor, Kazuo Ohno, Tom O'Horgan, Andrei Serban, Liz Swados, and Andy Warhol. La MaMa's vision of nurturing new artists and new work from all nations, cultures, races and identities remains as strong today as it was when Ellen Stewart first opened the doors in 1961.
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