Winner of the Helen Hayes Award for Best New Play Makes It’s New England Premiere at the Workroom Theater, August 22-25

The Washington DC Winner of the Helen Hayes Award for Best New Play Makes It’s New England Premiere at the Workroom Theater, August 22-25, in time for Ukraine’s Independence Day (Saturday, August 24)

Spindrift Theatre will present Sasha Denisova’s extraordinary new play about love and resilience set against the backdrop of war in Kyiv, Ukraine, called My Mama and the Full Scale Invasion.

Sasha’s mother, Olga, has lived in Kyiv her entire life.  When the full-scale invasion of the country begins, she is thrust into fantastical situations that reflect on Ukraine’s history as a pawn in a series of wars.  A memory play, Sasha tells the story of what her mother experiences in part, through her own recollections of family life, but also, through Mama’s fantasies of what she, a Kyivian octogenarian, can do to survive “the Putin’s war.”  

The production is Directed by the award-winning director, Robert Freedman. The play is being produced with permission of the playwright and with talents of three actors:  Laura Nichols of Rockville, CT., as Sasha, Liam Bobersky of Florence, MA. as Man, and Jaris Hanson* of Whately, MA. as Mama.

Peter Marks of The Washington Post described the World Premiere of the play at the Woolly Mammoth Theater Company in Washington DC. as “A study in the wonderful absurdity of a stubbornly resistant woman under fire.”  But the play is much more than that.  It is a snapshot of the present, with political connections, strategies, and the faces of real people who are forced to live under the most extreme conditions of war.  It is also a story of a mother and daughter who have a contentious history, but a deeply loving bond.

CONTENT TRANSPARENCY

The play reflects Ukraine’s history of Russian and Nazi Germany’s military force and reminds us that Ukraine was occupied in WWII and took the brunt of the fallout from the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster.  There are discussions of famine, military force, guns, bombs, radiation sickness, and PTSD.  The play, using both humor and history to focus on the absurdity of war uses profanity and epithets, while commenting on today’s social and political challenges.  Patrons should be aware the play employs the sound and lighting effects that simulate explosions, gun shots, and bombs.  Flashing lights and the use of fake cigarettes are used.  This play may not be suitable for children.

*Member, Actors’ Equity Association, the professional union of stage actors.

My Mama and the Full Scale Invasion will be presented at the Workroom Theater, 33 Hawley Street, Northampton, MA, August 22, 23, 24 at 7 pm, and August 25, at 2 pm.  Tickets are $24 for students and seniors, $26 general admission.  Tickets can by purchased online at http://www.bit.ly/fullscaleinvasion

 For more information, to request a press packet, or to set up an interview with the Director, 

call Robert Freedman at 413-586-6095, or email leveebreak14@gmail.com

SPINDRIFT THEATRE GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGES THE FOLLOWING SPONSORS:

Amherst Cultural Council
Northampton Cultural Council
Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts
South Hadley Cultural Council 
The Massachusetts Cultural Council