THIS IS NOT A DREAM: Young Playwrights Ukraine

ABOUT

Young Playwrights Ukraine, founded by New York-based writer Laura Cahill,  is a company of young writers, actors and directors, aged 16-21, living with war. Many left their homes, now residing in different parts of Europe and the US; others remain in Ukraine, living with frequent missile attacks. Since 2022 they have met on Zoom twice a week, driven by a mission to tell their stories to the world and to give a voice to those who cannot. These plays were first presented on Zoom on August 20th, 2023, with noted actors including David Harbour, Cherry Jones, Michael Shannon, Harriet Walter and Merritt Wever.  The plays will be published by Smith & Kraus in August 2024.

This Is Not A Dream will feature ten-minute plays by Anna Brovarna, Taya Fedorenko, Uliana Klimchuk, Tania Kostyniuk, Asia Pshenychna, Sasha Sereda, and Karina Syrota. Each of the plays tells the story of people trying to find connection and a little bit of hope during the war. In Proof of Love a lonely police officer finds hope from two young artists who he suspects are really spies. In Perfect Material a daughter tries to reconnect with her soldier father. In Superhero a college student on her way home to Ukraine has breakfast with an ordinary American family. In The Sea an eccentric old woman is tricked into believing she’s crossing the border to swim in the sea for the first time. In Candies, Wedding, Bones a disconnected young woman collects her grandmother’s bones after a missile hits a cemetery. In Ruins a weary 18-year-old returns to her childhood bedroom and finds her 17-year-old self waiting. And, in The Orchid a couple tries to stay connected when all they have left is the news on TV and an orchid that might be dead.

To learn more about the project, please visit their website.