This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Hello, and welcome to the Drama Book Show. My name is Mark-Eugene Garcia.

[0:23] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Tonight's conversation is about the power of storytelling in the middle of unimaginable circumstances. What began as a Zoom class connecting young artists across continents became something much larger—a creative family, a community, and ultimately a movement of artists finding one another through creativity in the midst of war. We're here to celebrate This is Not a Dream, a collection of nine plays written by young Ukrainian playwrights whose lives were profoundly altered by the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. These are not stories built from headlines, statistics, or social media clips. They are stories born from lived experience, filled with humor, fear, memory, longing, resilience, and the complicated ways people hold on to one another when the world around them shifts.

The plays in this collection follow ordinary people searching for connection and hope under extraordinary circumstances—a daughter trying to reconnect with her soldier father, a lonely policeman convinced two young artists might be Russian agents, a young woman confronting memory and loss, families separated by borders, couples trying to hold on to one another, and young people asking what it means to live, love, and create in the middle of war. What's extraordinary about these works is not simply that they were written by young voices but that they carry remarkable emotion and depth. They ask difficult questions. What happens to families separated by war? How do we continue creating when the world feels fractured?

How do we preserve humanity when everything feels uncertain? And how can art become not only a form of survival but a way of finding each other? Young Playwrights Ukraine began in the weeks following February 2022, when Emmy-nominated writer and educator Lauren Cahill gathered Ukrainian teenagers—some displaced, some navigating bombings and blackouts—to write as a response to war. What began as a Zoom class became an artistic family and a collaborative community that has grown across continents. Their work has been developed and performed in New York, Stockholm, Kyiv, London, India, and beyond, bringing the voices of a generation of Ukrainian artists to audiences around the world. Tonight we're joined by some of the artists and collaborators who brought this work to life—playwrights, actors, and creators whose stories have moved from computer screens and Zoom rooms to theaters and now onto the pages of this remarkable collection. So join me in welcoming these extraordinary writers and creators as we celebrate This Is Not A Dream.

[3:35] Mark-Eugene Garcia: Are you ready? Again, I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable so the questions will be light and obviously we can stop at any time and I promise I won't be upset. Yes.

[3:52] Unknown speaker: All right, I'll start the recording. Yes. Ready? Yes. Okay, okay, fine. Here we go.

[4:00] Unknown speaker: So, um, when you were in, um,

[4:04] Unknown speaker: The loud sound of a plane flying somewhere above. She quickly turns off the camera.

[4:09] Unknown speaker: The sound lasts a few seconds and then disappears gradually.

[4:12] Unknown speaker: Shit, sorry, we'll have to start again. Fucking assholes.

[4:19] Unknown speaker: Okay, ready?

[4:22] Unknown speaker: What was the question?

[4:23] Unknown speaker: What was the question?

[4:25] Unknown speaker: Um, so, okay, when you were, you know, um, in the trenches.

[4:30] Unknown speaker: Is that what they were, the trenches?

[4:31] Unknown speaker: Just ask me a question.

[4:33] Unknown speaker: Okay, right, I will. Give me a second.

[4:35] Unknown speaker: I don't have all day.

[4:36] Unknown speaker: Okay, I know.

[4:39] Unknown speaker: Could you please move a little to the right?

[4:44] Unknown speaker: No, like my right.

[4:47] Unknown speaker: A little more.

[4:49] Unknown speaker: A little more.

[4:51] Unknown speaker: A little more.

[4:54] Unknown speaker: Now go back a little bit.

[4:55] Unknown speaker: Okay, that's okay. Here we go.

[4:59] Unknown speaker: Um, what is the worst thing you've seen?

[5:02] Unknown speaker: Seriously?

[5:04] Unknown speaker: No, seriously.

[5:06] Unknown speaker: I have to call your mother. She probably already knows the sirens are on here and she's freaking out.

[5:10] Unknown speaker: No, no, no, I'm sorry. I won't ask you dumb questions. Please stay. This is actually important to me, okay?

[5:16] Unknown speaker: Yes.

[5:17] Unknown speaker: Thank you. Did you kill people?

[5:23] Unknown speaker: Yes.

[5:29] Unknown speaker: No, no, no, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Please, please, please stay. Dad, please.

[5:39] Unknown speaker: Yes.

[5:42] Unknown speaker: Yes, what?

[5:44] Unknown speaker: Yes, I killed people.

[5:53] Unknown speaker: No, never mind. I didn't kill people. I exterminated the enemy. You simply can't think of them as people because they're not, they're not, not to me, not after what I've seen in Bucca. People are, people are not capable of the things that those animals did to that town. You should know. Your cousin was there. You know what she's like now. There is, there's no way to fix something like that. And so, yes, I killed them. But they're the ones who came here to murder, to torture, to rape. My job is to prevent that, to defend.

[6:19] Unknown speaker: I know, dad.

[6:24] Unknown speaker: So you should never ask soldiers questions like that.

[6:26] Unknown speaker: I'm sorry. I just thought it would be easier after you came back from there.

[6:32] Unknown speaker: There. I thought we could go back to the way it used to be, like before the war, and before you made mom and Zoya go back to Poland and, well, didn't let me come home.

[6:45] Unknown speaker: Your mother and your sister are better off in Poland.

[6:47] Unknown speaker: Oh, well, right. Yeah, sure.

[6:50] Unknown speaker: Dad, I literally came all the way here just so I can do this interview. I really need this for my documentary. Like, you're, you're the perfect material. And you're in therapy, right? You said it helped. You even apologized for having been a bad father these past few years, remember? And not, not that you're bad, of course. I just thought, fuck.

[7:16] Unknown speaker: Language.

[7:17] Unknown speaker: Sorry, I, I just thought you'd be normal.

[7:22] Unknown speaker: What did you just say to me?

[7:24] Unknown speaker: You, you've changed so much. Ever since the war started, you just stopped paying attention to me and mom. And I know we're far away, but it's not our fault you didn't leave when you still had the chance.

[7:37] Unknown speaker: Are you saying that I'm selfish?

[7:38] Unknown speaker: No, I'm not saying that. I'm just saying it's not my fault. You're different now, okay?

[7:42] Unknown speaker: There is nothing different about me.

[7:43] Unknown speaker: You just forgot what I'm really like.

[7:46] Unknown speaker: You don't even respond to my texts, dad.

[7:50] Unknown speaker: Ever. The only time you called me was when Nick and I broke up, and you know what you said? Who is Nick? Get over it. Like, seriously, I get it. I get it. You're a guy, but you're my dad, too. Where's the, I'll beat him up, or he's going to regret this.

[8:02] Unknown speaker: How am I going to beat him up? He's in America, and I'm here.

[8:05] Unknown speaker: That's not the point.

[8:07] Unknown speaker: I promise, I promise, I promise to answer your questions, okay? I will be your perfect material. Are you happy now?

[8:17] Unknown speaker: No, I'm not happy.

[8:20] Unknown speaker: Leia, this documentary, how is this going to help? How is this going to help us? How is it going to help Ukraine?

[8:26] Unknown speaker: Well, people will watch it and see what it's like when your country's at war, and they'll donate and stuff.

[8:31] Unknown speaker: Do you know what it's like?

[8:35] Unknown speaker: What?

[8:35] Unknown speaker: Do you know what it's like when your country's at war?

[8:38] Unknown speaker: Excuse me? What is it like? You tell me. Was it so difficult for you to sit in a film school in New York? That, by the way, I paid for.

[8:46] Unknown speaker: Well, what did you expect me to do, Dad? Was it hard to watch the videos of bombings on the internet and post about it on your Instagram? You were the one who told me not to come back.

[8:55] Unknown speaker: Well, you made sure to run away as far from me as you possibly could.

[8:59] Unknown speaker: I didn't know the war would start when I was leaving. I didn't even know there'd be a fucking war.

[9:05] Unknown speaker: Dad?

[9:05] Unknown speaker: What?

[9:08] Unknown speaker: Do you ever miss me?

[9:10] Unknown speaker: What kind of question is that?

[9:12] Unknown speaker: Do you miss it when I was still here, Dad? I miss it. When we used to talk about something other than this.

[9:22] Unknown speaker: I was 18 when the war started. I'm 20 now. Do you miss me?

[9:26] Unknown speaker: Of course I miss you, Leia.

[9:30] Unknown speaker: You know what I miss? The most. The times when you would ask me to drive you to school. And you would play the most audacious rap I have ever heard in my life. And you knew every word. And you would belt those songs out all the way to school. And then you would make me sing along. And I really fucking miss that.

[10:12] Unknown speaker: Dad?

[10:12] Unknown speaker: I just, I just still listen to them sometimes.

[10:17] Unknown speaker: The songs.

[10:21] Unknown speaker: What's the difference between me and you? You talk a good one but you don't do what you're supposed to do. I act on what I feel and never deal with emotion. I'm used to living big dog style and straight coasting. So what's the difference between me and you?

[10:39] Unknown speaker: You see? There's nothing different about me.

[10:44] Unknown speaker: Why? What is it?

[10:56] Unknown speaker: I hardly remember that, Dad.

[10:59] Unknown speaker: That's okay.

[11:02] Unknown speaker: That's okay.

[11:02] Unknown speaker: No, I was like 13. I don't really remember anything.

[11:05] Unknown speaker: Yeah, right.

[11:10] Unknown speaker: Okay.

[11:13] Unknown speaker: Yeah, I think we've filmed enough. Time to wrap it up.

[11:15] Unknown speaker: What? We barely started.

[11:17] Unknown speaker: Yeah, it's time to turn the camera off.

[11:18] Unknown speaker: Oh, come on, Dad.

[11:19] Unknown speaker: Leah, turn the fucking camera off.

[11:29] Unknown speaker: Oh, shit.

[11:32] Unknown speaker: Oh, shit.

[11:36] Unknown speaker: I'll fix it. Buddy of mine, he does this kind of thing all the time. He can fix anything, even microwaves, fridge, all kinds of things. He'll take this one too. I have some tools in the kitchen. I'll just look at it when I'm done, it'll look like new.

[11:51] Unknown speaker: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, it's not.

[11:54] Unknown speaker: You see? Look, it's not.

[11:58] Unknown speaker: Daddy, you can't fix it now.

[12:00] Unknown speaker: No, it's not broken.

[12:02] Unknown speaker: Daddy, why did you take me back?

[12:04] Unknown speaker: It's all right. You don't need a new one. Look, the old one is still good. You don't need a new one.

[12:07] Unknown speaker: I'm tired of being like this.

[12:08] Unknown speaker: There is no need to replace it.

[12:09] Unknown speaker: Please, no, no, you don't buy a new one. I will fix it. I promise. I will make it as good as new. I will like it so much. I promise. I will fix everything. I will do anything you want. I will do anything you want. I will do anything. I will fix it. I will fix the fucking camera.

[12:28] Unknown speaker: Language.

[12:35] Unknown speaker: Woo!

[13:02] Unknown speaker: Thank you.

[13:04] Unknown speaker: Thank you.

[13:20] Unknown speaker: Proof of Love by Anna Brabant. Beehorn, 40, a lonely police officer. Samuel, 20, a student. Vlad, 22, a student. A small room with a tall desk and a small bench in a police station somewhere in Ukraine. A year or two after the war began. Beehorn faces Ksenia and Vlad. They hold fancy cameras.

[13:46] Unknown speaker: Taking pictures of railroad tracks is about a four-year sentence.

[13:51] Unknown speaker: I'm sorry Vlad. It's my fault officer. You can't go skydiving during the war and I wanted to go somewhere extreme.

[14:01] Unknown speaker: Extreme? You know if it turns out you're working for Russia that's high treason and is punishable by imprisonment for a term of 12 years with confiscation of property.

[14:11] Unknown speaker: What property? What property? We have nothing. We live in an apartment with four other roommates.

[14:19] Unknown speaker: There's so little space that we have to sleep under the bunk beds.

[14:24] Unknown speaker: I mean the only advantage is that it's difficult for anyone to come and steal our cameras. It's very narrow.

[14:30] Unknown speaker: You must delete everything.

[14:32] Unknown speaker: No I can't. Deleting a photo is like killing your child.

[14:35] Unknown speaker: Oh no. How would you know that?

[14:38] Unknown speaker: It's what I feel. Do you have children? Do I have children? No but I'm an uncle.

[14:46] Unknown speaker: My brother has three kids who I love so I don't like it when people talk like that.

[14:51] Unknown speaker: We haven't done anything wrong.

[14:53] Unknown speaker: And who are you to each other?

[14:55] Unknown speaker: We're friends. Mr. Policeman it's my fault.

[14:59] Unknown speaker: But doesn't it seem romantic? Walking along unknown paths that all lead to someone's home. Taking photographs.

[15:07] Unknown speaker: We're the press.

[15:09] Unknown speaker: Your press license please.

[15:12] Unknown speaker: You know I take pictures for myself.

[15:16] Unknown speaker: Oh self-proclaimed artist. Well what did you find beautiful at the railroad tracks?

[15:21] Unknown speaker: Industrial beauty. Street art you know.

[15:25] Unknown speaker: I dream of publishing a book about Ukraine. Let us go and I'll write thank you for your brilliant help.

[15:31] Unknown speaker: What is your... Senior police sergeant.

[15:33] Unknown speaker: No your name.

[15:35] Unknown speaker: Ah Eeyore. It's Eeyore.

[15:38] Unknown speaker: Then my dad's name is Eeyore.

[15:40] Unknown speaker: Isn't his name Alex?

[15:42] Unknown speaker: So boy Ludd. Are you sure you're not a Russian agent?

[15:48] Unknown speaker: That's funny. Like how can we... No. You can even check it with my tarot.

[15:56] Unknown speaker: You feel well Vlad?

[15:58] Unknown speaker: Thanks pretty okay.

[16:00] Unknown speaker: So why are you not in the trenches?

[16:05] Unknown speaker: Eeyore he just doesn't have the skills. Not everyone is meant to be a fighter.

[16:10] Unknown speaker: No Xenia.

[16:11] Unknown speaker: No I want to help you.

[16:12] Unknown speaker: Don't. Please don't.

[16:14] Unknown speaker: Are you going to say something or don't you have enough skills?

[16:17] Unknown speaker: Shut...

[16:22] Unknown speaker: I don't want to fight. Can I have a right to not want to?

[16:28] Unknown speaker: You're a man. Or are you disabled?

[16:30] Unknown speaker: I'm an artist. I don't like weapons.

[16:33] Unknown speaker: An artist doesn't like weapons. What a pity.

[16:36] Unknown speaker: What should we do then? Cancel the war for you?

[16:39] Unknown speaker: Artists understand war.

[16:42] Unknown speaker: Yeah. I can fight with my camera.

[16:46] Unknown speaker: I've been to Bucha and Irpin and Kramatorsk.

[16:51] Unknown speaker: Do you want to see my photos?

[16:53] Unknown speaker: I'll show you soldiers I've talked to and I'll show you their eyes.

[17:01] Unknown speaker: Oh god. I can't bear it. I don't even read the news.

[17:05] Unknown speaker: I can't read the news because I will cry.

[17:14] Unknown speaker: So what? I'm weak.

[17:20] Unknown speaker: And I feel shame for that. Sorry. Sorry I'm a human.

[17:24] Unknown speaker: And until I can do anything like my friends who died in trenches, I do what I can.

[17:30] Unknown speaker: Why do you need pictures of railroad tracks?

[17:33] Unknown speaker: Go take a picture of the waterfall, a monument.

[17:37] Unknown speaker: Or do you only want Ukraine to be associated with ruins?

[17:41] Unknown speaker: You want to post your pictures on Instagram so that everyone can see how smashed Ukraine is?

[17:47] Unknown speaker: It's not that smashed.

[17:50] Unknown speaker: And what do you do, Ksenia?

[17:53] Unknown speaker: I write poetry, sometimes plays.

[17:58] Unknown speaker: So maybe you'll write about me?

[18:01] Unknown speaker: Maybe I will.

[18:02] Unknown speaker: Wrong answer again.

[18:04] Unknown speaker: You don't want anyone to hear our confidential information. No way.

[18:09] Unknown speaker: Just imagine. At this time, dozens of thieves are walking down the street and you miss them talking about our art.

[18:18] Unknown speaker: I didn't miss them. I just put it off until later.

[18:22] Unknown speaker: Why are you keeping us here?

[18:24] Unknown speaker: You know we're not saboteurs.

[18:26] Unknown speaker: How am I supposed to know that?

[18:28] Unknown speaker: Oh, bury me, then rise ye up and break your heavy chains.

[18:34] Unknown speaker: And water with the tyrant's blood the freedom you have gained.

[18:40] Unknown speaker: And in this great new family, the family of the free, with softly spoken, kindly word, remember also me.

[18:53] Unknown speaker: Remember also me.

[18:58] Unknown speaker: When was Shvenkyo's Kobzar published?

[19:01] Unknown speaker: 1840.

[19:02] Unknown speaker: The second president of independent Ukraine?

[19:04] Unknown speaker: Yushchenko.

[19:05] Unknown speaker: And you say you're not saboteurs?

[19:07] Unknown speaker: Yushchenko. It's Kuchma.

[19:09] Unknown speaker: Go sit quietly, Val.

[19:10] Unknown speaker: I wasn't born then.

[19:12] Unknown speaker: I'll keep you here for a long time.

[19:14] Unknown speaker: And it's already four o'clock. Sit on the bench and wait while I read.

[19:18] Unknown speaker: Psychology of the Criminal.

[19:20] Unknown speaker: Ksenia and Vlad sit on the bench.

[19:23] Unknown speaker: Igor lurks behind the desk.

[19:25] Unknown speaker: Are you very mad at me?

[19:28] Unknown speaker: Honestly, the only thing I'm mad about is that you said we're just friends.

[19:33] Unknown speaker: You are so...

[19:36] Unknown speaker: Nice.

[19:39] Unknown speaker: Let's take a picture.

[19:41] Unknown speaker: Here?

[19:42] Unknown speaker: Yes! No, I want...

[19:44] Unknown speaker: For a collage.

[19:45] Unknown speaker: Just like, what a moment.

[19:49] Unknown speaker: What are you doing now?

[19:51] Unknown speaker: Taking pictures at a police station?

[19:54] Unknown speaker: It's okay, they're just so we can remember this.

[19:58] Unknown speaker: Can we just take one picture with you?

[20:01] Unknown speaker: I want to remember this adventure and you.

[20:04] Unknown speaker: Ksenia?

[20:05] Unknown speaker: Me?

[20:06] Unknown speaker: Yes, yes! Take a picture with us!

[20:08] Unknown speaker: Are you serious?

[20:10] Unknown speaker: Are you sure I won't...

[20:12] Unknown speaker: Please! Igor!

[20:14] Unknown speaker: Ksenia and Vlad stand on either side of Igor and smile.

[20:17] Unknown speaker: They're used to selfies and know what to do.

[20:19] Unknown speaker: Igor stands up straight to the camera.

[20:22] Unknown speaker: He tries to smile too, but he's scared.

[20:25] Unknown speaker: Ksenia raises the camera for a selfie.

[20:28] Unknown speaker: Wow, you look good here.

[20:31] Unknown speaker: Thanks!

[20:32] Unknown speaker: No, not you, Vlad.

[20:35] Unknown speaker: Well, uh, thank you.

[20:37] Unknown speaker: Is this your first time at a police station?

[20:40] Unknown speaker: Yes.

[20:42] Unknown speaker: I remember how I ended up at the police station for the first time.

[20:46] Unknown speaker: I declared my love with paint on a building.

[20:50] Unknown speaker: Cute!

[20:52] Unknown speaker: You were a romantic guy.

[20:55] Unknown speaker: Maybe I still am.

[20:57] Unknown speaker: What happened to the girl?

[20:59] Unknown speaker: Did she love you back or were you just friends?

[21:04] Unknown speaker: She didn't like the way I painted, I guess.

[21:07] Unknown speaker: And now...

[21:09] Unknown speaker: It's okay.

[21:11] Unknown speaker: You found somebody after that, right?

[21:13] Unknown speaker: I have Angela, my dog.

[21:16] Unknown speaker: I don't need anyone else.

[21:18] Unknown speaker: You can't give up on romance!

[21:20] Unknown speaker: Ksenia...

[21:21] Unknown speaker: No, there will always be someone out there who's going to understand you.

[21:24] Unknown speaker: There's a woman in our department.

[21:27] Unknown speaker: She also loves dogs, but I'm not sure she's interested in me.

[21:31] Unknown speaker: We can ask the tarot cards.

[21:34] Unknown speaker: I have a deck.

[21:36] Unknown speaker: Ksenia, he doesn't want to...

[21:38] Unknown speaker: No, no, it sounds good.

[21:40] Unknown speaker: Will you read my fortune?

[21:43] Unknown speaker: Absolutely.

[21:45] Unknown speaker: Oh, by the way, have you heard?

[21:47] Unknown speaker: Today is the perfect day for forgiveness.

[21:52] Unknown speaker: I'm also a little bit into astrology.

[21:54] Unknown speaker: Oh, yeah, yeah, I heard that too.

[21:56] Unknown speaker: It's true.

[21:57] Unknown speaker: What if I let you go and you turn out to be Kremlin agents?

[22:00] Unknown speaker: I mean, you seem very smart.

[22:02] Unknown speaker: Yes, we are, but they are not.

[22:05] Unknown speaker: Okay.

[22:06] Unknown speaker: Ask your question to the universe.

[22:10] Unknown speaker: Out loud?

[22:12] Unknown speaker: You can say it to yourself, but better out loud, because that way I'll just get a more accurate answer.

[22:19] Unknown speaker: Now...

[22:23] Unknown speaker: Should I ask Elonia, our dog handler, out on a date?

[22:28] Unknown speaker: Okay.

[22:29] Unknown speaker: This card is, ooh, the world.

[22:33] Unknown speaker: It has a very positive meaning.

[22:35] Unknown speaker: So all I can do is tell you to be brave, and everything will be fine.

[22:40] Unknown speaker: Ooh, ooh, let's do it again. Let's do it again.

[22:45] Unknown speaker: Should I... Should I let these young people go?

[22:53] Unknown speaker: Oh, really a very positive card to get.

[22:56] Unknown speaker: It's a really positive card.

[22:58] Unknown speaker: It says they're artists, and you should let them go, sir.

[23:03] Unknown speaker: That's what it says.

[23:04] Unknown speaker: Can I have another one?

[23:05] Unknown speaker: Of course you can.

[23:10] Unknown speaker: Will Ukraine win?

[23:16] Unknown speaker: You know, sometimes we don't have to know everything.

[23:21] Unknown speaker: We have this moment.

[23:23] Unknown speaker: Without sirens, without explosions.

[23:27] Unknown speaker: Let's continue what we do, hoping it'll just help in some tiny way.

[23:30] Unknown speaker: We're doing a good job.

[23:35] Unknown speaker: I mean, like, aren't we?

[23:41] Unknown speaker: You're right.

[23:43] Unknown speaker: Go create, guys.

[23:47] Unknown speaker: Ksenia, the picture of me...

[23:50] Unknown speaker: Oh, sorry, I'll delete it.

[23:52] Unknown speaker: No, no, could you send it to me?

[23:54] Unknown speaker: Of course.

[24:00] Unknown speaker: Wait, hold on, it's 16-16.

[24:04] Unknown speaker: Make a wish.

[24:05] Unknown speaker: Really?

[24:07] Unknown speaker: Okay, I got one.

[24:08] Unknown speaker: Okay, Vlad, you too.

[24:11] Unknown speaker: Fine.

[24:13] Unknown speaker: I also have one.

[24:15] Unknown speaker: They stand with their eyes closed.

[24:21] Unknown speaker: And they play.

[24:23] Unknown speaker: And they play.

[24:44] Unknown speaker: Let's bring one more chair.

[24:47] Unknown speaker: Oh, I'm sorry.

[24:53] Unknown speaker: Yeah.

[24:59] Unknown speaker: It's 4 a.m.

[25:08] Unknown speaker: Are they coming in?

[25:10] Unknown speaker: So there's a computer here with friends from Ukraine watching via Zoom.

[25:13] Unknown speaker: It's 4 a.m., you just said?

[25:18] Unknown speaker: I think it's 4 a.m.

[25:19] Unknown speaker: It's 4 a.m.

[25:20] Unknown speaker: Hi, you guys, welcome.

[25:23] Unknown speaker: Thank you.

[25:25] Unknown speaker: I think I can safely speak for everyone here when I say this is such an extraordinary night.

[25:32] Unknown speaker: It is such a privilege to be in the company of you and you on Zoom.

[25:38] Unknown speaker: And this is not a dream.

[25:41] Unknown speaker: Can you hold it up?

[25:44] Unknown speaker: This collection of work...

[25:47] Unknown speaker: This collection of plays written by you and others is so inspiring to all of us.

[25:56] Unknown speaker: And you are such extraordinary young people.

[25:59] Unknown speaker: Also, those scenes were fantastic, and all of you actors were extraordinary.

[26:04] Unknown speaker: So can we just say thank you?

[26:07] Unknown speaker: Thank you.

[26:13] Unknown speaker: I just want to take a moment to talk about Laura Cahill before we get into the work and the process and what it means to be holding a book of published plays that you have written.

[26:25] Unknown speaker: Laura, can you talk a little bit about how you first came to meet these extraordinary young people?

[26:32] Unknown speaker: You have become so much more than a teacher and a mentor. You have become mother and friend and advisor and in some way a human tarot card reader.

[26:43] Unknown speaker: And I just would love for maybe everyone here knows, but if you could kind of briefly introduce how you came to know these really inspiring young people, that would be fantastic.

[26:56] Laura Cahill: They are such special young people. They are so inspiring. It's true.

[27:04] Laura Cahill: So it was kind of random. I was teaching screenwriting on Zoom to a teen acting class in Kyiv in 2021 and the beginning of 2022.

[27:15] Laura Cahill: And we had our last class, and when we had our last class, Taya was already here in Connecticut, and we didn't know each other.

[27:28] Laura Cahill: I was teaching them over Zoom once or twice a week.

[27:32] Laura Cahill: Over several months, I didn't really know them, but I did love them. And I knew that Russia was at the border because I was reading about it every day and I was watching it on CNN. But there, we just went on as though nothing was happening. And we said goodbye. And I didn't think I'd see them again. And then February 24th came along and I, their acting teacher contacted me, woke me up at 2 a.m. and she was in a shelter. And I stayed on the phone with her for six days until she got to Germany. And I really wanted to know where the kids were. And she didn't know. And I wanted to see them and bring them together. And I didn't want to do screenwriting with them again. That didn't make any sense.

We had to do playwriting. I knew we had to do playwriting. So when I first got together with them, just the smaller group from who I'd been teaching screenwriting to who I knew, they were completely different young people than the people they'd been six weeks before that. They were just... I knew them in their comfortable, beautiful bedrooms in Kiev. And then they were in all kinds of places and moving constantly and holding their heads up. And they just sounded so different. And we started writing. And then someone put this class I was doing on in some kind of Telegram chat and Facebook chat. And more students came from that. And that's how I met Karina. And then I took the original group and the new group and put them together.

And I said, you are Young Playwrights Ukraine. And in six months, on July 24th, three years ago today, we're going to do our first reading of whatever you write. And here we are. We're still going. So this is literally the three-year anniversary of you guys coming together and starting to write. Can you talk a little bit? This is a very general question. But can you tell us a little bit about yourselves?

[30:04] Karina Syrota: Hi, everyone. My name is Karina. I am a senior at Marist University. And I knew nothing about playwriting when I met Laura. I'm from Kiev, Ukraine. And when the war started, me and my family came to the US. And I was filled with uncertainty. And I was waiting for my decisions from universities. And I was not knowing what's going on. Will I be able to come back? I had a return ticket back home on February 28th. But I was never able to use this ticket to go back home. And when I met Laura, I can't believe I'm sitting right here three years later, because as Laura said, it was so random. It was just Zoom without people I ever saw in my life. And it was just us staring at each other, not knowing what is playwriting, what is theater.

And here we are holding a book in the Drama Bookshop. Yeah. And I enjoy now playwriting. And I want to connect my future with theater, with filmmaking. So Laura changed my life and changed all of our lives completely without us knowing that this will ever happen.

[31:26] Taya Fedorenko: Taya, your story is also amazing because you were here as the play demonstrated before the war broke out. You were here studying for the summer? Well, kind of. All right. Will you tell your story?

[31:39] Taya Fedorenko: Yeah. Hi, I'm Taya. I'm 19. And I'm from Donetsk originally, but then I moved to Kyiv as I got older. And I got to Connecticut when I was 16, a couple weeks before the war broke out. And my family is still in Ukraine, and they lived there back in Kyiv. And I had to finish high school here in the US. And then I went to college. And I don't know, I'm just really grateful that... I'm sorry. I'm just really grateful for you, and for you, and for you, and for everybody. And this is just kind of crazy, and really great. And I'm really happy. And this is crazy. And thank you for YouTube. This is not a dream.

[32:41] Laura Cahill: I remember Laura telling me that when she first started working with kids, and the war broke out, suddenly, like you were saying, seeing all of their teenage bedrooms, and then finding that the only way to continue working with you would be to grab internet from a subway underground. That there was this desire to keep connecting, even though technology was failing, power was out for many hours of the day. And this sudden desire to make art together, and this intuitive feeling that you all had that there was something about this group. You weren't all like, you were strangers who suddenly came together and found this Zoom class. It's so very random. And you have become this like, gorgeous, artistic family, some still in Ukraine, and some of you guys here.

I want to just talk a little bit about the process, because this is here for a reading of these plays. And so many people here tonight have been mentors, and friends, and here along for this ride. So congrats to all of you who helped also make this play published and come to life. Yeah, it's just, the family keeps growing in this incredible way. And also, I just want to say this, we're not here because like, isn't that adorable? They made some plays and like some people were like, let's make them a book, like, these are incredible plays. The two that we just heard right now. They do not feel like very young voices at the very beginning, like there is a maturity and a depth to the work that we heard tonight.

And everyone sort of brought so much life and integrity and, and sort of, it brought us all into this war, in a way that is so different from watching it on the news or clips on Instagram, to your point. So I just want to thank you for deeply exploring this unbelievably painful topic with humor, and pathos and all of the things that make for a great play. And also for them to be like 10 minute plays and have so much depth, and empathy and compassion and all the feels as people say, like that was just incredible to hear those plays. So also, thank you. Thank you all for those extraordinary performances in them. How does the let's talk process for a minute. What was the process? I remember you and I met and you were going to go back with recording equipment. And we sort of talked about podcasting or interviewing people and yours literally the way it's in the play is incredible. So talk about the process of making the work that we heard tonight.

[35:22] Uliana Klimchuk: Well, I do want to go. It's very interesting, because when we all got together, and no one Laura never told us, you should write about war, you should do this. All of us just because those feelings were very fresh. And we were living through war and through we were refugees and people stayed in Ukraine all over the world. So all of us wrote about war, which was very interesting for me. And I guess we decided that art is a really great response to war. And that, as you said, we learned about war through history books through numbers news, and it was never really personalized. And I guess our place in this book connects you really with people and how it feels to live through war, not just numbers, not just facts, but more important, what people how people are feeling during those hard times.

[36:27] Laura Cahill: Can I ask because English is not your first language, these plays are so well written, and they are in English, as we heard them today. As you were writing them, were you writing in English? Were you? What language were you using originally before they became what we heard tonight?

[36:37] Uliana Klimchuk: I guess it was different for everyone. We, there's 10 of us and everyone approached it differently. Someone was writing in Ukrainian first and then translated, someone will write in English and then fix the mistakes, grammar mistakes. So I guess it was how it was. Yeah, I mean, for me, it was because my play was kind of based on my interviews with my dad, who joined the army at the beginning of the war. So it wasn't Ukrainian at first, but because I planned like a series of interviews with him, but we only had one because he's busy. And I just came up with, I guess what it would have been like. And I had to translate it in my head, I guess. And Laura was always helping us to make it sound great.

But yeah, I guess the process, I remember something that Laura told us when she was teaching us, that when you write about a forest, you see trees everywhere. And that helped me a lot with how I see, because I guess Ukrainians who are not able to come home or who are not home, always think and feel like they have to show their love and their support everywhere they go. And I feel like it's really important to find community. And this has been the community that helped me to connect with people who are going through the same thing that I'm going through. And writing this helped me to connect to my dad, who I didn't get to see for a long time. And I guess just being able to have an outlet was everything for all of us, I think.

[38:29] Laura Cahill: Have you, I know you've been back. Have you been back to Ukraine? Your family's in Los Angeles. So have you been back in the last few years?

[38:35] Uliana Klimchuk: So yes. But this answer, if you answered me before winter break, would have been a no. Okay. I'm glad we're here now.

[38:49] Uliana Klimchuk: Yeah. When I escaped Ukraine, I was not able to go back home because I came here on a tourist visa. And then with tourist visa, I was not able to go back because I should continue my studies. And then I was not able to enter the US again. So I haven't seen my friends, my grandparents, my grand grandparents, everyone, my whole life is in Ukraine. So this winter break, as soon as I got documents, I bought tickets and decided not to tell anyone. So I surprised all of my friends, my grandparents, my great grandparents, all of them were shocked. And I also kind of like, pranked some of them, like, by lying, like, agreeing with their parents, like, Oh, can you tell them to pick up some documents from this station, subway station, and then I was there.

So and I recorded all of that. And then with my great grandparents, my parents were very concerned. They're like, they're really old, you shouldn't surprise them. It can end very, very badly. They're like, they've survived a war. But I was like, No, I don't want to. I don't want to give them those emotions just because not give them those emotions because they're old. So I decided to surprise them. And they were shocked. My great grandfather couldn't believe it was me. He was just standing still asking if it's Karina, is it Karina? So and that was great. Yeah, one of my friends too, I told her I was, I didn't tell her I was coming and she thought that her boyfriend was proposing. And then because I was talking to her boyfriend to kind of like set up a meeting and she was like, why is he hiding something from me?

And then I was like, well, be get ready to get engaged. I'm so happy for you. And then the next day I came and she was crying. And I was like, Are you crying because you're not getting married? Probably. She just kept crying. I'm sure. Um, what was it like tonight?

[41:35] Laura Cahill: About how these plays went from their computers to this beautiful book that you can buy and will have signed at the end of this evening. How did that actually come to be?

[41:54] Laura Cahill: In April 1, 2023, we started a mentorship project. The WGA strike was coming and the SAG strike was coming, so I thought people would be around, and they were. We started meeting on Zoom every Saturday and Sunday. The playwright mentors, there's a couple of them who are here. Daniel Golfarvin, Kate Robin are here. The playwright mentors, we would all meet, all of the Young Playwrights Ukraine members, and I think there were 14 of them writing and nine who ended up in the book. All the mentors and the directors started coming and guests, and we would have these unbelievable conversations. They were so inspiring to everyone, and we met twice a week. I knew I would do another Zoom reading. We'd done the first Zoom reading of their first collection, and I wanted to do that again, and so we did that on August 20th.

We were together for five and a half, almost six months. That's a long time where they were writing every week, and then eventually they got assigned a mentor to work with just on their individual piece.

[44:16] Karina Syrota: Yes, my mentor was Jackie, and my director was Jody.

[44:23] Laura Cahill: Jackie Reingold?

[44:24] Karina Syrota: Yes.

[44:25] Laura Cahill: And Jody Markel?

[44:26] Karina Syrota: Yes.

[44:27] Laura Cahill: Shout out?

[44:28] Karina Syrota: Yes. And my mentor was Will Arbery, and my director was Peter Hedges.

[44:33] Laura Cahill: Okay. That's incredible.

[44:35] Karina Syrota: Yeah, they're okay.

[44:38] Laura Cahill: I feel like there's a chance that they'll sort of make it.

[44:45] Karina Syrota: They have a lot of potential.

[44:48] Laura Cahill: Exactly. So are there things that you can share? Maybe just because I want to make sure that there's time for you to meet your audience and sign your books. How much more time do we have in this?

[45:02] Karina Syrota: About ten minutes.

[45:05] Laura Cahill: Okay. So first of all, I very much want to open this up to a Q&A. We can keep going in conversation, but please, if you have a question for Laura or Karina or Taya that can be public, not private, just think about it, and for the last few minutes, we'll do that. Is there anything that you can think of that would be, because this is a podcast and a lot of young artists are going to get to hear this on the Broadway Podcast Network, something that any of your mentors said to you that has really stayed with you and that you feel like, I'm going to take this in life and in art going forward?

[45:44] Taya Fedorenko: Yes, I do have that. Peter Hedges once said to us that he's like, you know, young artists always feel like they don't have the right to be at the table of art. And he said, I give you permission to do that because he's just good. He's really good, and he's one of the best people I know, and I'm very grateful that he helped me do this. And he truly gave us a sense of, oh, just because you don't believe in yourself doesn't mean that others don't either, you know. And it's hard to come from, I guess, a place where I didn't feel like I could write because I was like, yes, I'm an actor and I'll keep doing that. And I didn't know I could be both, and I didn't know that I had permission to do that. And he told me I could, and that was nice.

[46:46] Laura Cahill: That's so beautiful. I love that.

[46:48] Taya Fedorenko: Yeah, I guess throughout the whole mentorship project, it was just like so nice hearing all kinds of experiences, and all of the mentors and directors made us feel welcomed, and that we deserve to be here. We are writers, and we really believe in ourselves. We always ask each other, why do those people talk to us? And it was kind of like also with Jodi, I remember what she told me, that theater is collaboration. And this really sticks to me because all of us are family, and all of us are able to collaborate and do something great together.

[47:30] Laura Cahill: Clearly. I mean, clearly you have. And I think what Taya just said about, like we feel like we have to stay in one lane, and that's it. And we don't have permission to call ourselves anything else. But you've really proven tonight that you are both, my friend, as well as anything else you want to do. And I started by saying, it is us who have received a gift tonight. I know it's very exciting to be published, and it must just feel, you're very young, and it must feel very heady. And no, it is not a dream. It's actually happening in real. But I do want to say thank you again for your extraordinary work and your extraordinary work as well. And I guess I just wonder, the title of the book, of the published plays, can you just, A, who chose it, and B, what does that mean to you?

[48:25] Taya Fedorenko: I actually don't know who chose it.

[48:27] Laura Cahill: Did you choose it?

[48:29] Taya Fedorenko: Marisa, Marisa Smith, Smith and Kraus, and I were sitting in our apartment and trying to come up with names. We were going through all the plays looking for, because their first collection we did on Zoom three years ago tonight. And then there was a theater director from Sweden in the Zoom audience, and then the plays went to Sweden, and he named after one of the plays. He named the evening, How Do You Feel Fear? And so we were trying to do something like that, but everything was not quite right, not quite right. And then Marisa said, this is not a dream. And she doesn't know why she said that. And I said, okay. So it became the title. She wasn't even talking about the book. She was like, Laura, we're really here, you and me. And you're like, that's actually really good.

[49:22] Laura Cahill: Does anyone have a question that you want to ask Laura or Taya or Karina? You're all theater people, and I'm sure you can project. Does anyone have something they want to ask? And then I'll repeat it.

[49:36] Audience Member: Yes. Has there been any opportunity for these plays to be read in Ukraine?

[49:43] Laura Cahill: Has there been an opportunity for these plays to be read in Ukraine?

[49:48] Karina Syrota: Yes. I think it was five plays from both collections that they were part of Ukraine Friend last August. And so all the Ukrainian writers were there for it, and they directed each other's work, and it was a really beautiful thing. And I was there on Zoom the way that they're on Zoom with us.

[50:18] Laura Cahill: Kelly?

[50:19] Audience Member: Were those full productions or stage readings?

[50:22] Karina Syrota: It was a full production, yeah.

[50:25] Audience Member: At the Ukraine Fringe Fest?

[50:27] Karina Syrota: Yes.

[50:28] Audience Member: Yeah, which is in English.

[50:30] Karina Syrota: Yeah.

[50:31] Audience Member: And what city was that in?

[50:32] Karina Syrota: It was in Kyiv.

[50:33] Audience Member: Okay.

[50:35] Karina Syrota: Yeah.

[50:36] Audience Member: That's incredible. Was that filmed?

[50:38] Karina Syrota: I think so, yeah, yeah. And they joined us on Zoom, and we saw their reaction, so it's so nice. So we go back and forth who is on Zoom and who is in person.

[50:51] Laura Cahill: All right. I think we can close this part of the evening out because now you're going to get to get your books and get them signed and get to meet these glorious artists in person, although many of you already know them. I just want to say personally, also, Grace, you're amazing. Grace Goldstein and Brett Goldstein and so many of our OG Naked Angels family is here tonight, which is really moving. I know personally, anytime I've been in your company and in your company, we all feel so helpless so much of the time. And the gift you have given us is that even for a short while, we actually feel like we are a part of something instead of just watching it and feeling such helplessness. So thank you, and thank you for giving us a place to go and to be in community together and to be a part of a creative process that has brought forth one of the most extraordinary collections of plays that will resonate not just in this particular time but forever.

And I really want to thank you all for being here tonight and sharing your talent with us, and to Laura for being our fearless leader, and to all of you for your support and your creativity and your own genius.

[52:18] Laura Cahill: So thank you to the Drama Bookshop for hosting this event and to this podcast that will then help more and more people all over the world not just know about the incredible things that happen at the Drama Bookshop and if, again, this is a podcast so we are talking to people all over the globe right now, if you are in New York City, this is one of the most extraordinary bookstores, and in the middle of Times Square that there is this oasis of creativity and human connection and delicious food and just the most beautiful books to peruse or buy. So thank you, Drama Bookshop, for all you have done for this community.

[52:59] Laura Cahill: What an incredible night and a night full of emotions. You never know what these events are going to be. We know what the topic is going to be when I set them up, but I never know the emotion or the impact it's going to have. And this was one that just really hit us and affected us and had us talking about it for days to come. And it's one that flies off the shelves. Just an incredible place to have incredible playwrights and a wonderful night to be part of. It's such a gift, this job at the bookshop, that we can put artists on a platform and really help spread their message. It brings joy. I'm one of the luckiest guys in the world that I get to do this. And I hope you get the opportunity to come see one of our events and be part of it. You never know what it's going to be, and sometimes it changes you. And this was one of those, and I'm so proud of it.

[54:04] Laura Cahill: Our next episode changes things up a bit. We're going to be joined by casting director, educator, and author Wendy S. Kurtzen to discuss her book on the business of being a creative. Now, it's an incredible book, and it is one that is asked for so many times. People come in looking for it, and so it was a fun night. And it's going to be a fun episode. So remember to follow us on Instagram at Dramabookshowpodcast. Follow our Eventbrite at Dramabookshop. And remember, all the books we talk about can be found here at the Drama Bookshop, and so can we. And we will see you at the bookshop.