Lisa Dixon and Toyosi Tejumade-Morgan perform a scene from Voices of the New Belarus
Theatre department participates in staged reading of exiled Belarusian playwright Andrei Kureichik
On April 28, the Department of Theatre and the Russian, East European, Eurasian center hosted a staged reading of exiled Belarusian playwright Andrei Kureichik’s Voices of the New Belarus at Krannert Art Museum. The play is a verbatim, documentary piece about the experiences of political prisoners in Belarus following the fraudulent 2020 Belarusian presidential elections.
Forced to flee the country following the elections in 2020, Kureichik, George A. Miller Visiting Artist, leveraged his creative energy to produce the documentary play, Insulted. Belarus., about the elections, subsequent protests, and violent crackdown by Aliaksandr Lukashenka’s regime in Belarus.
The play has been translated into 30 languages and received 200 readings, performances, and films across the globe (including Hong Kong, Nigeria, throughout the EU, UK, and North America). It was featured on BBC Radio’s “The Cultural Frontline,” Russia’s Rain TV, and the HowlRound Theatre Commons.
Voices is his second documentary piece about these events, which is gaining international recognition and building a global pro-democracy network of artists and advocates.
The interdisciplinary and international cast included Dean of the College of Fine & Applied Arts, Kevin Hamilton; the Director of the EU Center, Emanuel Rota; professors Lilya Kaganovsky and David Cooper from the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures; Sam Smith from the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts; and faculty, students, and alumni from the Department of Theatre: Lisa Dixon, Aaron Muñoz, Genesee Spridco, Zev Steinrock, Jordan Coughtry (MFA ’18, Acting), Katayoun Salmasi (PhD ’22), Mariana Seda (MA ’21), Brandon Burditt (MFA ’22, Acting), Bree Kazinski (BFA ’22, Acting), Toyosi Tejumade-Morgan (PhD ’26), and Finn Marloft (BFA ’24, Acting).
The performance was co-directed by Kureichik and Nisi Sturgis, produced by Valleri Robinson, media designed by John Boesche, and stage managed by Katie Anthony (BFA 2024).
Co-sponsors for the event included the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, the Department of Dance, and the EU Center.
A filmed version of the reading will be presented for the campus audience in May.
Lisa Dixon and Toyosi Tejumade-Morgan perform a scene from Voices of the New Belarus