Oscar-Nominee Josh Fox to Moderate Talkback at LARA'S JOURNEY Benefit Reading At Center At West Park

Joanna Pickering's new one-act play, Lara's Journey, will be performed in a benefit reading, this evening, on World Refugee Day, at The Center at West Park, June 20th at 8p.m.

After a performance of Pickering's play Lara's Journey, Oscar-nominated Emmy-winning filmmaker, playwright and activist, Josh Fox, will moderate a special talk-back to honor all those displaced on World Refugee Day.

Lara's Journey is a powerful one-woman play touching upon themes of immigration, isolation, and displacement in the aftermath of losing one's home due to war. The play follows the story of a young woman displaced in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. When Lara is rescued into a new home by the kindness of strangers, she resolves to salvage her future, but unexpected challenges arise.

Critically acclaimed director Karen Carpenter, (The New Yorker, The New York Times) will bring Lara's Journey to the stage for this special evening. Carpenter's work includes many premieres, including the worldwide smash-hit by Delia and Nora Ephron, Love, Loss, and What I Wore.

It will be performed by Yeva Sevriukova, a stage and film actress from Kyiv, Ukraine, who after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine arrived in New York City as a refugee. This week she graduated from The Lee Strasberg Theater School. This will mark her debut performance in a stateside English speaking show staged in the 375 seat venue of The Sanctuary at CWP.

Fox will lead a discussion about the play, their work and the current situation, with Ukrainians speaking on a panel from their experiences and how they resonate with the work.

A portion of each ticket sale will benefit refugees. The evening also brings awareness to the ongoing fight to save the church from demolition, an agenda led by A-list celebrities such as Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo and Matt Dillon, as well as elected officials and local residents to protect the many artist residents that suffer displacement from their theater and business.

Josh Fox (filmmaker, playwright, activist) is an Oscar-nominated, Emmy-winning film and theater director, actor, composer, musician and playwright. He is an independent filmmaker and founder and artistic director of International WOW Company, a film and theater company working closely with actors, filmmakers, theater-makers, writers, activists, and artists from diverse cultural backgrounds, including activist communities in sustainable energy and design, creating work that addresses current national and global environmental, social and political crises. Josh's work is known for its mix of gripping narrative, heightened imagery and its commitment to socially conscious themes and subjects. Founded in 1996, International WOW has premiered new work in 8 countries with a rotating network over 100 actors, dancers, musicians, technical, and visual artists spanning 30 countries on 5 continents. With International WOW Company Josh received a Drama Desk Nomination, an Otto Award, five grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, five prestigious MAP Fund Grants and an Asian Cultural Council Fellowship among many other awards and honors. As a filmmaker, Josh's work has been featured on HBO and Netflix and have premiered at the Sundance and Tribeca Film Festivals. His debut film, Gasland, earned a Special Jury Prize at Sundance as well as an Oscar nomination. As a theatrical director, Josh established himself as a significant force in New York theatre. The New York Times hailed him as "one of the most adventurous impresarios of the New York avant-garde," and Time Out NY has called him "one of downtown's most audacious auteurs," citing his "resourceful mastery of stagecraft."

Joanna Pickering (Playwright, Actress) is a multi-award-winning British writer and actress. Her plays have sold out in New York City, London, and Paris. Her work is stocked at The Drama Book Shop and Books Are Magic, New York. Her full solo play Cease and Desist opens at Theater 555 this fall, after development at The Tank. Lara's Journey streamed to over 1 million viewers when presented by internet star Natalia Kholodenko at Theater 555, alongside collaborations with Gloria Gaynor and Kathy Sledge. In 2023, Don't Harm the Animals premiered at Chain Theater as her debut one-woman show. In 2022/23, Bad Victims sold out two London runs, co-starring Pickering and Richard Emerson (West End's Chess) directed by Erica Gould (Neil LaBute, Theresa Rebeck). Other credits include Cat and Mouse (Drama Book Shop, with Dan Lauria of The Wonder Years), The Endgame (New Perspectives, then Big Funk Theater, Paris), Truth, Lies and Deceptions (Le Pavé d'Orsay, Paris). Sylvie and Sly was read by Caroline Aaron (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), directed by Lorca Peress (MultiStages) for The League of Professional Theater Women. In 2025, she was commissioned by The Ukrainian Institute of America, NY Ensemble Studio and Town Square Productions to interview Ukrainian residents for her play Till Death Do Us Part. As an actress, Pickering has won Best Actress six times, including at NY International Women Festival, The Actors Awards, LA Film Awards, as well as Outstanding Performance awards for Diva (2023). As an activist, she has collaborated with UN campaigns and gender rights initiatives. She holds a BSc in pure mathematics and is a member of The Actors Studio PDU, The Actors Gym, The International Center of Women Playwrights, and League of Professional Theater Women. She is represented by 3 Arts Entertainment, MAA Agency, Talented in Paris, and SAG. www.joannapickering.com

Karen Carpenter (Director) is the director of many critically acclaimed Off-Broadway premieres, such as Pay the Writer, Harry Townsend's Last Stand, Handle With Care, Bulldozer: The Ballad of Robert Moses, and Witnessed by the World, but is best known for the original production of Delia and Nora Ephron's Love, Loss, and What I Wore, which won the Drama Desk Award for Best Unique Theatrical Production, was named Broadway World's Audience Favorite, and has since played all over the world. Her work with writers is at the fore of everything she makes. As Artistic Director of the William Inge Festival, Karen founded an annual New Play Lab-her legacy there, now in its 10th year, has presented new works by over 100 playwrights to date. She is keenly invested in works with societal impact, and has directed, produced, and dramaturged many: Period Piece, monologues on menstruation by a diverse array of 36 commissioned writers; October 7, based on verbatim firsthand accounts of the Hamas attacks in Israel; Deliver Now, the U.N. launch of a global campaign for the W.H.O. to eradicate infant and maternal mortality worldwide, among them. Upcoming: the premiere of Baggage from BaghDAD by Valerie David at The Tank.

Yeva Sevriukova (actress) is a Ukrainian actress from Chernivtsi, currently based in New York City. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Acting and a Master's in Production from the Kyiv National University of Theatre, Cinema, and Television, where she actively built her theatrical path before the war forced her to leave. Since relocating to NYC two and a half years ago, Yeva has continued her acting training at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, where she recently performed her first full-length English-language production, taking on the role of Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible - one of the most emotionally demanding and rewarding roles of her career. Yeva's stage experience in Ukraine is rich. She performed on the stage of the Ivan Franko National Drama Theatre in Kyiv as part of a student-led tribute honoring the theatre's 100th anniversary. In her hometown, she was deeply involved with the Ukrainian folklore theater "Gerdan". There, she appeared in numerous productions including The Little Prince, The Girl and April, and At the Parents' Doorsteps. A particularly impactful performance in Kyiv was the verbatim play Homeward, staged at the Kozlovsky Art Center - a poignant collection of real stories told through 28 characters searching for a sense of home. Yeva represented her university in an international acting residency in Shekvetili, Georgia, as part of a Ukrainian delegation. She played leading roles in two university premieres: Countess Diana in The Dog in the Manger, and Stecha in the Ukrainian play Nazar Stodolya showcasing her range from classical to culturally specific roles. In New York, Yeva co-organized and performed as a vocal soloist in a charity performance in support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. She was also a featured performer in the international project Uncovered Scenes - from Ukraine, which presented readings of plays by American authors that explore Ukrainian lives during wartime. Insta: evkasevryukova