ZABEL IN EXILE Comes to Boston Playwrights' Theatre

Boston Playwrights' Theatre will continue its 2025–26 season with Zabel in Exile by R.N. Sandberg, running February 19–March 8.

A powerful memory play set in a Soviet prison in 1937, Zabel in Exile tells the story of Armenian feminist writer and activist Zabel Yessayan. As personal and political histories collide, Zabel confronts not only the ghosts of her past, but what it means to resist—and to remember—when the very worst of human history repeats itself. 

“It's hard to overstate how proud I am to be bringing the first production of Zabel in Exile to Boston Playwrights' Theatre,” BPT Artistic Director Megan Sandberg-Zakian, who will direct, says. “Many of our audience members will be meeting this incredible artist and human for the first time, and I hope that they will find her as inspiring as I do. Her life and work reminds me that even—or especially—in the bleakest moments, the act of telling stories, of bearing witness, is critical to maintaining our humanity, our compassion, and our capacity for resistance.”

This production is sponsored by Victor Zarougian and Judith Saryan, one of the editors of the English translations of Yessayan's work. Saryan initially commissioned the work in 2017, and selected playwright R.N. Sandberg's—who is Sandberg-Zakian's father—script from the many approaches to Zabel's story. The play has been developed at Merrimack Repertory Theatre and The Armenian Museum in Watertown. 

“When I learned about Zabel Yessayan, I knew that I had found my hero,” Saryan says. “She's a reminder that people have resisted oppressive regimes. Yessayan is a beacon of courage and truth telling and a voice of hope during very dark times.”

Zabel in Exile features June Baboian*, Danny Bryck*, Sarah Corey*, Grace Experience*, Anelga Hajjar and Robert Najarian*. The creative team includes Scenic Designer Marina Sartori, Costume Designer Miranda Guirleo, Lighting Designer Brian Lilienthal, Sound Designer and Composer Arshan Gailus, Properties Artisan and Coordinator Courtney Licata, Assistant Director Nikta Sabouri, Voice and Speech Coach Christine Hamel, Movement Coach and Choreographer Nailah Randall-Bellinger, Production Stage Manager Jenna Worden*, Paint Charge Nina Cote, Wardrobe Assistant Claire Mitchell and Production Assistant Natalie Dion.

The season closes with Boston Theater Marathon XXVIII (May 3). The BTM is an award-winning all-day “marathon” of new ten-minute plays chosen from submissions from New England playwrights, and produced by New England theatre companies. The annual event benefits the Theatre Community Benevolent Fund, an organization that provides financial relief to individual theatre practitioners in Greater Boston.