Zabel in Exile at Boston Playwrights' Theatre

Zabel in Exile by R.N. Sandberg
Directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian
February 19–March 8, 2026 at Boston Playwrights' Theatre

Yerevan, 1937. Armenian writer and activist Zabel Yessayan sits in a Soviet prison cell, awaiting execution. But what exactly is her crime? Writing novels? Knowing how to speak French? Being a woman? As Zabel confronts her captors, past and present blur, and she reckons with the injustices she has witnessed and confronted—from schoolyard bullying to the horrors of genocide. Zabel in Exile is a searing memory play that honors the strength of a woman unafraid to stand up to tyranny and wrestles with whether it is possible to continue to believe in light during times of endless darkness.

Featuring June Baboian, Danny Bryck, Sarah Corey, Grace Experience, Anelga Hajjar, and Robert Najarian.

Production sponsors: Judith Saryan and Victor Zarougian

Content transparency: The play includes descriptions of violence, including the atrocities of genocide. It does not include any such violence depicted onstage.