STORIES WILL NOT MEND THIS BROKEN WORLD is Coming to The Brick Aux Gallery

Identity Crisis Theater (IDCT) and The Brick present the world premiere of Stories Will Not Mend This Broken World this fall. The play, a timely exploration of how people process trauma in this age of spiraling environmental and political crises, will have performances at The Brick's Aux Gallery space from late October through mid-November.

Stories Will Not Mend This Broken World tells the story of a group of Istanbul theater artists struggling to regain their footing following the 2023 earthquake that devastated Turkey and Northern Syria. Written by Will Johnson and directed by Handan Ozbilgin, the play is based on the playwright's own experience visiting an Istanbul theater company just weeks after the earthquake. "When I got to Istanbul, I was struck by the ripple effects the earthquake had on everyday interactions, even though Istanbul was far from where the actual earthquake hit," Johnson explains. "And I couldn't get over how much energy people put into being welcoming, being good hosts, even as they were grieving. It felt to me like the best, most interesting parts of people had come to the surface. Strength, humor, generosity. I wanted the play to pay tribute to that."

For Ozbilgin, the director, this play is also about the limits of language. This is part of why she worked with the cast and playwright to create a trilingual production that moves between English, Turkish, and Spanish. Ozbilgin says that "when we are dealing with extreme situations and extreme emotions, language sometimes fails us. To me, that's a beautiful thing. It shows that our experiences as humans can't be captured only on the page." In Stories Will Not Mend, Ozbilgin hopes to remind audiences that "voices can be beautiful even when we don't know exactly what they're saying. Sitting in a room with people speaking a language you don't know can feel strange, but it's a beautiful kind of strange. That's the kind of strange we think this play can be."

Alternating between gallows humor and grief, Stories Will Not Mend explores the effect that suffering on a mass scale has on those who witness it from a distance and the inextinguishable drive to create new worlds through art, even when that work feels futile. This production was made possible with the support of the Brooklyn Arts Council, the Lower Manhattan Arts Council, The Mercury Store, and Positive Exposure Gallery. The play's cast features Doga Ozbilun, Francisco Arcila, Ed Cardenas, Defne Ozkan and Gamze Celik. Stage management is by Iyleen Torres with lighting design by Casey Duke and sound design by Mark Alberto McKnight.

Performance dates at Brick Aux are October 30th at 7:00pm, November 1st at 3:00pm, November 7th at 7:00pm, November 8th at 3:00pm, November 13th at 7:00pm, November 14th at 7:00pm, and November 15th at 3:00pm.