The Wilma Theater to Present Benefit Reading of Natal'ya Vorozhbit's BAD ROADS

The Wilma Theater will present a one-night only fundraiser reading of leading Ukrainian playwright Natal'ya Vorozhbit's critically acclaimed play BAD ROADS. Proceeds from the Thursday, March 31 event at 7:00PM, featuring members of the Wilma HotHouse Acting Company and directed by Co-Artistic Director Yury Urnov, will benefit the Voices of Children Foundation, a non-profit Ukrainian organization providing psychological and psychosocial support to children, helping them overcome the consequences of armed conflict.

"It is important for us to show solidarity with the people of Ukraine," said Lead Artistic Director James Ijames. "One of the values of the Wilma is a commitment to liberation. That is being threatened right now and anything we can do to support the Ukrainian people falls squarely in line with our mission and our values."

In the darkest recesses of Ukraine in 2014, a war is raging. A journalist takes a research trip to the front line. Teenage girls wait for soldiers on benches. A medic mourns her lover killed in action. BAD ROADS, originally commissioned by The Royal Court Theatre, is a heartbreaking, powerful, and bitterly comic account of what it is to be a woman in wartime.

Vorozhbit's other work includes The Khomenko Family Chronicles (Royal Court and BBC World Service; rehearsed reading at the Royal Court, 2006); The Grain Store (RSC, 2009); and Maidan: Voices from the Uprising (Royal Court, 2014). She is the co-founder of the Theatre of the Displaced in Kiev and curator of the Class Act project in Ukraine. This translation of BAD ROADS is by award-winning poet and theater artist Sasha Dugdale.

Proceeds from the benefit reading will go to the Voices of Children Foundation, which has been helping children affected by war since 2015. Today, during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Foundation is providing non-stop assistance to affected children and families from all over the country, providing emergency psychological assistance, and assisting in the evacuation process.

Tickets to BAD ROADS are pay-what-you-will donation; reservations can be made at wilmatheater.org. Masks and proof of vaccination are required to attend.

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