Slovo Theater Group are Ukrainian and American actors and directors in a unique artistic residency in Pittsburgh whose goal is to write and workshop an original work based on Ukrainian author, Mykola Khyvylovy’s, 1924 novella “I Am (Romance)” and the topic of motherland. In his story, the head of the local Cheka, a communist law enforcement agency, must decide whether to sentence his mother to death in the name of the ideals of the Commune. After reading the story, Audrey Rose Dégez, Pittsburgh-born and Paris-based playwright applied for a residency at Slovo theatre in Kharkiv, where Khyvylovy lived, worked, and ultimately committed suicide (to protest the Soviet extermination of Ukrainian artists and intellectuals) in 1933.

On February 24^th, 2022, the Russians invaded Ukraine making the Kharkiv residency impossible , but a group of private funders allowed Dégez to bring the project to America. In August, Dégez was joined by her Ukrainian collaborators: actress and puppeteer Daria Holovchanska, actress and PR manager Yuliia Linnik, actor and director Maksym Panchenko, actress, director, and organizer Olesia Zakharova, and artist, dancer, and linguist Veronika Shuster.

Since then, the Slovo Theater Group have continued to develop and perform, “Mothermotherland” in Pittsburgh, Chicago, and New Jersey. The Goucher performance will reflect both the original source material and work inspired by the artist’s own stories related to the events in Ukraine. The event will provide the opportunity to see devised and adapted work for the stage and to learn from the artists about how the work was developed and how it intersects with the circumstances of war. This performance is supported by­­­­­­­­ the Robertson Fund. It is 45-minutes long followed by a 45-minute talk back.