The dramatic scenes in EXPLOSIONS are adapted from "GAS 1" by Georg Kaiser, a 1919 German Expressionist drama set in the future. EXPLOSIONS interweaves documentary material on the Chornobyl nuclear accident with the Kaiser play, as well as contemporary American and Ukrainian poetry. Natalka Bilotserkivets's poem "May," written shortly after the
Chornobyl accident, provides the text for the Sleeper scenes throughout the piece. Other poems such as "Prypiat: A Still Life" by Oksana Zabuzhko were adpted to form lyrics for the songs.
Agni Reveiw, which published Natalka Bilotserkivets' "May" in its fall 1991 issue, awarded the Agni Translation Prize to Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps in 1992.
READ more poetry by Oksana Zabuzhko in our translations
EXPLOSIONS
was created by Virlana Tkacz & Wanda Phipps
directed by Virlana Tkacz
music by Roman Hurko
set & lights by Watoku Ueno
costumes by Carol Ann Pelletier and Yuko Yamamura
projections by Rebecca Baron, sound by Eugene Kuziw
asst director: Margaret Lanzoni, stage manager: Tina Magnuson
with Richarda Abrams,Candace Dian Leverett, Jessica Hecht, Ralph B. Pena, Jeffrey Ricketts, Sean Runnette, Dawn Saito, Olga Shuhan, Jeff Sugarman
EXPLOSIONS at La Mama ETC in New York January 3-19, 1992