New York - Belarus: A Night of Free Theater October 16, 2006

This one-night FREE event will include the reading of scenes and monologues from plays by members of Free Theater of Belarus. Free Theater has been at the forefront of the democracy movement, election protests, and repression in Minsk for the past couple of years. Comprised of members of state-run theaters throughout Belarus, company members have been subject to harassment, beatings, blackmail and imprisonment at the hands of the current government. Their work is often performed in clandestine locations, for invited audiences who must be checked and double-checked against lists of known government informants. There has been some dawning awareness of their work and their plight in Europe and the UK, where artists like Tom Stoppard have begun to meet with and write about Free Theater. As of yet, no activity has taken place in the US. Ideally, this reading might help get New York City artists involved and aware of what our colleagues must face in order to do their work in other countries.

Official Website: http://www.impactfestival.org/index.php?option=com_events&task=view_detail&agid=19&year=2006&month=10&day=16&Itemid=43