Text from Lucky Breaks by Yevgenia Belorusets
Adapted by Sara Farrington
Directed by Jaclyn Biskup
Stage Manager Nat Kelley DiMario
Costume Design by Kristy Hall
Lighting Design by Jackie Fox
Sound Design by James Worth Bennett
Created by and featuring Monica Goff, Rachel Griesinger, Kara Jackson*, Jennifer McClinton, and Aurea Tomeski*
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Untitled Ukraine Project is a stage adaptation of selected short stories from Lucky Breaks, written by Yevgenia Belorusets, reimagined by playwright Sara Farrington, directed by Jaclyn Biskup, and devised and performed by our ensemble of five female actors. The stories are often bleakly comic, beginning and ending abruptly, depicting the haunting effects of the 2014 Russian invasion on the lives of civilian women. A woman who runs a flower shop vanishes suddenly and no one asks questions. In another, a woman takes her war-induced rage out on her broken umbrella. In another scene, a woman on a crowded street suddenly decides she can no longer walk and renders herself forever a “living monument.” The absurdist tone and language of each brief story are transformed into a physical score, bending reality to capture the rootless tortured experience of female victims of war and occupation.
*these Actors are appearing courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association
The Mill was founded in 2002 by artistic director, Jaclyn Biskup, as Experimental Theatre Chicago. After the company evolved and broadened its scope, the name was changed to represent its new mission: to produce plays progressive in form and content. Biskup’s father worked at US Steel — unaffectionately dubbed ‘The Mill,’ for over thirty years and the name is an homage to him and her family’s south side of Chicago working class roots. The Mill is known for its stylish energetic stagings and bold theatricality including the Chicago premieres of Suzan-Lori Parks’ VENUS and Ken Urban’s THE PRIVATE OF LIVES OF ESKIMOS (OR 16 WORDS FOR SNOW), and in NYC, WORSE THAN TIGERS and NICHOLAS, MAEVE, MARIANNE, one of Indie Theatre Now’s 20 Best of NYC Fringe. For more info visit TheMillTheatre.org.
Jaclyn Biskup is a director and producer working in theatre, television, and film. She received an Emmy nomination and was a Peabody Finalist for the digital series THE SECRET LIFE OF MUSLIMS and currently works as the creative producer at New Ohio Theatre. Assistant director to Tony Award-winning director Anna D. Shapiro on the Broadway productions of THE MINUTES (Tracy Letts) and STRAIGHT WHITE MEN (Young Jean Lee). Founding artistic director of The Mill, directing and producing over 20 productions including the Chicago premiere of VENUS (Suzan-Lori Parks) and THE PRIVATE OF LIVES OF ESKIMOS (Ken Urban). NYC work includes WORSE THAN TIGERS (Mark Chrisler), NICHOLAS, MAEVE, MARIANNE (Matthew Stephen Smith) — one of Indie Theatre Now’s 20 Best of NYC Fringe, HOT STEAMS (Zach Wegner), and IT’S JUST WEIRD NOW (Halley Feiffer). Her work has been seen at New Ohio Theatre, MCC Playlabs, New Dramatists, Rattlestick, Dixon Place, Town Stages, and NYC International Fringe Festival. She’s assisted on productions at Steppenwolf, The Public, and The American Musical Theatre Workshop. Digital projects include work for Broad Stream, PBS NOVA, Vox, Delta Air Lines, Caltech, Harvard. BA in Theater from Northern Illinois University and MFA in Directing and from Northwestern University.
SARA FARRINGTON (Playwright) – NYC playwright, screenwriter, co-founder of Foxy Films, with Reid Farrington. MFA from Brooklyn College w/ Mac Wellman. Author of the book The Lost Conversation: Interviews with an Enduring Avant Garde, (53rd State Press/TCG 2022). Sara’s plays have been nominated for two Drama Desk Awards & critically acclaimed by The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, American Theatre Magazine, El Diario, The Village Voice, Lighting & Sound in America, NY1. Recent & Upcoming plays: A Trojan Woman, (the world ended tonight), CasablancaBox, Mendacity, Leisure Labor Lust, BrandoCapote, The Return, Honduras, Near Vicksburg, Mickey & Sage (published @ Broadway Play Publishing, Inc.), The Rise & Fall of Miles & Milo, Cosmicomics. Sara recently completed the feature film, Mendacity, directed by Reid Farrington, featuring Foxy Films. Residencies include: HARP @ HERE Arts, All For One Solo Collective, Dragon’s Egg. Work as co. manager for Foxy Films: Tyson vs. Ali, Gin & “It,” A Christmas Carol, The Passion Project. Her work both independently & w/ Foxy Films include tours to Copenhagen, Budapest, Vancouver, Columbus, OH, Lenox, MA, Omaha, NE, Nyack, NY & an upcoming tour to Athens, GR. Support from: NYSCA, NJCOA, Venturous Fund, Axe-Houghton, Arch & Bruce Brown & others. Mom to Jack & Levi. www.ladyfarrington.com.
