“I will dance with those oak trees as long as”
I will dance with those oak trees as long as is a performance piece inspired by the poetry of Kajal Ahmad and the ancient Mesopotamian epic Gilgamesh.
The piece interprets the lives of three Kurdish women during Saddam Hussein’s atrocious chemical attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja in 1988. Accompanied by traditional Kurdish-inspired music, two performers explore the women’s reactions to that violence and explore the nature of heroism. Using a minimal setting of carpets, chairs, and string, they create a multilayered world of reality and dreams, memories and visions.
This production is currently touring the eastern United States and will appear in New York City at the Tank, 312 West 36th Street, for five performances from January 13 to 15. For information and tickets, visit the Tank’s website.
They are returning to New York for two more performances on January 27 at Alchemical Studios, 50 West 17th Street, on the 12th floor. For information and tickets, visit their website.
Trigger warning: The production is inspired by a story of genocide, as well as allusions to sexual, physical, and psychological trauma.
Performers: Audrey Rose Dégez and Daria Holovchanska
Producer, playwright, and director: Audrey Rose Dégez
Puppet master, light and sound designer, movement and object director: Daria Holovchanska
Stage manager: Berivan Alothman
Producer: CP4P International Productions in partnership with Literacy Pittsburgh and the International Free Expression Project.
Audrey Rose Dégez
Audrey Rose Dégez, originally from Crafton, Pa., is a producer, director, actor, and playwright of Ukrainian descent. After studying theater in Paris, she founded CP4P International Productions to present poetry and theater workshops around the world. She created theatrical performances with children and volunteered with Syrian refugee communities. She was set to begin a residency in Kharkiv, Ukraine, in the historic Slovo Building, where she would write and workshop a play based on the short story “I Am (a Romantic)” by Ukrainian author Mykola Khyvylovy. But the Russian invasion changed her plans. She returned to Pittsburgh where, to protest Russia’s effort to eliminate Ukrainian culture, she founded the Slovo.Theater. She brought six Ukrainian actors to her hometown for an artist residency. Inspired by their personal stories, as well as Khyvylovy’s story, she wrote Mothermotherland, which the troupe developed, performed, and toured in late 2022 and early 2023
Daria Holovchanska
Daria Holovchanska is a Ukrainian puppeteer, performance artist, actor, director, and mask-maker. Born (in 2001) and educated in in Kharkiv, she performed at the Kharkiv’s Sorvanci Theater and at the Kharkiv National Academic Puppet Theater. When Russia invaded in 2022, she emigrated to Poland, where she performed at the Aleksander Zelwerowicz Theater Academy in Warsaw. Later that year she traveled to Pitttsburgh to join other Kharkiv performing artists for a residency at the Slovo.Theater. The troupe developed the performance piece Mothermotherland (written by Audrey Rose Dégez) that toured in late 2022 and early 2023. Later in 2023 Daria performed at the Charleville-Mézières puppet festival. Visit her website here.
