On January 24, the Smith College theatre department will premiere a new work, Sarajevo Phoenix, by Ellen W. Kaplan, professor of theater.
Directed by Peg Denithorne, Sarajevo Phoenix is based on interviews with Bosnian women who survived the Siege of Sarajevo and the Third Balkan War in the former Yugoslavia.
In summer of 2011, Denithorne and Kaplan interviewed Bosnian women who lived through the Third Balkan war and are now trying to recover from what they endured. Rather than share their horror stories of the war, the women shared their stories of survival, how each became a part of the group, how the group had given them hope.
In addition to the primary group, Denithorne and Kaplan interviewed women in Srebenica still searching for the missing bones of their relatives, survivors of rape camps, refugees rebuilding their lives, and Serb women who opposed the slaughter. Their stories form the core of a play exploring war and its aftermath, as seen through the eyes of women who work together as a means of survival and an act of courage.
The show, which begins at 7 p.m. on January 24 will be held in the Hallie Flanagan Studio Theatre; it is free and open to the public.
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