07 Jul Taking the Show on the Road: Northbrook Public Library and Beyond
Apple Does Not Fall creator Bena Shklyanoy has taken the show on the road! On June 27 Bena presented “The Russians Have Come” to a full room at the Northbrook Public Library in Northbrook, IL.
The presentation included images from life in Soviet Ukraine and snippets from her experiences of growing up there and immigrating to the US with her young children in the 1970’s. “That means there were at least thirteen families living in this communal apartment,” Bena explained about a picture of four stoves side by side in the kitchen. “Each family was assigned one burner for all of their cooking.”
Bena uses the talks as a way to help people understand “how we lived. And why we left.”
The audience was full of questions. Some were to confirm or negate stereotypes or things people had heard about the USSR. Others were from fellow Soviet immigrants, who chimed in with their own memories or nodded in agreement, about things like “if you saw a line you got in it, even if you don’t know what the line is for.”
First Chicago, Now Providence!
Apple Does Not Fall will be in Providence, RI next week, for the debut of the original play based on Bena’s relatives and family stories captured on her website. If you are in Providence next week, please join Bena and fellow playwright Kevin Olson for performances of And Then What? The Children of Velvel and Sheina-Gitel Averbukh on Thursday July 13 at 7:30 pm, Saturday July 15 at 7:30 pm and Sunday, July 16 at 2 pm. Learn more here.
See you in two weeks.
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