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Conversations During Air-Raid Sirens will present the world premiere of a searing and genre-blurring dramatic work of poetry and journalism by the renowned Ukrainian-American poet Ilya Kaminsky as a catalyst for a guided audience discussion about the war in Ukraine and the experience of modern urban warfare throughout the world. Kaminsky describes his new piece as a “documentary symphonic” aimed at giving audiences a “direct experience” of the “chaos/anarchy of the war,” told from the civilian perspective through lyric and testimony. The premiere of Conversations During Air Raid Sirens will take place for an in-person audience at The Greene Space and a global audience on Zoom, and will be followed by immediate responses from a panel of community members whose lives have been impacted by war—in New York City, Ukraine, and other parts of the world—culminating in facilitated dialogue aimed at generating compassion, understanding, and positive action.

Featuring performances by Anthony Edwards (E.R., Top Gun), Mare Winningham (Dopesick, St. Elmo’s Fire), Ato Blankson-Wood (BlacKkKlansman, When They See Us), and John Turturro (The Batman, The Big Lebowski).

Written by Ilya Kaminsky
Directed and facilitated by Bryan Doerries

Co-presented by Theater of War Productions and The Greene Space.

Supported by the Authors Guild Foundation’s fund commissioning new dramatic works from contemporary poets.

This event will be Captioned in English on Zoom with audio interpretation in Ukrainian and English on Zoom.

This free, public, live hybrid event will take place on Zoom Webinar, broadcast from The Greene Space in NYC. If you choose to join us online, this event can be accessed on personal devices. The event Zoom link will be distributed via email and available to registered attendees starting two days prior to the event.

All of Theater of War Productions‘ events follow the same format:

• The performers will read the text.
• Community panelists will kick off the discussion with their gut responses to what resonated with them across time.
• We will open the discussion to the audience, facilitated by Bryan Doerries. To participate in the discussion online, please raise your hand using the button at the bottom center of the screen. If called upon, please accept the invitation to be promoted to speak and you will be visible and heard by the entire audience for the duration of your comments. If you would prefer not to be seen, please disable your video.

SEATING IS FIRST-COME, FIRST-SERVED. ENTRY IS NOT GUARANTEED.