Freeing Belarus through Theatre {World Policy Blog #4}

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0000

The Iron Curtain may have come down, but what remains is still in Belarus. Under Alexander Lukashenko’s stringent regime, the capacity for individual expression is strictly limited. Creative endeavors like plays—regardless of its politics—are censored by the government. The Belarus Free Theatre, founded in 2005, stages modern performances addressing social issues. While the company sells out internationally, they are still forced underground at home—where plays are government-sanctioned—staging covert performances in private residences. Many involved in the Belarus Free Gafas Ray Ban outlet Theatre, including co-founders Natalia Koliada, a human rights activist, and Nikolai Khalezin, a playwright, have suffered for their involvement. They have had several stints in prison and are under constant harassment by the authorities.

Free Belarus - Literary & Human Rights organizations campaign together in weeks before election

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Founded in 2005 by a husband-wife team, the Belarus Free Theatre is the only unregistered - thus independent and therefore illegal - dramatic troupe in this post-communist country. Effectively banned at home, BFT’s performances have taken on an underground Magliette Calcio A Poco Prezzo existence, with audiences alerted via text message or e-mail. Its covert and uncensored performances have drawn international acclaim. In the buffer-state between the rest of Europe and Russia, ruled by President Alexandr Lukashenko since 1994, the BFT provides a rare voice of dissent in what is being called Europe’s last dictatorship. This November in a show of solidarity, theaters around the US will host readings of co-founder Nikolai Khalesin’s play, Thanksgiving Day organized by Mischief + Mayhem Books in cahoots with freeDimensional, Art & Democracy Bridge Conversations, and the World Policy Institute in order to raise awareness on the situation in Belarus in the weeks before its next election. Read DW Gibson’s ‘Free Belarus’: An Introduction in the Mischief + Mayhem’s online magazine, Wild Rag. See the press release for ‘Free Belarus’ Thanksgiving Day readings all over the US.

Mischief-and-Mayhem-Books on freeDimensional

Freeing Belarus through Theatre {World Policy Blog #4}

Free Belarus - Literary & Human Rights organizations campaign together in weeks before election