Lesia Ukrainka's The Blue Rose (written in 1896) follows Lyubov, a young Ukrainian noblewoman who defies the norms of her time by reading widely, engaging in intellectual debate, and hosting a salon where she challenges men on politics and culture. She is also an orphan haunted by the fact that her mother died in an asylum, leaving her fearful of inheriting and passing on her mother's illness. When she falls in love with Orest, she proposes an unconventional solution — a "pure love" that rejects the physical and abandons the expectations of marriage and motherhood, as rare and impossible as a blue rose. The play is a rich psychological exploration of an unattainable ideal, touching on themes of women's liberation, the tension between social progress and tradition, and the stigma of hereditary illness. Written in sophisticated Ukrainian, the play also served as a cultural statement, helping Ukrainian literature assert its independence from Russian imperial influence.
Lesia Ukrainka (pen name of Larysa Kosach-Kvitka; 1879–1913) was one of the most prominent Ukrainian writers, poets, and playwrights of the late 19th–early 20th century. Along with Taras Shevchenko and Ivan Franko, she forms the triumvirate of Ukrainian national poets, having contributed greatly to the development of the Ukrainian language and culture through her original works and numerous translations from foreign languages. Born in Novohrad-Volynskyi, Ukraine, into the family of Petro Kosach and Olena Pchilka (pen name of Olha Drahomanova-Kosach), she benefited—and at times suffered—from the mentorship of her uncle, Mykola Drahomanov, one of the ideologues of Ukrainian statehood and cultural independence. Ukrainka began writing poetry very early and had her first publication at the age of 13. Over the course of her life and while suffering from the tuberculosis of the spine (Pott disease), she wrote a number of works in prose and poetry, plays, articles of literary criticism, sociopolitical essays, and translations from numerous languages. Ukrainka was also known for her feminist and progressive views.
Director: Rory Pelsue
Rory Pelsue is an Obie-winning director of new and classic plays, operas, musicals, and live-stream performances. He is the Resident Director of Fake Friends, where he helmed The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse at the New Group, This American Wife, and Pulitzer Prize Finalist and Drama League Nominee Circle Jerk. Other recent and upcoming credits include directing Manon! at Heartbeat Opera, Other People’s Dead Dads at Dixon Place, Burn Book at Mabou Mines, Read to Me at Portland Stage, The Show on the Roof at Boise Contemporary Theater, Deathbed Edition at Ars Nova ANT Fest, and workshops and readings at Ojai Playwrights Festival, Ars Nova, Southcoast Repertory Theater, Studio Theater, Primary Stages, CultureHub, and Mercury Store. He has served as an Assistant and Associate Director at the Metropolitan Opera, the Juilliard School, Yale Repertory Theater, McCarter Theater Center, and Yale Repertory Theater. BA: Sarah Lawrence College. MFA: Yale School of Drama.
rorypelsue.com
Stage Manager: Gabi Benintendi
Cast: Benjamin Anthony Anderson, Marié Botha, Sara Gettelfinger, Kineta Kunutu, JJ McGlone, Jerilyn Sackler, Philip Taratula
