THE PROJECTWithin days of the start of the war, a group of Ukrainian children and teenagers began recording interviews and audio diaries in English to share their stories with the world. They have become a remarkable chronicle of young people plunged into war and crisis - from becoming refugees across Europe to living under Russian occupation and recording from behind enemy lines.
The Clear Blue Skies uses excerpts from these gripping recordings, listened to live by actors on stage each night and performed using a real-time in-ear verbatim technique. The result is an urgent and intimate transmission about the trauma of war and the resilience and humor of young people in the digital age facing an unknown future for their country. The production is a theatrical experience that goes past reporting to illuminate what is not or cannot be said and builds a visual vocabulary of how memory loops, how we look away from what we dare not recall, or how the words we use sometimes barely contain what they try to describe. |
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Photos by Yulia V Clark. Video by Jacob Orr.
CREATIVE TEAM
SCOTT ILLINGWORTH (Co-Creator) Directing credits include off-Broadway, regional, and international work including new play collaborations with Lucas Hnath, Mona Mansour, Christina Anderson, Keith Reddin, and Bill Bowers. His work has been seen across the U.S., Europe, South America, and Asia. Scott is the co-founder of SOCIETY Theatre Collective, the author of Exercises for Embodied Actors: Tools for Physical Actioning, and a Fulbright grant recipient. He is the Associate Chair of and an Associate Arts Professor in the Graduate Acting Program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
OLEKSANDRA [Alex] OLIINYK (Co-Creator) is the founder, director, and teacher at Actors Lab Ukraine. She teaches acting and movement to both children and adults. Her special interest is working and creating with teenagers. Oleksandra was previously a professor at Kyiv National I. K. Karpenko-Karyi Theatre, Cinema and Television University and did research as a Fulbright grant recipient at NYU’s Tisch School of Arts. As an actress she has worked in theatres throughout Ukraine and performed in international projects at LaMama, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and Instytut im. Jerzego Grotowskiego.
CURRENT CAST
KYLE CAMERON (Actor) NYC: By the Water (MTC), Chains (Mint Theater), Pushkin (american vicarious). Proud member of the 52nd Street Project. Regional: SF Playhouse (Significant Other, Theatre Bay Area & SF Critics Circle Award Nominee; Trouble Cometh, world premiere), Denver Center (Anna Karenina, Henry Award Nominee), Studio Theatre, DC (The Hard Problem), City Theatre, Pittsburgh (The White Chip). International: three tours with Green Thumb Theatre (CRANKED, Dora Mavor Moore Award, world premiere), Arts Club (Vancouver), The Belfry (Victoria). Film: Vampire (Sundance). TV: “Law & Order: SVU”, “The Blacklist”, “Orange is the New Black”, “The Lottery”, “Murdoch Mysteries”. Training: NYU Grad Acting.
RAQUEL CHAVEZ (Actor) [she/they] is an actor & director based in Brooklyn via the Bay Area. Recent credits include Epiphany at Lincoln Center, and reupholstering & directing Measure for Measure for Smith Street Stage this past fall. TV: “The Good Fight”, “Law & Order: SVU”. BA Columbia University in Race & Ethnicity Studies, MFA NYU Grad Acting. Aspiring accordionist, please advise. Vaya con Todd.
XANDRA NUR CLARK (Actor) [they/she] is a playwright, actor, and journalist. Their plays include Ursa Major (2022-23 Ensemble Studio Theatre / Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Commission); Polylogues (2021 Colt Coeur Production at HERE, 2020 Kilroys List); Everything You’re Told (2021 Chesley/Bumbalo Foundation Award); Separated (2021 O’Neill NPC Semi-Finalist); and Anthology: Crown Heights (2016 Weeksville Heritage Center Production). They’ve performed at Lincoln Center, BAM, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Lark/Noor Theatre, HERE Arts Center, and The Flea; and done voiceovers for Radiolab, UNICEF, and FilmNation/Transmitter Media. As a journalist, they’ve worked for StoryCorps, The Atlantic, and the BBC. Currently, they teach Playwriting at the University of Rochester (Fall 2023). Xandra was a member of the 2022-23 Civilians R&D Group and a 2018-19 Queer|Art Fellow, and is a passionate singer with NY-based folk choir Ukrainian Village Voices. BA Theater, MA Journalism: Stanford University. www.xandraclark.com
ANASTASIA LEVKUN (Actor) is an actress, writer, and teacher originally from Ukraine. Anastasia studied professional acting at Actors Lab Ukraine. Her short play “Home ” was recognized and performed last spring at the Oriontheater in Sweden. Now Anastasia is pursuing an MFA degree in Theater for Youth and Community program at Arizona State University. Her goal is to continue using her creativity and artistic talents to help others and make a positive impact in the world.
JENNIFER MOGBOCK (Actor) is a proud immigrant born in Nigeria and raised in Argentina, Texas and Canada. She is a Bilingual (English and Spanish) actor, collaborator, writer, and theatre educator currently based in New York City. Jennifer is a recent graduate of the NYU Graduate Acting program, Class of 2021. Recent credits include: The Good Fight (Paramount +), Merry Wives (Public Theatre), Golden City (Marvel/ Disney +), Lady In The Lake starring Natalie Portman (Apple TV). Jennifer’s ambition is to perform and create stories about differences: to explore race, culture, and the complexities of how we self identify. But most importantly, her biggest dream is to provide genuine representation for little brown skin girls. When Jennifer isn’t working, she spends her free time baking, FaceTiming her family, and traveling the world.
ALEXANDRA TEMPLER (Actor) is an actress known for When They See Us (Netflix), Evil (Paramount+), We Crashed (Apple TV+), and What Doesn't Float. Alexandra is a founding member of Society Theater Company in New York and has worked regionally and off broadway since graduating from NYU Grad Acting in 2018.
ADDITIONAL COLLABORATORS
TAISIIA "TAYA" FEDORENKO (Actor) is a Ukrainian-born actress, singer, and playwright. She attended Oleksandra Olinik’s acting studio Actors Lab Ukraine and is currently a part of a teenage writing group founded by Laura Cahill and Oleksandra Olinik, Young Playwrights Ukraine. Taya was a part of NYU Tisch Summer High School Program and The School of Creative and Performing Arts Program in New York City. She publicly advocated for Ukraine and the Ukrainian LGBTQ+ community with the QUA organization founded by Bogdan Globa.
MIKE MAGLIOCCA (Actor) is an actor, fight director, and teaching artist based in Brooklyn. Acting credits include Shakespeare Theatre NJ, Palm Beach Dramaworks, Pittsburgh Public Theatre. MFA: Brooklyn College. Thanks and love to Scott, the whole team, Amaia, and Roxie. mikemagliocca.com
MASHA MAKUTONINA (Actor) is a Ukrainian actor, director, and creative producer from Odesa, Ukraine, now residing in New York. She graduated from Middlebury College where she spent the majority of her time directing film, theater, and dance. Since March 2022 she has been working on creative projects uplifting Ukrainian voices and culture, notably, she co-produced and curated UnitedforUkraine concert at Middlebury Art Center as well as created a series of video works depicting the emotional experience of coping with the war in your home. Currently Masha is an assistant producer on the hit-podcast Masters of Scale and in the thick of directing a play for Global Forms Theatre Festival with Rattlestick. Masha believes in the power of theatre and stories to change and heal, therefore she’s thrilled at the opportunity to be a part of The Clear Blue Skies: Diaries from Ukraine.
SHPEND XANI (Actor) is an Albanian actor born and raised in Kosovo. He came to the US as a war refugee bringing his unique life experience, proficiency in four languages, and his grandma’s sense of humor. His favorite credits include BDOTJ, The Strangers Came Today (SOCIETY), Antony and Cleopatra, (Pennsylvania Shakespeare), King John (Folger Theatre), Coriolanus, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare Theatre/ACA), The Crucible (Olney Theatre), Love and Information (Forum Theatre). Shpend appeared in NBC’s The Blacklist, New Amsterdam, and other independent features and shorts. Shpend is a proud father of his baby girl Toka. He holds a BFA in Acting from Millikin University and an MFA in Acting from Shakespeare Theatre Academy at GWU.
