“To Act is To Breathe. To Act in English is to Breathe Fire”
In January, 2024, I had the privilege of participating in a short play festival for students in a basement. In a bomb shelter. In the home of the ProEnglish Theatre and Drama School in Kyiv, Ukraine. Alex Borovenskyi, founder and artistic director, has a profound understanding from the front lines that no matter how dangerous the world is in Ukraine and beyond, theater must confront it and the arts and culture must provide hope and assurance that everyone will overcome the most dangerous paths of our journey to survive and live in peace.
The ProEnglish Theatre carries this meaning in great depth: We must pass on our stories through poetry, theater and film from one generation to the next. This is life. This is breath. This is why ProEnglish Theatre proclaims defiantly: "To Act is To Breathe. To Act in English is to Breathe Fire”. In the play, Once Upon a Time in Ukraine, the fate and choices of four characters take them to “a place they can’t get out of …” Yet, “memory always brings them back to where it all started.” This remarkable realization challenges our complacency and confronts our anger, especially in America where our past is being replaced by ignorance and our memories are being ignored.
To paraphrase from the ProEnglish Theatre website: We are people who cannot find a way to deal with moments we can’t get out of. In and out of theater, we must ask ourselves if we are we dealing with memories of the past as they were recorded, or are we dealing with memories that have not yet happened? Must we write our memories out by hand and pass them on before they are banned, erased and deleted to wipe out our collective conscience, or is this a battle for memories of the future that will be prohibited? The ProEnglish Theatre engages with each person while we sit side by side our voices and reflections on stage as the words spoken go directly to our hearts to become who we are and who we must become. Our identity is constantly challenged, but our presence is indelible. Theater will not allow us to fade like an old photograph so we must save our community. Threatened or punished, even killed, storytelling and theater cannot be stopped. In heart and mind, our personal and collective experiences must be spoken, written, and heard.
This is the heart of the ProEnglish Theatre. We may be a single voice in the wind, or voices in a café or classroom, but theater is our strength and irrepressible. The ProEnglish Theatre allows us to share our lives, not fear them. I am very proud of having participated in the ProEnglish short play festival where students discover their own voices through the power and beauty of words and safety and security provide a home in a basement bomb shelter for all who wish to take us on their journey and tell their stories with a community near and far.