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Neptune Theatre is located on sacred land that has been the site of human activity since time immemorial. We are in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq People, and we acknowledge them as the past, present and future caretakers of this land.

As artists, we are grateful to work and build community here. As stewards of culture, we commit to continuing to improve our relations with Indigenous people and upholding values of collaboration and inclusivity in all that we do.

We strongly recommend that masks be worn in our venues. As our theatres place the audience so close to the action on stage, masking helps protect not only audience members but also the actors, who cannot wear masks when performing. By keeping them safe, we all can help prevent COVID-related performance cancellations.

Any videotaping or other video or audio recording of this production is strictly prohibited. The use of cameras, cellular phones, paging devices and all other recording devices is strictly prohibited in the theatre. Please ensure all cellular phones and watch alarms are turned off. Neptune Theatre is a scent-free environment.

Neptune Theatre is a member of the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres and engages, under the terms of the Canadian Theatre Agreement, professional Artists who are members of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association. Neptune Theatre engages professional technicians represented by IATSE Local 680.

Neptune Theatre acknowledges the support of our government partners:

Please note: this show contains scenes of physical violence, suggestion of sexual violence, discussions of death, explicit language, and use of sexist, homophobic and racist slurs. During show, four cigarettes and a vape are smoked; the cigarette substitute (cocoa beans) is quite similar in smell to real cigarettes.

Cast

Hannah Wayne-Phillips Kate

Nikolai Afanasev Volodya

Creative Team

Annie Valentina Playwright and Director

Yevgeniya Kononoff Cultural Consultant and Dramaturg

Karen Bassett Fight Director

Wes Babcock Set Designer

Ryan Wilcox Assistant Set Designer

Kaelen McDonald Costume Designer

Jess Lewis Lighting Designer

Jordan Palmer Sound & Video Designer

Samantha Wilson Intimacy Consultant

Martha Irving Voice

Alison Crosby Stage Manager

Cassie Westbrook Apprentice Assistant Stage Manager

Linda Meian RBC Chrysalis Production Dramaturgy

Devon McCarron RBC Chrysalis Lighting

Matthew Kratz RBC Chrysalis Video

I was eight years old when the Berlin Wall came down, signalling the beginning of the end for the Soviet empire.

My family was living in Bulgaria - an Eastern Bloc country in the shadow of the USSR trying to transition from a long-standing totalitarian regime to something like democracy. It was a strange time. After decades of state repression and censorship, the pendulum had swung, and now it was the norm to openly question people’s political allegiances in all areas of life. Including the schoolyard and playground.

My dad had been out walking the dog and struck up a conversation with a nice old man in the park. He came home excited to share this with us, and the first question out of my mouth was “Which side is he on?”

I was old enough to tell that the question had upset my dad, but not old enough to understand why. It was, after all, a constant topic of conversation - in my house as in anyone else’s. I had no idea what to do with his dismayed response.

Kids are sponges, and Us Vs Them narratives soak right in. Like all good propaganda, Us Vs Them is appealing because it flattens a confusing, often paradoxical reality into something way more manageable. It’s no accident that extremist ideology finds its easiest targets in the young and vulnerable.

Shortly after this, my parents moved the family to Norway, where I would live the next ten years of my life before relocating to Canada. Like many children of immigrants, I’ve spent most of my adulthood trying to make sense of existing in the gap between cultures. In 2014, when protests against government corruption in Ukraine became a flashpoint for pro-West vs pro-Russia rhetoric, I sat glued to the news, feeling the tug of my history within me with an ache I couldn’t fully identify.

Ballad of the Motherland was inspired by the real-life disappearances of journalists in the Donbas while cov- ering (what we now know as) the precursor to Putin’s horrific and ongoing war. More personally, it is an exploration of the odd topography of intersecting - and often polarized - cultural identities. It’s an ode to lost childhood and a complicated love letter to the Slavic diaspora, in this time of historic trauma.

I can never thank Pam Halstead and PARC enough for being such great champions of this play, and Atlantic Canadian playwriting in general. Thank you to Jeremy Webb for believing in it, and to my wonderful team for helping bring it to life. And my deepest thanks to you, the audience - for holding space for this story, for supporting the YMCA’s Nova Scotia Supports Ukraine initiative with your ticket purchase, for being here with us, right now.

Enjoy the show.

Annie Valentina Playwright & Director

Terms Of Note In Ballad Of The Motherland And Their Context

Maidan Revolution (aka Revolution of Dignity): Mass protests erupted in Kyiv’s Maidan Square in November 2013 when Ukraine’s president at the time, Viktor Yanukovych, abruptly refused to sign a free trade agreement with the UN in favor of closer economic ties with Russia. Deadly clashes between protestors and riot police led to the ousting of Yanukovych in February 2014, and a new interim government was formed.

Crimea: Peninsula in the south of Ukraine, annexed by Russia after what’s widely believed to be a sham referendum in the aftermath of the Maidan Revolution.

Donbas: Region of Eastern Ukraine, occupied by pro-Russian forces since 2014. The majority population of this region are Russian speakers.

Right Sector: Coalition of far-right Ukrainian nationalists, formed in November 2013. In early 2014, its membership only numbered a few hundred.

Gopnik: Slang term popularized in 1990s’ Russia to describe young men from low-income backgrounds, known to travel in groups and commit petty crime.

Cossack: Term derived from Turkic, meaning free man. The word was first used about people wandering the steppe (Ukrainian prairie) who were fishermen, hunters, or beekeepers. Cossacks were later recruited to the military to defend the eastern parts of Ukraine and would often share values of patriotism, military heroism, and willingness to self-sacrifice for freedom.

Banderite: Term originally used to describe a member of the OUN-B (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists), an organization led by Stepan Bandera which fought for Ukraine’s independence during WWII. Bandera was a controversial figure, seen as a national hero by many Ukrainians, and as a fascist responsible for killing thousands by many Russians. The term persists in modern-day slang for any presumed supporter of Bandera’s ideologies.

Further Reading On Topics From The Play

Amnesty International’s report on abductions and torture in Eastern Ukraine (2014): https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur50/034/2014/en/

UN’s news updates on Ukraine from 2014 to present day: https://news.un.org/en/focus/ukraine

Ways You Can Help Support Ukrainian Victims Of War

Red Cross’ Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis Appeal: https://www.redcross.ca/donate/appeal/donate-to-the-ukraine-humanitarian-crisis-appeal

UN’s Ukraine Humanitarian Fund: https://crisisrelief.un.org/t/ukraine

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): https://give.unhcr.ca/page/52275/donate

Enemy Aliens

–Internment in Canada, 1914–1920

February 11 to April 23, 2023