Demons of Ostropil - Theater piece/Concert

This performance tells stories based on Jewish history in Ostropil, a village on the Sluch river in the Volhynia region of Ukraine. Once a home to Poles, Ukrainians, and Jews - a place of many cultures and languages - Ostropil encapsulates the tragic history of the region, a contrast between peaceful co-existence and waves of horrific violence: Khmelnitsky's massacre of the Jewish population in the 1600s, the Civil War following the Russian Revolution in 1917, Holodomor, the Holocaust and the current Russian invasion. Using a fusion of theater, live Klezmer-inspired music, songs, and video we evoke the lost world of Ostropil and relate its history to the dilemmas facing our current world.

The current phase of the Russian war in Ukraine and political developments around Europe and the US have made clear the need for new artistic narratives about Ukraine and its Jewish communities. This project tells stories of Ostropil,…