It started as a research project on Russians living with disabilities – conducted by a scholar who didn’t know the Russian word for “disability.” (At least not at first.)

Now it’s a play, with seven monologues “drawn nearly verbatim” from interviews about the experience of living with disability in the post-Soviet, post-Communist world.

It’s called “I Was Never Alone.” Written by Cassandra Hartblay (who received her Ph.D. in anthropology from UNC last year) and directed by UNC artist-in-residence Joseph Megel with a mixed cast of able-bodied and disabled actors, the play will be performed this Friday and Saturday, February 5 and 6, in Swain Studio 6 with shows at 7 pm Friday and 2 pm Saturday. (The play is free, but donations will be accepted at the door.)

I Was Never Alone Flyer

Hartblay and Megel joined WCHL’s Aaron Keck on air this week to discuss the play.

 

Learn more about “I Was Never Alone” here.