Ballad of the Motherland

Written and directed by Annie Valentina

March 21- April 9, 2023

Fountain Hall Stage

When Canadian blogger Kate decides to make the pilgrimage to her parents' homeland in East Ukraine, she is caught in the crossfire - literally and metaphorically - and believed to be a "foreign operative" by local separatists. Eight years later, as the country is ravaged by Russia’s full-scale ground war, Kate finally breaks her silence on the ordeal.

Inspired by real-life events that took place in the Donbas region in 2014, this story explores ex-pat identity in the Slavic Canadian diaspora, and the human search for meaning in the face of impossible odds.