Stalinka
Bulgaria
“Stalinka” is the Auntie who lives with the family and is somehow related, but nobody really knows how. Seemingly always on the brink of death, she still manages to eat everything in the house while simply refusing to die. Through the irrational demands and mandates she scribbles on scraps of paper and hands to whomever is closest to her, she makes everyone’s life absurd. As such, she is a metaphor both for the lingering ex-Communist oligarchy who are supposed to be dead, but yet who have amassed all the country’s resources and limited its growth, as well as the decrepit old history that continues to scribble directives that nobody really understands, but follow nonetheless. Created with the National Academy for Theater and Film Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria.
World Communities is looking to stage a production in the United States to provide a context for a trip to this exotic and intellectual land, and then wants it to return the show to the theater scene in Sofia from which it was created.
Travel Experience
With its beautiful Black Sea coast, sophisticated cities, and its many mountain ranges, Bulgaria is a treasure. Some of the most beautiful places on earth are found within this country’s borders, including the villages of the ancient Rhodope Mountains, the Rila Monastery area, Varna, and the sea town of Sozopol. The capital city, Sofia, thriving in the shadows of Mt. Vitosha, is full of wonderful restaurants, cafes, and clubs. Like so much of Eastern Europe, the city’s perimeter is riddled with the unsightly communist block apartments that remain an ugly testament to a planned and utilitarian housing ideal. While the old women of Sofia make sure to clean the streets each day, it is never entirely certain who is filling the empty fountains with water, or who is responsible for painting some of the public buildings. But to look past all of this into the cerebral heart of this reticent and cultured land is to be forever taken by the place. The travel focuses on the intellectual and cultural ruminations of this country, especially the arts and how they have changed, since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Perform Stalinka
Performance of the play “Stalinka” provides a vision of the artist on either side of the iron curtain. The script is available for standard royalty arrangements. World Communities can also contract to produce the show and host an international travel experience that delves into the heart of Bulgarian and Eastern European culture, arts, and history, while taking the show to Bulgaria to be performed.