Refuge
- An original co-production of
Blessed Unrest and Teatri Oda - Written by
Matt Opatrny & Florent Mehmeti - Directed by
Jessica Burr & Florent Mehmeti - Co-presented with
Baruch Performing Arts Center, NYC
A deathbed confession launches a young Jewish woman on a journey of discovery to a remote village in Albania. What she finds reveals both the truth of her family’s escape, and those who risked everything to provide them with refuge. Blessed Unrest teams up with Teatri Oda from Kosovo and musicians from Metropolitan Klezmer for this world-premiere play based on real events in which thousands of Jewish World War II refugees were harbored by families in Albania, most of them practicing Muslims. Despite Nazi occupation, no Jews were taken to concentration camps from Albania, and it was the only country in Europe with more Jews at the end of the war than at the beginning.
Teatri Oda, the first independent arts organization in Kosovo, has gained notoriety across Europe as a vital voice in the establishment of their new nation’s cultural identity. We have been collaborating since 2005, touring our original plays six times in the Balkans, Western Europe, and New York. We were the first-ever joint US/Kosovar theatre project in the USA and we won First Prize at the 2016 Secondo Festival in Zurich, Switzerland. Following this premiere production, Refuge will tour overseas in 2020.
The Snow Queen wins 2018 IT Award
We are thrilled to announce that The Snow Queen has received the 2018 NY Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Premiere Production of a Play. We are extremely grateful for the strong support of both New Ohio Theatre and New Victory LabWorks, as well as the hard work and inspiration of the Blessed Unrest Training Ensemble, as we developed the play for over a year leading up to last winter’s premiere.
In Development: Reparations
We are also continuing to develop Reparations, a new play digging into the legacy of slavery and inequality in America
Expanding the Conversation
& How You Can Help
Blessed Unrest is driven by our desire to advance the cultural conversation in America by digging into our past and shedding light on the issues of today. Please consider making a contribution to our work.
Thank you for supporting what we do, and for valuing artistic expression and exploration. We look forward to seeing you this season!
Thank you!
Jessica Burr, Artistic director
Matt Opatrny, Managing Director
and the artists of Blessed Unrest
“At its best, independent theater is inventive, emotional, inspiring and has the ability to transform the atmosphere in a room full of people. In the several years I have been attending shows by Blessed Unrest, they have never ceased to amaze.”
~ Amber Gallery, NY Theatre Now
“Once in a blue moon comes a piece of theatre so impactful you wonder if you won’t be talking about it for years to come. A piece of theatre so unique and bold, it makes you exclaim, ‘Wait. Theatre can do this?’”
~ Rachel Kerry, New York Theatre Review
on Body: Anatomies of Being
Get to Know Blessed Unrest
A video by TDF (Theatre Development Fund)
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Contact
646-238-0829
530 West 45th Street #4G
New York, NY 10036 -
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Blessed Unrest’s work is made possible by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; Ruth and Hal Launders Charitable Trust; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; The Nancy Quinn Fund, a program of the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York; A.R.T./New York Creative Space Grants, supported by Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; and the generosity of individual donors.