The Price We Pay for Liberation

• In Event: New Perspectives on Russian Theater and Performing Arts II: Liberation and Displacement: Russian Actors, Directors, Musicians, Theatre and Film Critics in Exile I

Abstract

This paper will be dedicated to the recent group of emigrants-- the Russian artistic intelligentsia. Fleeing from Russia to the Baltic States, Germany, Poland, Israel, Spain, their decision was caused by the threat of imprisonment that came from Putin's regime to everyone who openly disapproved of the Ukrainian war. How do they survive? What are their professional and personal sacrifices? Several case studies will be placed in the context of traditional and novel patterns that the new wave of emigration endured. The paper will be based on my interviews with actors, playwrights, theater critics, theater professors, and journalists taken in 2024.

Author

• Maria Ignatieva, Ohio State U