Diasporic Performative: Memory and Affect in Emigre Theater from Belarus and Ukraine

• In Event: At the Intersection of Narrative and Affect: The Art of Memory in Belarus, Hungary, and Poland

Abstract

This presentation explores how émigré theatre from Belarus and Ukraine uses performance to express and preserve collective memory and affective responses to displacement. A group of theatre practitioners, many of whom are Belarusian and Ukrainian émigrés, have come together to create diasporic performances within their communities in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The objective of this collaboration is to excavate traces of the past—recurring emotions, sensations, and connections—to explore the stories these embodied memories convey. By drawing on individual experiences, this creative community has set out to provide a space where participants can create their own narratives, reflecting both their personal histories and the events unfolding in their home countries. This scholarly reflection aims to analyze the process and explore how the narratives emerging in performance, driven by embodied memories, may differ from those grounded in collectively shared knowledge and historical accounts of the recent past.

Author

• Margarita Kompelmakher, Alliance Theatre