: BELARUS FREE THEATER STARS BASKETBALL ICON/ACTIVIST KATSIARYNA “KATYA” SNYTSINA 

On tonight’s show we’ll be joined by the 6’2” Belarusian basketball superstar Katsiaryna aka “Katya” Snytsina and Natalia Kaliada, co-founder and co-director with Nicolai Khalezin of the “bravest theater in the world,” the Belarus Free Theater, to discuss the world premiere of their new production, KS6: Small Forward, an electrifying inquiry into the nature of freedom based on Katya’s real life transformation from international sports icon to international activist.

Katya Snitzina is the first and only popular sports figure in the history of Belarus to have openly come out as gay. In the wake of widespread protest in Belarus in 2020, she was propelled instantly into the international spotlight as a leading dissident against authoritarianism.  She said, “In basketball my team is 12-strong; now I’m part of a far bigger team on the frontlines of the fight against dictatorship.” Like other outspoken activists against the dictatorship in her native country, she now lives in exile.

Belarus Free Theatre (BFT) is the only theatre in Europe banned by its government on political grounds. It has been famously  described by former New York Times theater critic Ben Brantley as “one of the bravest and most inspired underground troupes on the planet.” Over the past nineteen years, BFT has originated some of the world’s most provocative and breathtakingly physical theatre – more than 50 productions performed in more than 40 countries around the world. BFT’s stage productions have consistently challenged dictatorships, signaled the erosion of democratic rights and freedoms, and called for accountability on the world stage.
 

Their awards include: a Drama Desk nomination for Being Harold Pinter (2011), an OBIE win for Discover Love / Being Harold Pinter and Zone of Silence; and an Olivier Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Opera. In June 2023, Natalia Kaliada and Nicolai Khalezin were awarded the MBE for “Services to Theatre” in the King’s Birthday Honours. The creators and members of Belarus Free Theater were particularly eager to return to New York to open La MaMa’s 63rd season, in the year of this most consequential American Presidential election.

Hosted by Janet Coleman and David Dozer