In 1990, a year before the Soviet Union collapsed, violent pogroms in Baku led to the mass exodus of 200,000 Armenians, marking the beginning of the empire’s dissolution. Land of No Return follows a lyrical heroine who observes history unfold over four decades, much like Tadeusz Kantor’s Theatre of Death. The events of the early 1990s resonate with the tragedies of 2022, revealing deep historical connections. The play, based on personal experiences yet fictional in plot and characters, questions ideological certainties, emphasizing compassion and forgiveness as the only lasting human values. Written in 2022 for Munich’s Residenztheater, it has been translated into multiple languages and will have its first Russian reading at the Voices festival.

Berlin Syndrome, by Polina Borodina, is a raw yet humorous reflection on Berlin’s chaotic dating scene and the experience of exile. Written from a new identity, detached from Russia, the play explores life as an immigrant without the gravitational pull of past connections. Borodina feared she had lost her voice as a playwright in 2022, caught between an unfamiliar present and a fading past. However, she hopes this work proves she no longer needs a “telescope” to write about her reality, unlike Turgenev, whom Dostoevsky once advised to observe Russia from afar.