The Last Parade by Stephanie Satie
Research into the history of the Jewish Diaspora
Sephardic, Ashkenazi, and Mizrahi Jews describes a global migration of people from around the world who identify with the worship of Judaism
WHYSEEART
The Drake Louis Bluver Theater right off South Broad Street gives Off-Broadway a new name, thanks to Theater Interact, and we look forward to the the artistic teams inclusive dialogue with its speaker series. This productions which takes a current event, and elaborates the history in light of this war in Ukraine. It directs our thoughts across many indirect views for caring for the people of Ukraine under the Russian oppressive forces invading the frontline. I recognized all together this induendé by the playwright because of the backstory allowed us to go beyond just what was provided on set, plot, or characters. From there, exploring the nationalist view for Ukraine through the eyes of Judaic populations shows a long history of displacement by Russian oppression. The Theater InterAct sets this up for audiences to see what it is like to be displaced.
The Last Parade presented another side to immigration and the refugees’ ecosystem for global current news. The introduction of a narrator, and psychological point of view of Russian jaded from dealing in the livelihood of a Ukrainian Jewish man, played by Adam Howard. Borya played by Howard along with his sister Anya in the play, played by Ava Wintzweig takes the place of familial struggles which played a generational position divided the youth of these two siblings. Being divided by very different stakes in the place for belonging and adapting to the society at large around them. In the play of course, this disposition complexity is multidimensional by the fact that Russia had invaded Ukraine in recent history, and in the past decimating whole Jewish populations in “pograms,” public humiliations and violent re\volts against the villages’ jewish population.
All of the visual play by Tim Moyer, as Yasha, the older generational war veteran that has seen it all before and the clinically depressed mid-life crisis in Leon, played by Anthony Lawton is shedding light on the emotional damage in this play. The strength of the mother in the play redirects our attention to the blame, and stunt in the intention for immigrating to the U.S. for the Jewish family. Leah Walton plays this figure of strength and flavor for the inheritance that she takes with her, whether that be Israel or the U.S. The disposition between the siblings is comparably indecent to the parents positions on the matter of immigration. That is, Leon sabotages their chances for them to be granted resident immigrants in the U.S. and the emotional toll on this player iterates the meaning of “The Last Parade,” but not quite the leverage that I have shown above. The meaning of the character, and the meaning of the play is a split scene given the therapeutic sensations of being clinically depressed and misdiagnosed. By getting to the point of degradation of humility.
The complementary relationship of individuals in the play, not so easy to indicate, but where one’s motives shows deep roots in the land they come from, and another’s view is positioned to modern values with migrating to the U.S. we unveil indecision which gives us conflict. The position of disposition in the play resonates with the fractured view point within the family. The movement of a group of people from one place to another due to the danger of health or safety of their bodies means giving audiences the sensation that this war may possibly be about more than we have been led to believe. That is, that there is a huge population of jewish decent coincidentally in Ukraine, as in prior history when villages under Communists, Bolsheviks, and Russian armies took a position on discriminating the jewish people in order to take control of the land.
- Stephanie Satie (playwright, she/her) in an impressive career of works that show the importance of humanities for the society of refugees and immigrants. Writing the solo plays, “Refugees,” published by Samuel French and other works show the values for people globally in her plays and books.
- Seth Rozin (producing Artistic Director, he/him) co-founder of InterAct Theater in 1988 and his leadership in other works under similar criticism, such as “How to Use a Knife”, 2017 and “Human Rites,” 2019.