Reading of Rear Symphony
A staged reading of Rear Symphony by Daryna Gladun (ND MFA '26).
This reading is part of Peter Holland and Romana Huk’s course, Drama and Poetry in Ukraine at War: Representations of Injustice and Resilience in Ukraine, 2014-2024.
Set in Atomohrad, Ukraine, Rear Symphony explores the lives of four Ukrainians seeking to survive the war. Gladun wrote this powerful play in a Spring 2025 Playwriting course.
The staged reading of this one-act play, directed by Susan E. Bowen, a Chicago-based director, will be followed by a conversation with Gladun, moderated by Kellogg Faculty Fellow Anne García Romero.
The cast includes five remarkable Chicago actors:
- Olga, 30s, widowed mother: Lucy Carapetyan
- Kateryna, 40s, displaced person: Mary Williamson
- Valera, 40s, displaced person: Sam Pearson
- Slava, 60s, widower: Jonathan Weir
- Stage Directions: Timothy Merkle (FTT '23)
The reading is co-sponsored by the McMeel Family Endowment, and at Notre Dame by the Department of Film, Television and Theatre, the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, and the Nanovic Institute for European Studies.