04/24/2026
Playwright Andrei Kureichik has recently been featured on Chicago stages, with one event upcoming this Sunday April 26th! We are so proud to have produced the fully staged premiere production of 'An Ocean Away' last fall, and to have partnered with TMORA to present a staged reading of 'The White Plague' in March 2025.
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UPCOMING: Sunday, April 26th at 3pm
'THE WHITE PLAGUE 2035,' a staged reading with the Sundays Abroad Series at Trap Door Theatre (Chicago, IL):
Written by Andrei Kureichik
Translated by Vladimir Rovinsky and Lisa Channer
Directed by Kay Martinovich
Based on the play by Karel Capek
Pay-What-You-Can tickets: https://our.show/white-plague-2035
In this bold reimagining of Karel Capek’s visionary work, acclaimed playwright Andrei Kureichik delivers a darkly comic and chilling vision of 21st- century Europe on the brink. Kureichik’s ‘The White Plague 2035’ is a razor-sharp tragicomedy that dissects modern authoritarianism, generational rifts, and the collapse of global solidarity.
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Last month, a staged reading of 'An Ocean Away' was held at the Victory Gardens Theater as a benefit event. The event featured actors from Chicago’s leading theaters, including Steppenwolf and Goodman, and was directed by Daniil Krimer. All proceeds were split between the Protez Foundation and the The Selfreliance Association.
"The legendary Victory Gardens stage, honored with Tony Awards and other major American theater prizes, became a place of encounter with a wonderful audience. It was a space where we, as theater professionals, could finally turn art into real help by organizing a charity fundraiser for Ukrainian volunteers."
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Andrei Kureichik (he/him) is a Belarusian playwright, filmmaker, and civil activist who gained international prominence following the contested 2020 Belarusian elections, after which he was awarded the Sakharov Prize as part of the Coordination Council and forced into exile. His play ‘Insulted. Belarus,’ a response to the regime’s violent crackdown, has become a major work of global protest theatre—translated into 39 languages and performed over 200 times worldwide to widespread critical acclaim. In addition to his theatre work, Kureichik is a prolific screenwriter with more than 40 film and television credits, including award-winning projects, with his work collectively grossing over $190 million internationally. His politically engaged films and documentaries continue to spotlight human rights issues, including Belarusian political prisoners. A former World Fellow at Yale, he now serves as a Lecturer and Playwright-in-Residence at Yale University, with ongoing ties to the University of Chicago, and remains a leading voice in contemporary political art.
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Pictured: Posters of 'The White Plague 2035' and 'An Ocean Away' staged readings; photos from the reading of 'An Ocean Away' in March 2026.
