I Will Dance With Those Oak Trees as Long As, a new Ukrainian adaptation of the epic Gilgamesh, will play New York January 27 at Alchemical Studios on West 17th Street.

Performed by Audrey Rose Dégez and Daria Holovchanska, the piece is set during Saddam Hussein's attack on the Kurdish people in 1988, where chemical weapons were used to carry out the Anfal ethnic cleansing campaign. Taking place inside a carpet store during the attacks, I Will Dance With Those Oak Trees As Long As is a poetic voyage through the lives of three Kurdish women, inspired by the poetry of Kajal Ahmad and Gilgamesh.

Carpets, chairs, and strings create the environment in which the two actors depict the three women and their reactions to the violently unstable world outside. Dégez also serves as producer, playwright, and director, with Holovchanska serving as puppet master, lighting and sound designer, movement director, and object director.

Holovchanska was a student at Ukraine's Kharkiv National University of Art when the Russian war broke out, forcing her to flee to Poland to complete her masters degree in puppetry at Warsaw's Aleksandr Zelverovich Theater Academy. Dégez was scheduled to begin her residency at Slovo in Kharkiv, Ukraine, upon the invasion, leading her to founding Slovo Theater Group, which is currently based out of Pittsburgh.

I Will Dance With Those Oak Trees As Long As is produced by CP4P International Productions, with Berivan Alothman serving as stage manager.

Visit Eventbrite.com.