2022

Author Oleksandra “Sasha” and her husband, Vyacheslav “Slava”.

Starring

  • Oleksandra “Sasha”Erin Cessna
  • Vyacheslav “Slava”Casey D. Groves

The Voices

  • Voice of Sasha’s MotherRachel Whitman Groves
  • Voice of Sasha’s FatherCasey D. Groves
  • Yaroslav “Yarik”Kathy Randels
  • Lyubov “Liubochka”Emily Russell
  • Dara “Darichka”Natasha O. Ramer
  • News Of Invasion AnnouncerJeffrey Gunshol

Creative & Technical Team

  • Writer Oleksandra Basko
  • Director & Theatrical AdaptationNatasha O. Ramer
  • Translator & ConsultatSamuel C. Ramer
  • Cinematographer & EditorAntony Sandoval
  • Executive Director & Production ManagerMurrell “Ray” White Jr.
  • Stage ManagerDiana E. H. Shortes
  • Technical ManagerSavva Ivakin
  • Assistant Technical ManagerSvetoslav Burundii
  • ChoreographyAnthony Neumann & Jeffrey Gunshol
  • Scenic DesignDiana Cupsa & Samuel Verdino
  • Costume DesignPolina Rusnak
  • Audio DesignJared Lawrie
  • Audio & Soundtrack EngineerSavva Ivakin
  • Lighting DesignSamuel Verdino
  • Photography & Graphic DesignRyan Reinike of MagneticArrow.com
  • Graphics PrinterAbbey Printing

Special Contributors

  • Ukraine-United States CoordinationAlla Basis
  • Ukrainian Contemporary History ConsultantsVladimir Kolesnichenko PhD - Galina Goloverda PhD
  • TITLEJohn Freedman
  • TITLEBarbara “Babs” Mollere
  • Odesa Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor Hubert Earle
  • Singer / SongwriterAyla Schafer
  • Ukraine-Russia Research ConsultantMurrell “Ray” White Jr.
  • Script Development CollaboratorsErin Cessna - Casey D. Groves
  • Ukraine-Specific CostumingLudmila Bobina - Oksana Nimkevych - Ganna Nimkevych
  • PuppeteerJulia Barandii
  • Ukrainian Cuisine ContributorsStephaniia Kolesnichenko - Lidia Barandii
  • Choreographer CoordinatorOlga Smoak

Moscow Nights Presents:
A Non-Fictional War

In Collaboration with Tulane University Theatre

A Non-Fictional War is Oleksandra Basko’s gripping, present saga of her family’s personal journey through the strife and uncertainty of the Russo-Ukrainian War and Putin’s full-scale invasion of her country adapted in dramatic form by Artistic Director Natasha O. Ramer

Moscow Nights’ Ramer discovered Oleksandra’s real-time biography online and sought to bring the universal experiences of her life in a war-torn country to the greater world by adapting her memoirs into a dramatic production.

Oleksandra captures the universal terror that crosses political and geographic borders, that of the human experience, of the mother: the one who seeks the protection, growth, and betterment of her husband and three children. It is a feeling not far from what any one of us may feel should the world around us coming crashing down under the aggressive appropriation of a driven, capable, destructive force of control and power.

Moscow Nights is currently adapting Basko’s words into a dramatic production to stage live and film in order to share it with a broader audience than a local live New Orleans-based production could alone.

We hope to share with you the personal saga of Oleksandra and her family in this current, unfolding conflict that has gripped the world’s attention. Witness a lone voice pulled out from the noise of 24-hour news cycle and the screams emanate from a war-torn country as she explains current events to her children, assuring them while fearing for their safety, looking to her husband for shared strength and dependance, while knowing his duty is one of fighting the invaders, and trying each day to see the light from the dawn of a day without war.

View the Award-Winning Trailer

About the Author

Oleksandra Basko

Oleksandra Basko is a writer and certified birth doula living in Vinnytsia, Ukraine, when Putin’s invasion of Ukraine commenced. Oleksandra was born days after the citizens of Ukrainan voted to live in an independent republic and sever their ties with the faltering Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Basko grew up with a deep love for her homeland and a desire for freedom and democratic values, studying for the first time the true history of Ukraine, unfiltered by Soviet propaganda.

She began writing at 5 years old and has continued to write throughout her life, studying dancing, psychology, and medical studies. Basko developed a social media presence in the interest of sharing knowledge as a certified birth doula. She is married with three children and continues to write throughout Vladimir Putin’s onslaught against her country.

Her personal experiences of this conflict are being developed in 2022 by Moscow Nights into a production entitled ‘A Non-Fictional War’.

About the Cinematographer

Antony Sandoval

Originally from France, Antony Sandoval has worked as an actor and Theatre director worldwide. His directing credits include various productions for Tadashi Suzuki’s Theatre Company at the Shizuoka Performing Arts Center in Shizuoka and Toga Mura, Japan. He also directs in the United States, where he received a “Garland” and” LA Weekly” Awards for best Director and a nomination for an Ovation Award again for Best Direction. His directorial work was seen at the Franko National Theatre in Kyiv, Ukraine, where he opened a new adaptation of the book “Heart of the Dog” at the first International Bulgakov Festival. His production “The Tale of Mephisto” was also invited to the Gimhae Asian Performing Art Festival (GAPA) in South Korea.

His acting credits include performing in Japan under the direction of renowned director Tadashi Suzuki. He has also performed throughout the USA in various Theatre festivals and has appeared on television shows and movies on many occasions.

Antony received his MFA in Acting from the Professional Theatre Training Program at the University of Delaware. He is currently a Professor at the Theatre and Dance Department at Tulane University in New Orleans. He is one of the founding members of the “International Theatre Laboratorium-USA,” ITL-USA. He also founded ITL CREATIVE (a film production company itlcreative.com) in 2014 to adapt his stage production “Medea” into a featurette titled “Medea Redux.”. For this project, he was a 2016 Royal Reel Winner in the Experimental film Competition Canada International Film Festival, a Winner of the 2015 Award of Merit Accolade Global Film Competition in the Experimental Section, and part of the official selection for the 2016 Madrid International Film Festival, 2016 San Francisco International New Concept Film Festival and 2015 Hong Kong Pineapple Underground Film Festival.

He also won Best Director at the 2021 Monza Film Festival in Monza, Italy, for this project. His short Incarnation received an Honorable Mention at the 2022 Tokyo International Short Film Festival (TISFF) and is part of the 2023 Toronto Indie Filmmakers Festival Official Selection.

He is also working on two film projects for Moscow Nights, a USA-based production company.

Photography from the November 2022 staging at Tulane University’s Lupin Theatre in the Dixon Annex featuring Erin Cessna as Oleksandra “Sasha” Basko and Casey D. Groves as Vyacheslav “Slava” Baleskov.
Preliminary graphic design by Ryan Reinike of MagneticArrow.com

Production Funded In Part By

Moscow Nights' Theatre of Film Funded In Part By

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Moscow Nights Presents: A Non-Fictional War | Moscow Nights