ADAMS, Mass. — The Adams Theater is bringing a staged reading of the new play "The Refuseniks" to audiences at 7:30 p.m. on Friday Aug. 9 and Saturday Aug. 10, and at noon on Sunday, Aug. 11.

 

Tickets can be reserved at www.adamstheater.org/present or by calling 888.401.5022.

 

According to a press release:

 

Written by Alison Bendix and directed by Tony Simotes, formerly Artistic Director at Shakespeare & Company, the play chronicles the struggle of a set of unlikely roommates in a six-family communal apartment in the Soviet Union, circa 1978. A world-class physicist turned heroic freedom-activist leader, Yuri Alexandrov, battles the Soviet regime and his devious KGB handler in his quest for exit visas for Jewish dissidents to emigrate from Russia. He endangers his family and followers as his bold, courageous scheme leads him to an agonizing choice that causes him to face life imprisonment and death.

 

The play is the only dramatized story of the real Refuseniks, Russian Jews who were refused exit visas in the face of anti-semitism promoted by the Soviet government as a diversion from the country's problems. Synagogues were closed and Jewish culture was suppressed, and Refusenik leaders were sentenced to long prison terms on bogus charges to dissuade others from following their path. 

 

Playwright Alison Bendix is a descendant of the Bendix family of old Broadway. She studied theater at Boston University. Bendix has been a ballet dancer, the author of bestselling books, and a nonprofit executive.

 

The Refuseniks was one of 25 plays presented at the Road Theatre, North Hollywood's 2023 festival. The festival is one of the largest staged reading events in the nation, with playwrights from across the country and around the world submitting entries.

 

Actors include: Tony Simotes. Rocco Sisto, Caroline Calkins, Greg Boover and Lynn Silver.