УКР On May 11, Leleka Foundation and Spooky Action Theater brought Ukrainian war drama to Washington with a staged reading of Balance by Alina Sarnatska. Directed by Elizabeth Dinkova and performed by the extraordinary Natascia Diaz, the evening was as moving as it was necessary.
Balance follows a woman searching for herself in the wreckage of war — suspended between truth and silence, tears and laughter, those who returned and those who couldn’t. It is a story of survival, written from the inside.
Bringing the text to life was none other than Natascia Diaz — Broadway star, three-time Helen Hayes Award winner, and one of Washington DC’s most celebrated performers. Her presence elevated Sarnatska’s words into an experience audiences won’t soon forget.
The reading was followed by a live discussion with the playwright — a rare and intimate opportunity to hear directly from a woman who has witnessed the war, survived it, and turned it into art.
Alina Sarnatska is one of the most decorated emerging voices in Ukrainian theatre today. A 2025 Jean-Jacques Rousseau Fellow, finalist for the Aurora Drama Award, and two-time winner at the ATYPOWO Festival in Wrocław — her work is being recognized across continents. Her latest book, Those Who United Love and Courage: LGBTQ+ Veterans in the Russo-Ukrainian War, was published in Kyiv this year.
