voicesfromchernobyl.net

Ten years ago, journalist Svetlana Alexievich interviewed survivors of the melt down of the Ukrainian nuclear plant in Chernobyl. The stories were woven into an extraordinary book Voices from Chernobyl, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2005. A Vermont writer, Spencer Smith, made a reader’s play from some of these testimonies. Those who speak their testimony (in the play as well as in the book) include two nuclear physicists who held top positions in governmental organizations, a retired rocket scientist, the wife of a man who sacrificed his life to help control the fire, the mother of a child born deformed from radiation, a peasant woman who can’t really understand what radiation is.

In 2007 a group gathered in the Montpelier area to produce the play with Spencer Smith’s script. The group gave two performances in the capital city, one in Brattleboro--a few miles from the Vermont Yankee Nuclear plant, and another at the Firehouse Gallery in Burlington. Mary Hooper--the Major of Montpelier joined the cast for one of the performances in her town. Madeline Kunin played the narrator in the Burlington production, As the performances mounted the casts’ understanding of the issues deepened, our ability to tell the story of this tragedy gained power, the impact on audiences grew, and the community discussions got richer and richer. With support from the Lintilhac Foundation we are now broadening the conversation by supporting local groups to hold readings of Voices from Chernobyl in their own communities. We are grateful that the publisher of Alexievich’s book has given community groups the right to produce the play--if an admission fee is not charged.

This short play weaves together stories told by survivors of the meltdown that occurred at the nuclear plant in Chernobyl Ukraine on April 26, l986, These accounts require us to ask a series of questions. “Do we want to have such explosive & poisonous materials in our midst until the end of time?” "Should Vermont Yankee--a nuclear energy plant be allowed to operate after 2012--the year decommissioning was to begin?" "Should the world look to nuclear power as the solution to the looming energy/climate/fuel crisis?"

The issues are so complicated and so frightening we avoid thinking about them and we remain silent.

Readers’ theater is easy to mount. You download the script from this website and gather a cast. Cast members immerse themselves in the story but they do not have to memorize lines. They stage readings for friends and discuss the issues. Some groups will go public and book a place for larger performances and discussions.

This web-site will help you find your way. See Get Involved.  Or see:  How We Did It.