Putin on trial in a Harvard Square bar turned bomb shelter. The Gaaga was Sasha Denisova's phantasmagoria, staged live and streamed, and won two 2024 Elliot Norton Awards.
The Gaaga (The Hague) is Sasha Denisova's imagined trial of Vladimir Putin and his circle: absurd, furious, and written while the war continued. Denisova and Igor Golyak co-directed the US premiere.
Arlekin converted Beat Brew Hall in Harvard Square into a bomb shelter and played there from June 2 to 18, 2023, streaming live from June 8. The cast of 17 mixed immigrant, American and Ukrainian refugee actors, including Taisiia Fedorenko, Anne Gottlieb, Dev Luthra, Robert Pemberton, Robert Walsh, Ilia Volok, Jeremy Beazlie and Irina Bordian. Irina Kruzhilina designed.
At the 2024 Elliot Norton Awards it won Outstanding Director, Small (Sasha Denisova and Igor Golyak) and Outstanding Scenic Design, Midsize or Small (Irina Kruzhilina). The Boston Globe, WBUR and The Arts Fuse reviewed it. It was a project of #Artists4Ukraine and the zero-G Lab.
