USSR

a play by Hannah Moscovitch

About the Production

Through a Russian émigré’s struggle with Canadian culture, USSR explores the impact of the collapse of the Soviet Union on the lives of Russian women. USSR offers a complex portrait of the “Natashas” – Russian mail order brides – who trade love for the dream of first world security.

USSR is about disillusion, regret, and a woman figuring out her next move. It is about longing for a home that no longer exists, and a fury for the world that can never understand you.

Poster Design by Sean Skerry (Skerrcraft Creative)
Photography by Stoo Metz (Stoo Metz Photography)

Matchstick introduced USSR as the second show in their presentation of ‘Footnotes: An Evening of 3 Short Plays by Hannah Moscovitch’, running twice nightly September 22nd-26th, at The Bus Stop Theatre.

The team

Elena – Ella MacDonald

Lee – Christian Ludwig Hansen

Director – Anna Shepard

Stage Manager – Chelsea Dickie

Lighting Designer – Alison Crosby

Set Designer – Wesley Babcock

Costume Designer – Everette Fournier

Sound Designer – Jordan Palmer

Poster Design by Sean Skerry (Skerrcraft Creative)

Photography by Stoo Metz (Stoo Metz Photography)

some moments

Recognition

2022 Merritt Award Nominee – Outstanding Independent Production, 2022
2022 Merritt Award Nominee – Outstanding Set Design, Wesley Babcock

About

Hannah Moscovitch

Hannah Moscovitch is an acclaimed Canadian playwright and TV writer based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She is the most produced living playwright in Canada as well as being widely produced internationally. Hannah has been honored with numerous awards for her work, including Canada’s highest literary honor the Governor General’s Award, and the prestigious international Windham-Campbell Prize administered by the Beinecke Library at Yale University. Hannah has been described as “Canada’s most prominent playwright” by the Globe & Mail, “the dark angel of Canadian theatre” by the Toronto Star, and “the wunderkind of Canadian theatre” by the CBC. Hannah’s music-theatre hybrid Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story (co-created with Christian Barry and Ben Caplan) has garnered a landslide of critical praise, including more than fifty four- and five-star reviews, becoming a TimeOut and New York Times Critic’s Pick, winning both the Herald Angel and a Scotsburn Fringe First at the Edinburgh Festival, receiving six Drama Desk Award nominations in New York, and touring the world since 2017.

Reviews

Morgan Mullin

The Coast

“USSR needs someone dynamic to work. MacDonald is just that, sliding from subtle to cinematic with a wrinkle of the brow. Hers is my favourite performance of the night”