Welcome to what I hope to be the first biannual Eurodram Special Issue of The Mercurian.
I begin with thanks to the invaluable Adam Versényi, The Mercurian’s founder and editor-in-chief, for his partnership in this collaboration. In English-language theater new plays in translation are rare, and I’m thrilled with this connection between two institutions committed to bringing them more attention.
For those of you who may not be familiar with Eurodram, the network was founded in Paris in 2001, with the mission to bring plays from Eastern European languages into the French theater. Since then, the network has grown into a vast, volunteer organization of as many as 30 different European language group committees, on a biennial cycle alternately promoting their own works abroad, and considering the works of others at home. In odd years like 2025, playwrights and translators from across Europe submit their works in translation to the appropriate committees. (Plays must have been professionally produced and/or published in their original language.) From among the plays submitted to them, each committee names three Eurodram selections. This year’s titles, from all language groups, can be found at eurodram.org/2025-selections. Though inevitably imperfect, this biannual cycle affords members of the English-Language Committee an interesting overview of new playwriting across Europe.
Since English is a lingua franca for theater translation in Europe, the English-Language Committee typically receives a significant number of plays—63 this year—and assessing them is a big job. (Each play is read and scored by at least two, and as many as five, readers.) My profound thanks go to the generous, thoughtful volunteer readers of this year‘s committee, listed at the end of this section. If you would be interested in participating as a committee member in 2027, we would love to consider you! Please email eurodram.english@gmail.com, with “Committee” as the subject, and we will provide information.
I also wish to acknowledge the labor of the staff of the Cherry Arts, the small multi-arts company, based in Ithaca, NY, that I co-founded and lead. Though now thoroughly multidisciplinary, with an art gallery and diverse performance calendar, the Cherry was born as a theater company devoted to works that are “radically local and radically global,” and in our ten years of existence we’ve produced English-language premières of over 20 new plays from around the world. We came upon several of these titles via Eurodram, and as part of our commitment to works in translation, the Cherry staff lends significant time every two years to managing the script submissions, readers, and scores of the Eurodram English Committee. It’s a significant commitment for a small company, so my thanks to our team is profound.
Over my years of involvement in Eurodram I’ve noticed nothing so strongly as how differently the same play may be scored by different readers of equal insight. Assessing art is subjective, and one reader’s ten may well be another reader’s two. While consensus does emerge around the most interesting plays, like all recipients of art prizes from the Nobel on down, the three Eurodram selections have been fortunate to be assigned readers who respond to them. Over the years, looking at the narrow margins between plays’ scores, I’ve often wished we could name a top eight or dozen titles.
So this publication, rather than just publishing the official Eurodram selections, includes six plays, two full-length and four one-act. Beyond those six, we include selected reader responses to eight “Other Titles of Interest,” with contact information for those whose curiosity may be piqued to read them.
But first, the titles that appear in this issue! We open with The Geometry of Wheat, a full-length play from Spain written in Spanish (or, as Eurodram prefers, Castilian) and some Catalan. One of the three Eurodram selections, this play has been a great recent success of the Spanish stage, a sweeping and deeply felt multigenerational drama.
Following is a second full-length play from Spain. Flood Zone, written in Catalan, is a fictionalized docu-play inspired by the true story of a small town that experienced a catastrophic flash flood. In a time of climate emergency, the play’s story, sadly, should be resonant in many places.
Next are two short, non-realistic plays from Italy. Little Beast, another of the Eurodram selections, is a strange and lovely meditation on how people may change in relationships, and be changed by them, beginning when a man finds his boyfriend has become a mouse. Focus Group is a dark, entertaining satire about consumerism and the limits of what may be made into a product.
The issue closes with a pair of one-act plays from Ukraine. Women in the Dark and Men in Daylight illuminate with tough-minded humor the realities of people living through the ongoing war.
My final thank-you goes to you, the reader, for your interest in this collaboration between Eurodram and The Mercurian. I hope it will prove as stimulating to read as it has been to assemble.
—Samuel Buggeln, guest editor
Chair, English-Language Committee, Eurodram
Artistic and Executive Director, the Cherry Arts
Other Titles of Interest
Some of these plays were well-loved by our readers, happening to score a half-tick lower than those included in this volume. Others were interestingly divisive—the kinds of “10 and 2” scorers that pique one’s curiosity. Some of these titles’ translations are less accomplished—though readers were urged to try to “read past the translation,” that can be a tricky assignment. Other texts may in fact feel less polished than an established play might in the US—many hail from theater ecosystems that reward a looser dramaturgy than our own. If you love one of these titles, but it feels something shy of production-ready, I encourage you to reach out to the writer, who may be accustomed to collaborative relationships with directors. Finally, some represent more adventurous writing than some of the more unanimous choices. As the leader of a theater collective, I love the genius of the hive mind, while remaining aware that group judgments can lop off more extreme gestures. Since my own attraction to international texts partly reflects a lifelong search for adventurous writing, I’m pleased to be able to include these plays, at least in title. Even the scripts who found the least unanimity also found more than one passionate champion among our committee members. I hope some of you may be tempted to investigate further.
Alaska by Elise Wilk
translated from Romanian by Jozefina Komporaly
“One woman’s life as a coming of age, and then as a spy for the Romanian government during the cold war. A dream play, but sharp characters, beautiful writing—weird in a good way, but STRONG storytelling.”
contact Jozefina Komporaly | jokom2014@gmail.com
Forget and Remember (Забыть и Помнить (Zabyt’ i Pomnit’)) by Ilya Chlaki
translated from Russian by Alex Fleming
“Historical trauma shades several romances in contemporary suburban Berlin. Distinctive characters rooted in a time and place. If I lived there, would that be me?”
contact Ilya Chlaki | chlaki@yahoo.de
Marta Verina (Марта Верина) by Dragana Lukan Nikoloski
translated from Macedonian by Maja Trajanoska Ivanovska
A 35-year-old archivist grapples with her past relationship with a married man and a new affair with a 20-year-old student. Inspired by the poetry of Aco Shopov.
“The construction is marvelous—using poetry to build a world inhabited with souls from the poems—intricately sorrowful.”
“A good story and well-paced.”
contact Maja Trajanoska | trajanoska.maja0@gmail.com
My Hell (Моє пекло) by Oksana Savchenko
translated from Ukrainian by Hanna Leliv
“Everyone has their own personal hell to deal with… An emotional, relatable drama about a Ukrainian mother and daughter who flee to Berlin and are taken in by a German mother and son.”
“A current and urgent piece of work.”
contact Hanna Leliv | hanna.leliv@gmail.com
The Earth’s Core (Jordens Indre) by Simone Isabel Nørgaard
translated from Danish by Paul Russell Garrett
“A solid biographical play about Inge Lehmann, focusing on the challenges she faced as a woman in science in Denmark during the first half of the twentieth century.”
“Beautiful writing, beautiful rhythms in the speech. Strong handle on characterisation.”
“The use of the chorus is an invitation for some exciting theatricality.”
Contact Paul Russell Garrett | hej@paulrussellgarrett.com
The Violin (Скрипка (Skripka)) by Ilya Chlaki
translated from Russian by Joseph Hardy
“A fascinating allegorical and absurdist piece that riffs on tropes of the Wandering Jew and a mythic woman-as-nation. … creates a strange and engaging stage world… it’s going to stay with me.”
“A quasi-fantastical drama about the insidiousness of anti-semitism. The main character of Helga is a winner. An insightful and timely piece of work.”
contact Ilya Chlaki | chlaki@yahoo.de
Year of the Elephant (El año del elefante) by José Luis de Blas Correa
translated from Spanish by Kate Eaton
“In a 2005 London mosque, an (ex?) terrorist rehab group goes cosmically awry. Great dialog, structure, characters, themes. Must be seen.”
“Very well-written and holds the attention with character development and gripping story. REALLY interesting insight into the minds of those we may consider to be our enemies.”
contact José Luis de Blas Correa | jldebc@gmail.com || Kate Eaton | kteaton364@googlemail.com
You Are Not Alone (Da ne budeš sama) by Selma Parisi
translated from Croatian by Selma Parisi
“Universal story of an adult child caring for elderly parent, with the interesting twist of a caregiving robot.”
“Very well written, timely, and accessible. Deals with issues about aging/elder care, family relationships, generational differences, and particularly the encroachment of technology on human relationships and the loss of meaningful intimate interaction.”
contact Selma Parisi | selmasokolovic@yahoo.de
Finally, due to vicissitudes of international communication, we were not able to publish the third, very worthy, Eurodram selection in this volume. It is:
Strawberry Fields (Mansikkapaikka) by Sofi Oksanen
translated from Finnish by Owen F. Witesman
“A fascinating subject matter, directly relevant to events occurring in Russia/Ukraine today.”
“Illuminating, horrifying, and darkly funny.”
“The relationships are real and raw. This is a compelling and important work.”
The playwright is represented by the Salomonsson Agency in Stockholm.
contact Tor Jonasson | tor@salomonssonagency.com
Eurodram English-Language Committee 2025
Melanie Armer, NYC | Director/Dramaturg
Jorge Balça, Lisbon/London | Stage Director, Researcher, Teacher
Charles Bales, NYC | Executive Director, Voyage Theater Company
Sadie Berlin, Stratford, Canada | Playwright, Dramaturge, Director
Susannah Berryman, Ithaca | Actor/Director/Acting Teacher
Philip Boehm, St. Louis | Artistic Director, Upstream Theater
Sharolyn Lee Bolton, Peterborough, Canada | Director and Festival Producer
Anne-Marie Bucquet, Paris | Theatre Translator
Laura Caparrotti, NYC/Rome | Artistic Director, Kairos Italy Theater
Chloe Cattin, London | Director and theatre maker
Mike Chen, Ithaca | Actor/Writer
Warner Crocker, Chicago | Director, International Voices Project
Maggie Dougherty, Chicago | Administrative Manager, International Voices Project
Meg Elliott, Ithaca | Actor
Nelson T Eusebio, Kansas City | Director
David Furlong, London | Theater Director
Dominic Glynn, Paris | Academic and writer
Charlie Gobbett, Cheshire, England | Theatre Translator
Jeffrey R Guyton, Singapore | Actor, Educator
Kevaughn Harvey, NYC/Philadelphia | Director/Actor
John Heimbuch, Minneapolis | Artistic Director, Walking Shadow Theatre
Jon Wai-keung Lowe, San Francisco | Designer/Director/Playwright
Maria Mileaf, NYC | Director
David Quicksall, Seattle | Actor, Director, Playwright
Aaron Mack Schloff, NYC | Playwright
Daniel Smith, Milledgeville, GA | Dramaturg, translator, educator
Raluca Urea, Stuttgart | Performer, Director
Lizi Watt, St Louis | Managing Director, Upstream Theater
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