Our 2025-26 Season

Yerevan, 1937. Armenian writer and activist Zabel Yessayan sits in a Soviet prison cell, awaiting execution. But what exactly is her crime? Writing novels? Knowing how to speak French? Being a woman? As Zabel confronts her captors, past and present blur, and she reckons with the injustices she has witnessed and confronted—from schoolyard bullying to the horrors of genocide. Zabel in Exile is a searing memory play that honors the strength of a woman unafraid to stand up to tyranny and wrestles with whether it is possible to continue to believe in light during times of endless darkness.

Zabel: Sarah Corey*
Guard and others: Anelga Hajjar
Father and others: Robert Najarian*
Midwife, Digin Dussap, and others: June Baboian*
Mother, Sophie, and others: Grace Experience*
Priest, Uncle, and others: Danny Bryck*

*Appearing through an Agreement between Boston Playwrights’ Theatre and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

Playwright: R.N. Sandberg
Director: Megan Sandberg-Zakian
Stage Manager: Jenna Worden*
Assistant Director: Nikta Sabouri
Scenic Design: Marina Sartori
Lighting Design: Brian Lilienthal
Costume Design: Miranda Guirleo
Sound Design and Composer: Arshan Gailus
Voice and Speech Coach: Christine Hamel
Movement Coach and Choreographer: Nailah Randall-Bellinger
Fight Coordinator: Robert Najarian*
Properties Artisan and Coordinator: Courtney Licata
Dance Captain: Grace Experience*
Paint Charge: Nina Cote
Production Assistant: Natalie Dion
Wardrobe Assistant: Claire Mitchell

*Appearing through an Agreement between Boston Playwrights’ Theatre and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

Single tickets: Adults—$40

BU Faculty/Staff, Veterans, and Seniors (62+)—$25

Students with valid ID—$15

Student rush—$0 (Box Office, day-of-performance only; this applies to all students with a valid ID).

Pay-What-You-Want Previews: Thursday, February 19 (7 p.m.) and Friday, February 20 (8 p.m.)

For information about group rates, contact K. Alexa Mavromatis (kamavrom@bu.edu)

Meet the Artists reading and reception—Wednesday, February 4 (6 p.m.) at The National Association of Armenian Studies and Research in Belmont.

Pay-What-You-Want Previews—Thursday, February 19 (7 p.m.) and Friday, February 20 (8 p.m.)

Opening Reception after the 8 p.m. performance on Saturday, February 21

Post-show Conversation: Meet the Artists after the 7 p.m. performance on Thursday, February 26. Conversation with director Megan Sandberg-Zakian, Sound Designer and Composer Arshan Gailius, and members of the Zabel in Exile cast, facilitated by BPT Managing Director Darren Evans.

Post-show Conversation after the 2 p.m. performance on Saturday, March 7, featuring historian Lerna Ekmekcioglu and novelist Chris Bohjalian, facilitated by BPT Artistic Director Megan Sandberg-Zakian.

Zabel in Exile includes depictions of imprisonment, war trauma and PTSD. No violence is depicted onstage, but the play contains descriptions of ethnically and religiously motivated violence, including sexual violence and violence against children. For further details, including plot information and spoilers, please click here.

Read the full version of the Zabel in Exile program.