Stephanie Satie
Playwright/Actor
Phone (818) 904-1194
www.refugeestheplay.com
Leon’s Dictionary
In post-Communist Russia, a Jewish family struggles to emigrate to a new life. But as they try to maneuver through the insane rules of a country in change, they realize that much of the struggle is within their own walls.
A gripping play ab about a universal desire, set in a world that few in the West are familiar with.
Leon’s Dictionary, set primarily in Kiev, Ukraine in 1993, revolves around the Kaminski family’s road to emigration. It is a realistic, 5-character play that that depict the fevered state of suspended anticipation that potential émigrés live in for months, sometimes years prior to leaving the land that shaped their internal and external lives. We so often hear "the immigrant story," but rarely hear of the life before – before they step over the threshold into a new world. Leon’s Dictionary is my attempt to tell that story.
In addition to early readings at various stages of development, Leon’s Dictionary had a staged reading late January at the North Coast Repertory Theatre in Southern California and last November at the Interact Theatre Company at the NOHO Arts Center in Los Angeles. I’m delighted that Leon’s Dictionary is a semi-finalist for this year’s O’Neill Playwrights Conference.