World Premiere of My Mama and the Full-Scale Invasion to Play Philly

Philadelphia-based theater company the Wilma Theater continues its 2023-24 season with the world premiere presentation of My Mama and the Full-Scale Invasion by Ukrainian playwright Sasha Denisova. Presented as a co-production between the Wilma and Washington, D.C.’s Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, the play looks at the current war in Ukraine through Denisova’s family story. My Mama and the Full-Scale Invasion is directed by the Wilma’s co-artistic director Yury Urnov. The play runs January 30-February 18 in the Wilma’s 300-seat theater.

The play features Washington D.C. actor Holly Twyford as the titular mama, with Wilma HotHouse Company member Suli Holum as Sasha, and Wilma Co-Artistic Director Lindsay Smiling as “Man,” which includes multiple characters such as French President Emmanuel Macron and German Prime Minister Olaf Scholz.

My Mama and The Full-Scale Invasion was inspired by Denisova’s online chats with her mother and centers on Denisova’s 82-year-old mama, Olga (Twyford), who has lived in Kyiv her whole life. When Russia invades Ukraine in 2022, Sasha (Holum) copes with her fears by imagining her mother in increasingly fantastical situations: strategizing with President Zelenskyy, meeting with world leaders, taking out Russian drones with jars of pickles, and even debating with God.

Urnov leads a production team featuring assistant director Fatima Dyfan, scenic designer Misha Kachman, associate scenic designer Margarita Syrocheva, costume designer Ivania Stack, associate costume designer Kitt Crescenzo, lighting designer Venus Gulbranson, associate lighting designer Dean Leong, sound designer and composer Michael Kiley, projection designer Kelly Colburn, associate projection designer Dylan Uremovich, and co-dramaturgs Sonia Fernandez and Kellie Mecleary. The play is translated by Misha Kachman and adapted by Kellie Mecleary.