Modus Imperativus

Sofiia Shulha (Solomiia) is a student from Kyiv studying psychology at Trinity College Dublin. Her goal is to become a psychotherapist and help Ukrainians and other people with the mental health consequences of the war. 
"I am honoured to be a part of the Ukrainian play readings, and I hope we can spread awareness and gather support for our heroes by doing so. "

Софія - студентка з Києва, вивчає психологію в Триніті-коледжі. Її мета - стати психотерапевтом і допомагати українцям та іншим людям з впливом війни на психічне здоров'я. 
"Для мене велика честь бути частиною читань українських творів, і я сподіваюся, що таким чином ми зможемо поширити інформацію та залучити підтримку нашим героям".

Michaela Králová (Míša) (Olga) is a theatre-maker, poet, translator, and researcher from Prague, the Czech Republic. Michaela introduced the Worldwide Ukrainian Play Readings initiative to Ireland with a reading of four plays in the Samuel Beckett Theatre at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, on June 1st, 2022, together with Ema Vyroubalová and Elina Herasymchuk. Michaela was a curator for the event, a director, a performer, a production and stage manager, booked the venues, managed the social media and graphic design to promote the event, organized the volunteers, and connected to various newspapers in Ireland in both 2022 and 2023. Medias which features the event afterwards include District Magazine and Trinity News. Michaela’s interview citation was published on the ‘20 short works by Ukrainian playwrights’ by Egret Publishing, which can be purchased here: https://www.laertesbooks.org/egret-acting-editions. Her other directing and play-writing credits include a feminist and war-oriented retelling of (and theatre-adaptation-inspired-by) the Czech novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being (directed along with Roísín Daly) in DU Players. Her theatre-acting credits include The Ballad of Reading Gaol in the Samuel Beckett Theatre, The Bad Bitch Manifesto (DU Players), Stuck Somewhere New (DU Players), Sitting Ducks (DU Players). Michaela is currently obtaining her M.Phil. in Literary Translation at the Trinity Center for Literary and Cultural Translation. She also works as a research assistant at TCD. Michaela volunteers for the human rights organization Amnesty International, and teaches English for refugees and asylum seekers through the Universities of Sanctuary Project. Her research focuses on non-binary identities in literary translation, on global theatre adaptations, on translation/adaptation as decolonization, and on Central and Eastern European identities. Michaela’s own poetry, play-wrighting, and translations deal with queer sexualities, alienation in immigration, and sexual violence. Michaela is very grateful that the project is growing and for all the people who have joined this year. Updates of her poetry readings and theatre projects can be found @kralova_m__ (Instagram), or @MaKrlov2 (Twitter).

Dixon Graham (Director/Sound Design) is a theatremaker and researcher from Charleston, South Carolina (USA) currently completing her MPhil in Theatre and Performance at Trinity College Dublin. Dixon completed her undergraduate degrees at Clemson University in South Carolina in 2018, receiving a BA in Production Studies in Performing Arts with a Minor in Music and BS in Marketing. She is passionate about creating quality theatre that engages the audience on multiple levels and interdisciplinary collaboration. Her current area of research concerns staging emotionally provocative subjects and how we might anticipate, navigate, and address the potential effects of performing these subjects for both practitioners and audiences. She is a producer, director, sound and projection designer, and actor for this event, which is also a part of the practice-based portion of her current research. Following the completion of her MPhil at the end of the summer of 2023, she hopes to further research the different methods and mediums for immersive storytelling and how an audience's engagement and perception of the story may change with the different methods.