‘Zabel in Exile’ Revives Yessayan’s Brave Message on Stage

Actor Grace Experience, whose father is novelist Chris Bohjalian, expressed her excitement to play Yessayan’s daughter Sophie by sharing, “I grew up with [Yessayan’s] books in my house, but I know that most people don’t know who she is.” She continued, “Zabel was so brave, and hearing the play during our first read through made me feel empowered to be brave. I hope that people watching can walk away with that, as well as knowledge of the time and the complicated, brilliant person that Zabel was.”

The production boasts a predominantly Armenian cast. Director Megan Sandberg-Zakian noted that “it was beyond my wildest imagination to have four of the six actors be Armenian” when putting out a call for Middle Eastern actors. Sandberg-Zakian, who is Armenian on her mother’s side, reflects that “since I didn’t grow up speaking Armenian or immersed in Armenian community, I sometimes wondered if I was ‘Armenian enough.’” Over the years, she has had the opportunity to direct plays about many other communities, but “this production feels like a kind of homecoming.”

It’s a homecoming for many of the actors, too, who are returning to their New England Armenian roots by being cast to play an ensemble of various characters on stage. June Baboian, who was born and raised in Watertown where she serves as a music director for a local Armenian church, beamed while sharing that “I feel like all my ancestors are going to be on stage with me.” Anelga Hajjar, who was born and raised in Boston but more recently has been recently based in Chicago, remarked on her role of the Guard: “People see bushy eyebrows and cast me as every ethnicity under the sun, but this time I’m going to get to be Armenian, so I’m excited.” Robert Najarian, whose Armenian-Italian family has roots in Massachusetts, stated, “That’s what I really hope for this show. That the Armenian community is made aware of it, because when they are made aware that they can see Armenians being represented on stage, they will come out in force.”

For Armenians in the cast, the family dynamics depicted on stage — such as the relationship between young Zabel and her father, or the relationship between the older Zabel and her daughter — inspire recognition and a renewed appreciation for the enduring bonds of family. Hajjar muses that “I’m curious about what we teach our children about our past and how to even frame the past that we’ve lived. From an Armenian standpoint, too: How do we teach our children to take in what has happened in our past, in our history? What lessons do we want them to learn? What characteristics do we want them to have?”

The actor who plays Zabel, Sarah Corey, shared a personal connection, saying, “Zabel reminds me very much of my Lebanese grandmother, Isabelle, who came from Beirut and was very strong and incredibly intelligent. My Grammy is very much like Zabel.”

Playwright Sandberg describes the play by making connections to his Jewish heritage: “So many Armenian and Jewish works of art deal with genocide, holocaust, victimhood…and this has aspects of that. But it’s a family story. It’s a parents-and-children story. It has a good amount of humor in it, and it’s not a downer.”