Gerald Papasian’s ‘Wind in the Sassafras Branches’ Opens in Yerevan

Vahagn Gasparyan’s dual roles (“Partridge-Eye and Lynx-Eye”) are multilayered, embodying striking contradictions: sharp predatory instinct on one hand, surprising innocence and insight on the other.

Anahit Petrosyan’s “whore” refuses to fit classic stereotypes. She is the kind saloon girl, deeply human, compassionate — often more noble than the “respectable” people society looks up to. Once again, de Obaldia flips the script, showing that goodness doesn’t recognize social labels or professions.

One of the production’s greatest strengths is that the actors don’t merely coexist as separate characters. They form a single living organism: a family. And that family begins not on stage, but backstage. The rehearsal process faced what seemed like impossible obstacles: searching for scenic solutions from near nothing, technical difficulties, relentless time pressure, endless changes, exhaustion, and occasional despair. Yet those very struggles became the foundation of the show.

Invisible but essential is the theater technical team the audience rarely sees — lighting designers, sound engineers, stagehands, set builders, costume staff, and the administrative team. Thanks to their work, every evening the stage turns into a small miracle. When everything on stage looks effortless and spontaneous, it means only one thing: an enormous amount of work has been done in the wings.

At the heart of this entire creative world stands Narine Malyan, the artistic director of the Malyan Theatre. The environment she has cultivated over the years proves that theater is not just a building. It is a family united by shared values and a deep love of art.

“Wind in the Sassafras Branches” is a story about madness, family, loss and dreams, and about people who refuse to stop moving forward even when the whistling wind of reality tries to scatter them like leaves. It is a show where you can laugh until tears stream down your face, then realize that beneath the laughter lies a very simple, very human truth. When the performance ends, the audience doesn’t just take away the jokes. They take away the people. Rockefeller. The cowboy. The big-hearted “whore.” The characters full of contradictions. And, most importantly, the feeling that the family they saw on stage truly exists offstage as well.

Perhaps that is the deepest secret of this production. It wasn’t created merely with roles, sets, or text. It was created by people. And when a show is created by people, it stops being just a show. It becomes life.