THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF ARMENIAN WRITER
ZABEL YESSAYAN BROUGHT TO THE STAGE

A reflective memory play balancing
biography, imagination, and urgency

In keeping with Boston Playwrights’ Theatre’s commitment to bringing new plays to the stage, Zabel in Exile, by R. N. Sandberg, presents the life of Zabel Yessayan, an Armenian writer and activist born in 1878 and condemned to death by Joseph Stalin in 1943. Megan Sandberg-Zakian, also the artistic director of the company—and the daughter of the playwright—skillfully directs Zabel’s complex and poignant story.

When the play opens, Zabel (Sarah Corey) is in prison and has just learned that she is to be executed the next morning. But the prospect of death is not new to Zabel. Born a frail child, the possibility of a short life hovered over her for as long as she could remember. Nonetheless, the encouragement of her father (Robert Najarian) and her own determination carry her from Constantinople to Paris where she attends the Sorbonne and then went on to document the persecution and genocide of Armenians at the hands of the Turks and the condition of Armenian women through novels, journalism, and social criticism.

Sarah Corey, Robert Najarian

Corey’s excellent work over the course of this approximately two-hour production carries us from infancy to the age of sixty-five and Zabel’s impending execution. Supported by numerous other performers who take on the roles of Zabel’s mother, her daughter, and the specter of death itself, the play is never dull. Part of the drama lies in the relationship between Zabel and her prison guard (Anelga Hajjar); is the guard a friend or a foe? The interpolation of historic events with the imagined internal struggles of Zabel are both moving and informative.

Sarah Corey, Anelga Hajjar

Throughout the performance, Zabel asks herself—and by extension, the audience—what do you do to bring light when the darkness is overwhelming? It’s a question that is as pertinent today as it was in Zabel’s lifetime.

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photos by Scornavacca Photography

Zabel in Exile
Boston Playwrights’ Theatre
Snodgrass Stage, 949 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
100 minutes, no intermission
ends on March 8, 2026
for tickets ($15-$40) visit Boston Playwrights

for more shows, visit Theatre in Boston

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BIO: Lynne Weiss is a member of the Boston Theater Critics Association. Her work has also appeared in Literary Ladies Guide and in The Common, Black Warrior Review, and the Ploughshares Blog. She has an MFA from UMass Amherst and has received residencies from Yaddo, the Millay Colony, and Vermont Studio Center and grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. A lifelong social justice activist, she is at work on a novel set in 1930s Cornwall. Her reviews, travel tales, and progressively optimistic opinions are on her substack.