Ukrainian theater's new drama? Making dumplings for soldiers
ABC News
Ukrainian actress Alla Shkondina is taking on a new role, preparing potato dumplings, meat-filled pancakes and borscht to send to soldiers on the front lines
DROHOBYCH, Ukraine -- The theater was empty. The seats were covered against dust. But it was a moment of drama that Alla Shkondina had prepared for all her life.
“There is a saying that when the guns sound, the muses are silent,” the Ukrainian actress said, standing on the bare stage with a shawl wrapped around her to protect against the chill. “But we are not silent.”
She has retreated from the spotlight and now makes dumplings to send to soldiers, working alongside fellow artists in the Drohobych repertory theater’s cafe. It's one small part of a massive war effort by defiant volunteers across the country who often find themselves playing unexpected roles.
In the theater's warmly lit cafe, where snack bar popcorn has gone stale in the nearly month since Russia’s invasion, artists in this community near the foot of the Carpathian Mountains in southwestern Ukraine were rolling and filling dough to add to the thousands of dumplings they’ve sent to the front, or to displaced people in need.
