Cătălina Florescu is a Romanian writer based in New York, part of the new generation of Romanian writers whose view is rather outwardly global and in tune with the cultural movement of their time.

 

According to the author, ‘Suicidal Dog and Laika’ is “a play about how history needs to be told from the perspective of the one whose voice is either silenced or marginalised. In this case, on the one hand, Laika’s voice, the first (female) creature to be sent and die in space ‘in the name of science’ and, on the other hand, Dog’s, an immigrant from the Middle East who thought starting a new life in the ‘New World’ would be the adventure of his lifetime.” ‘Suicidal Dog and Laika’ is a surrealist play meant to act as a lyrical parable exploring the ideas of home, otherness and uprooting in the 21st century.

 

“It is so rewarding to find a play that speaks to you on a personal level and yet carry the universal messages for any director. I have directed this important political tragicomedy that was written by Cătălina Florescu after our last election as a commentary on the absurdity of the reality we get used to, accept and adapt in our everyday lives in exchange for comfort, struggle to stay human in a world still divided by status quo, citizenship, and borders.” – Olga Levina, Artistic Director, Jersey City Theater Center

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Directed by Leo Bacica

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Cast: 

Man - Maria Balasoiu 

Woman - Elena Harding 

Dog - Ioana Goga 

Laika - Beatrice Ragea

Lawyer - Elena Vasilache 

Priest - Andreea Helen David 

Narrator - Andreea Paduraru