Under the Radar Review: SpaceBridge Illuminates the Lives of Russian Refugee Children

Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine has led to the deaths of thousands, as well as the displacement of millions of Ukrainians. But it has also prompted a mass exodus of middle-class Russians who do not support the war and are unwilling to send their sons to the Donbas to serve as cannon fodder. SpaceBridge, the heartwarming new show from En Garde Arts presented at La MaMa as part of Under the Radar, tells some of their stories from the perspectives of the kids themselves.

Named after the television series that connected U.S. and Soviet civilians for frank conversations during the Cold War, SpaceBridge was conceived and directed by Irina Kruzhilina, who has gathered 11 young Russian refugees and eight Americans of a similar age cohort to devise and perform a 90-minute introduction to the lives of contemporary Russian refugees.

Why did they leave? (Several are the children of prominent journalists.) How did they get here? (A majority crossed the southern border.) Where are they living now? (Seventy-three percent will go home to a shelter after the performance.) The SpaceBridge kids don’t shy away from the cold hard facts, which, as in life, are complicated by their unique experiences.

We meet 13-year-old sass machine Lily, who loves Harriet Harris and Bette Midler. Thirteen-year-old Anna and 15-year-old Anastasia show us how to make Olivier Salad in a shelter without a kitchen in what is possibly the most thrilling audition for HGTV I’ve ever witnessed. And 15-year-old Sasha tells us about sharing one blanket with three other family members and the huge excitement that came with obtaining a second one—something to think about next time you cast a resentful glare upon the Row Hotel.

Our host for the evening is Samantha Smith (Ellen Lauren), the young American who wrote a letter to Yuri Andropov in 1982 and improbably got a response inviting her on a peace mission to the Soviet Union. Lauren plays Smith with the perfect mixture of childlike idealism and adult authority, easily bridging the divide between an American audience and a stage full of young immigrants who are still just learning English.

Kruzhilina employs a DIY aesthetic that is well complemented by Peter Nigrini’s projections, which depict recent events in Russia as well as documentary-style interviews with the kids. Yuliya Tsukerman and Nick Lehane have crafted vibrant puppets to represent the judge and government counsel in an asylum hearing, underlining the Punch-and-Judy nature of that process. Sound designers Sophie Yuqing Nie and Darron L West further reinforce the stage action with tasteful sound cues and voiceovers. It all comes together to create Broadway glitz on a budget during a production number about the indispensable discount store Five Below, choreographed with pizzazz by Robbie Simpson.

Undeniably timely, SpaceBridge arrives just after a majority of American voters registered their displeasure with the high level of immigration by reelecting Donald Trump as president. Of course, it’s simple to support mass deportation in the abstract, but good luck holding firm to that position in the face of an 11-year-old who is keenly aware that he will be branded a traitor to the motherland should he ever return to Russia under the current regime. Perhaps some Americans still can, but SpaceBridge refuses to make it easy.