Svetlana Petriichuk (Playwright) is an acclaimed Russian playwright, director, and educator whose work has achieved international prominence. A graduate of the Russian Institute of Theatre Arts (GITIS), she won Russia's prestigious Golden Mask Theater Award in 2022 for her documentary play Finist the Bright Falcon, which explores the online radicalization and recruitment of young women. In a case widely condemned by global human rights organizations as a severe crackdown on artistic expression, Petriychuk was arrested in May 2023 and subsequently sentenced to five years and ten months in prison on politically motivated charges of justifying terrorism. She is currently serving her sentence at Penal Colony No. 5 in Mozhaysk, with theater communities and human rights advocacy groups worldwide continuing to campaign for her immediate release.  

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Zhenya Berkovich (Director) is a critically acclaimed Russian theater director, playwright, and poet celebrated for her bold, avant-garde productions and poignant poetry addressing complex social issues and human vulnerability. A graduate of the Moscow Art Theatre School under Kirill Serebrennikov and founder of the independent theater project Soso's Daughters, she achieved major critical success with the play Finist the Brave Falcon, which won Russia’s prestigious Golden Mask award in 2022. In July 2024, following a highly criticized, politically motivated trial over the play's content, Berkovich was sentenced to a penal colony on charges of "justifying terrorism"—a conviction upheld with a slightly reduced sentence of five years and seven months in late 2024. Today, recognized globally by organizations like PEN International as a symbol of artistic resistance, she remains a powerful creative voice, continuing to write poetry and direct theater from within confinement.