Strawberries at the Datcha

by Gena Treyvus

Yelena’s family immigrates from Belarus to a Russian-Jewish neighborhood in NYC. A play about assimilation and the things we gain and lose when leaving home.

“I have to admit to being a bit of a fan-boy for this play. It makes me smile and cry every time I read it. These characters are so real, and their longing—romantic longing, Jewish longing, childhood longing—is so palpable, that the bigger ideas about immigration and loss and faith slide in like silk. This impressive work for any writer, especially an emerging talent like Gena.”

— David Winitsky

Development History:
2020 MCC Youth Company’s FreshPlay Festival

JPP Development:
2022 Jewish Playwriting Contest

Gena Treyvus is an emerging writer from Brooklyn and a sophomore earning her BFA in Playwriting from The Theatre School at DePaul University. Her full-length plays include Strawberries at the Datcha and Operation #23: Steal the Mona Lisa, which received workshops and readings at the 2019 and 2021 FreshPlay Festivals at MCC Theater. Her recent work at The Theatre School includes writing for the Prototypes Festival and the Wrights of Spring Debutante Ball, as well as assistant directing a production of The Seagull. Gena is also a proud alum of the MCC Theater Youth Company, where she was a part of Performance Lab, Playwriting Lab, and the Ambassadors program. Participating in the MCC Theater Performance Lab led her to develop a passion for devising theatre and inspired her to try her hand at playwriting. Strawberries at the Datcha is an important play to Gena because it was the first play she wrote, and the project that made her decide to pursue playwriting in college. This play is an ode to her family who immigrated to the United States from the former Soviet Union in 1996 to escape antisemitic persecution. Strawberries at the Datcha is also an ode to her Russian-speaking community of Sheepshead Bay back in New York City.