Grace Pundyk

STEPPE (a journey of unforgetting) is an immersive, site-specific new work written and devised by Grace Pundyk and directed by Cathy Hunt.

Steppe premieres at this year's Melbourne Fringe, and we're super excited to be bringing the show to you in a season at Newport rail yards from 17-26 September. Yes, you read that right. A rail yard. The show isn't about trains, though. Well, not exactly.

Here's a lil' story of how it came about...

In 2003, after Grace's father died, she found hidden away in his possessions some letters and a few photographs. The letters were old, and written in Polish, a language she doesn't understand.  She had them translated.



Turns out they were written by her grandmother, Sofia, a woman who was rarely spoken about and whom she'd never met. This is Sofia:


She was just one of an estimated 1.5 million Poles deported by Stalin to camps and prisons across Soviet Russia in the 1940s and sentenced to hard labour. A large proportion of those deported were women and children. 



Hundreds of thousands died, most never saw their homes again. In fact, eastern Poland, where the majority of the deportees came from, simply ceased to exist; the area is now part of the Ukraine. Like many of the Polish diaspora in Australia today, Grace's father arrived as a refugee, with no home or family to return to. A story, sadly, all too familiar today.

Sofia wrote the letters to her husband (Grace's grandfather) while she was in Siberia. It's these letters and the few photographs that have inspired Steppe.




Steppe, in memory of Sofia, is an urgent exploration of survival and loss and the words we need to keep speaking when annihilation threatens. It gives voice to those long silenced by the grander narrative of war and its persistent myths of heroes and battles: the women subjected to the destruction, dislocation, and violation heaped upon them.

This year marks the 75^th anniversary of forced relocations of Polish citizens to Soviet labour camps.

Steppe's outlay is modest, but with only an 8-show run in a venue with maximum capacity of 25, and full-price tickets at only $20, well, let's face it, we're not relying on the box office returns to cover our costs!

We're meeting some of the costs ourselves but we still need help. Your donations will contribute towards costs such as:

- minibus hire (yes, the bus is part of the performance!)
- fees for actors
- fees for technical crew
- sound design and equipment
- lighting design and equipment
- set fit out
- props and costumes
- venue donation
- signage
- catering
- promotional material

We're feeling really positive and excited about the project.

Our wonderfully talented artists and tech crew have put their hearts and souls into helping us realise Steppe. The fees they're being paid are a drop in the ocean in comparison - and we love them immensely for it.

We're also really excited to be staging the show in such an unusual venue as Newport rail yards and grateful to have the support of 707 Operations, a group of very cool guys who dedicate their time to restoring old trains and who have allowed us to use their space.

Of course there are lots of challenges in realising a creative project such as this - making theatre in such a non-theatre specific site has definitely got all of us thinking outside the box - but the foundations have been laid and we're continuing to build on them. Your support can only make this project grow stronger.

Please please please show your support and help us get Steppe up and running for the Fringe.