Cover Photo: Edward De’Ath Photography

Production Photos: Sabine Lola Stock & Rani O’Brien

THE POWER OF STAGE

Sophia Gutchinov brought a new kind of story telling to LaMaMa back in May for a 2 weekend run here in New York City with “Those Who Remained”.  Sophia worked on this project for 3 years by first revealing the painful layers of finding love with smaller LaMaMa performing sets back in April 2022 and May 2023.  Those moments of how Sophia questioned her choices in men brought her to this moment where Sophia went all the way.  Sophia couldn’t have created a more perfect live performance experience by tying in the roots of her Mongolian and Italian heritage.

Sophia connects to her Mongolian roots by choosing a kimono like costume to tell the history of her father’s side, where her tribe settled in New Jersey, revealing also that Kalmyk people are not a majority due to genocide.  Sophia channels her Grandma Lida as Sophia turns to her for why she attaches herself to men that are red flags who hurt her in the end.  Sophia’s root cause of finding trauma roots back to her mother’s painful experiences which caused friction between Sophia and her mom.  In order for Sophia to heal from the red flags, Sophia had to make peace with her mom, and that’s by letting go of the burden caused by her mom.

Sophia puts video functionality into excellent use as Sophia uses videos from her very own social media to support the riveting heritage theme stressed that also brought humor when needed.  Sophia also called on leaders and the population to recognize Mongolian people properly by knowing their history and the value they have as citizens here in the United States, stopping conflict, confusion, and hate.

One of the most notable moments in “Those Who Remained” was Sophia dressing like a rose, stressing that no matter how hot a rose gets under the flames, a rose will rise from the ashes as a Phoenix, which Sophia comes out stronger on the other end.  Sophia ultimately has a moment of cleansing as Sophia lets go of the pain from her family struggles that developed into her own, and deep dives not only into her roots, but freely decides to cast red flags aside for greener flags that uplift Sophia.

“Those Who Remained” is more than a perfect telling of ancient family history.  It’s used to reveal modern day pain that began somewhere, but also functions to heal through vulnerability and the power of knowledge. Just like trauma that happens in our life, we have to own it and learn from it in order to achieve our own sustainability.  The pain has to stop somewhere, the first step is through Sophia Gutchinov with this new theatre experience that helps you understand how you can heal you.

DANIEL QUINTANILLA