Audience Testimonials
The two-day performances of Love Letter To Armenia during the Yerevan International Theatre Festival allowed audiences to experience recent history and live moments of nostalgia, kindness and love.
Audience members, Yerevan, Armenia | 2025
“Yesterday’s event was terrific. And yes, storytelling is like therapy. Sometimes painful but then we must go through it somehow. Wonderful, Thank you.”
“That was brilliant. Thanks for giving me the heads up to attend.”
Alongside the rave review in the San Francisco Chronicle of the “wondrous” AZAD (the rabbit and the wolf) – Hakawati’s flagship production – garnered effusive responses from sold out audiences in its world premiere run. A sampling below:
Audience members, San Francisco, CA | 2025
“What a show. What a show. I don’t know where to begin, but I laughed very hard and I cried even harder. Here I was given the opportunity to explore the other side of the power of story. Perhaps most radically, even the capacity to see the profound humanity in our traumatizers and oppressors. The people who can be the rabbit AND the wolf. And only through the tool of Story can we make sense of the pieces of our lives that don’t connect. Powerful stuff that bends the brain and the heart.”
“The humor was a fantastic vehicle for the story. This play explored many serious topics but it didn’t take itself too seriously and that made it more effective. Bravo!!”
“I saw one of the most stirring, imaginative pieces of art Iíve ever seen: AZAD (the rabbit and the wolf). It is about magic and puppets and trauma and healing and it is nothing short of genius. I am deeply appreciate of this artist reminding me yet again that the Armenian Genocide is one of the greatest atrocities to have occurred in recent history, and to this day the Turkish government denies that it took place. Sona is one of the bravest and most creative voices in theater right now.”
“AZAD (the rabbit and the wolf) was entirely engaging on multiple levels, intellectual, creative, emotional.“
“I went to see AZAD (the rabbit and the wolf) and was blown away. It surpassed every expectation I had – profoundly moving, educational, funny, angering and healing all at once.”
Wake Forest University | 2024
“Thank you so much for a very honest, personal, and emotion-evoking performance! Having grown up in the segregated Jim Crow South, you were also telling my story.”
Derrick Boone, Associate Dean of the Master of Arts in Management Program and an Associate Professor of Marketing
University of Michigan | 2024
“I’m passionate about storytelling/oral history (especially in the Armenian/SWANA context) and have had the chance to incorporate this into my academic research. I deeply admire your organization’s mission. In light of everything that has happened in Armenia/Artsakh and the Middle East, now is more important than ever to highlight stories of cultural resilience.”
Audience member