Memento AMori
An in-development work. Premiering April, 2027
Who do you want with you at the end of the world?
In Memento AMori, two women are pulled between life in a post-apocalyptic bunker, and a ave at the end of the world. They are forced to ask questions about the fallibility of memory, the consequence of government surveillance on our perception of reality, the psychological impact of trauma, and the importance of communal transcendent experience.
Memento AMori explores the psychological toll of political, environmental, and social stressors, and the importance of community and chosen family in an increasingly isolated world. The show responds to the terror of an ongoing environmental collapse, and rising global tensions that have threatened to rip us from the most vital facets of being human: the experience of love, laughter, intimacy, and belonging.
Polina Ionina (Performer/Creator) is a Russian-American director/actor. Classically trained at Pace University BFA Acting program in lower Manhattan, Polina has also studied abroad in Kyrgyzstan and at the Grotowski Institut in Poland. In NY she’s worked with Interactive PlayLab led by improv pioneer and master clown Jeff Wirth, and with the experimental theater group Dzieci. Polina is a founder of The How, and has performed with and directed the ensemble at celebrated venues such as HERE Arts Center, DasDas, IRT, The Tank NYC, Dixon Place, Camden People’s Theatre and Tuhafier. Work with The How includes: The Vyuga Project, Vandals, Hunger, What We Do, I Am the Wind, 5 Hour Piece, My Favorite Person which performed as part of the Istanbul Fringe Festival in 2023, and UnTethered which also performed at Istanbul Fringe Festival in 2024, and The Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2025. Polina has worked with up and coming film-makers in NYC such as Alex Blackstorm, Sonoko Ogata, and Steve Perterson as well as industry giants such as Bob Balaban, and Lisa Robinson.
IG:@mspyaari | www.polinaionina.com
Tana Sirois (Performer/Creator) is an award-winning actor, director, and theatre-maker. She trained at The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (Acting), and holds an MSc in Creative Arts & Mental Health from Queen Mary University of London. Her one woman show titled “UnTethered” has played in NYC, Istanbul, Edinburgh and London, where it was nominated for a Fringe Theatre Award. NYC credits include Alice in the NYC Premiere of the musical “Painted Alice”, the title role in Fernando Arrabal’s “Garden Of Delights”, Nina in “Stupid Fucking Bird”, and a screwed up version of herself in “Crushing Baby Animals” which she co-wrote and produced at The IRT Theatre under Dirt [contained] Theatre Company, which she co-founded in 2010. She is a company member of the musical sketch comedy show “Broad Comedy” (Off-Broadway at Soho Playhouse and national tour), and of the movement theatre collective, The How, (“My Favorite Person”, HERE Arts and Istanbul Fringe Festival.) Recent directing credits include “Carbon” (BCN studio, Barcelona), and “Woman In The Arena” (Wild Project).
IG: @tana_sirois | www.tanasirois.com