In May 2013, protests broke out in Turkey over plans by the government to replace Istanbul’s Gezi Park with a new shopping mall and apartments. In July 2013, elsewhere in the city, the government began bulldozing the Yedikule gardens that line the fifth-century Byzantine walls of old Constantinople. In the eyes of the protestors, the government's plans put development at odds with historical memory, sustainable living, and preservation.
Immediately following the first round of voting in Turkey’s 2014 presidential election, New Brooklyn Theatre, in association with Harvard University’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies, staged a site-specific production of a new adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard in Turkish in Istanbul. 

Vişne Bahçesi (The Cherry Orchard) was produced in Istanbul's Yedikule Gardens in August 2014. 

Adaptation co-written by Courtney Nelson, Jonathan Solari, and Lizzie Stern

Directed by Jonathan Solari
Translated by Yaprak Ünver

Featuring: Ahmet Öztürk, Yaprak Ünver, Almira Ince, Özgecan Ayhan, Ferit Çelik, Canberk Doğalı

Production Design: Courtney Nelson
Dramaturg: Gwendolyn Collaço
Photography by David Willems, Amanda Mustard, and Kristina Williamson.