ALTA has partnered with the Scoundrel & Scamp Theatre in Tucson to present the winner of the 2022 Plays in Translation Contest, Chins Up! Shoulders Back! by Kazakh playwright Ainur Karim, translated by Ellen Vayner and Slava Faybysh from Russian. Directed by Tioni Collins.

The Kazakh play Chins Up! Shoulders Back! features a cross-generational Kazakh history that is largely unknown in the West. Based on real-life events, the play features three educated women who were forced to give up their previous careers in order to adapt to a collapsing society. Along with approximately one million other Kazakhs (80% of whom were women), they turn to ferrying goods over the border to keep their families and the country afloat.