Events > International/World Theatre > Olga Mukhina’s Tanya-Tanya
New Russian Drama: Olga Mukhina’s Tanya-Tanya
Olga Mukhina
Photo courtesy
of the artist
U.S. playwright Kate Moira Ryan has adapted Tanya-Tanya, a major play by Russian playwright Olga Mukhina. Mukhina’s deeply personal plays have been produced throughout Russia and Europe since the 1990s, with Flying, her most recent play, about to be released as a major motion picture in Russia. Tanya-Tanya had its U.S. premiere at Cal Arts in 2006 in a translation by John Freedman ; now New Yorkers have a chance to experience it as a staged reading of excerpts at the Segal Center. Hosted by international theatre exchange pioneer Philip Arnoult and Freedman. In collaboration with the New York Theatre Workshop. Tanya-Tanya was commissioned for the Russian Season at the Towson University Department of Theatre Arts, developed with the Center for International Theatre Development.
Olga Mukhina is one of the most important and influential contemporary Russian playwrights. Her play Tanya-Tanya is generally considered the starting point of what grew into the “New Drama” movement in Russia in the 2000s. Mukhina followed with YoU, produced at the Moscow Art Theater in 2001. Following a seven-year hiatus (during which she gave birth to two sons), Mukhina reemerged with Flying, which she produced and directed herself. A major motion picture adaptation of this work is planned for release in Moscow in 2010. Tanya-Tanya, YoU and Flying have been produced throughout Europe and the United States.
Kate Moira Ryan
Photo courtesy of the artist
Kate Moira Ryan's adaptation of Olga Mukhina’s play Tanya Tanya will open at Towson University in December, directed by Yury Ournov. Her musical, The Weatherman, written with composer David Clement, will be workshopped at La Jolla Playhouse also in December. Her play, Bass for Picasso will be produced on Theater Row by Theater Breaking Through Boundaries in April. Recent projects include – The Beebo Brinker Chronicles written with Linda S. Chapman and directed by Leigh Silverman ran to sold out houses off-Broadway and received the 2008 GLAAD Media Award. It is published by the Dramatists Play Service and will open at Brava Theater in San Francisco this February. 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother, written with and for Judy Gold, ran eight months off Broadway, received the 2007 GLAAD Media Award and is currently in its third year of a nationwide tour. A book based on the play was published by Hyperion and was nominated for the Quill award. Her play, Cavedweller, based on Dorothy Allison’s bestselling novel was produced by New York Theater Workshop and was directed by Michael Grief. It is published by Dramatist’s Play Service. OTMA was produced by the Atlantic Theater Company and published by Playscripts. It has been performed at colleges around the United States as well as in Russia. She has received numerous fellowships, most recently the Sundance Playwriting Fellowship, the Alfred E. Sloan Fellowship, and four fellowships from Center for International Theatre Development to Russia.
Philip Arnoult
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Philip Arnoult
Philip Arnoult is widely recognized, nationally and internationally, not only for his efforts to nurture and present new theater and dance from throughout the world, but also for his commitment to long-term, international projects that put artists together to take the first steps toward collaborative projects. He is the founder of The Baltimore Theatre Project (1971) and the Center for International Theatre Development (CITD) (1990), now with offices and projects in the US (Baltimore), East Africa (Nairobi), and Russia (Moscow). During the 90’s, he developed and directed the US/Netherlands Touring & Exchange Project, working with a diverse set of partner theatres in New York, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Seattle, and Atlanta. Dutch/Flemish director Ivo van Hove’s work at New York Theatre Workshop grew out of the project, as well as long-term projects at Seattle Children’s Theatre, Seven Stages in Atlanta, and the Children’s Theatre Company of Minneapolis. He has worked with the International Presenters Forum, with Stacy Klein and Double Edge Theatre to develop The Farm, a center for international collaboration and exchange in Ashfield, Massachusetts, and with the International Theatre Institute, among many other organizations. He was part of the US delegations to ITI World Congresses from 1979 though 2002. He was part of the negotiating team (with ITI US President Martha Coigney and board chair Edward Albee) that secured a home for ITI at Theatre Communications Group (TCG) in New York.He has given lectures and conducted workshops and seminars on international exchange and new theater in Argentina, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Cuba, Denmark, Egypt, France, Finland, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Kenya, Korea, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Tanzania, Uganda, and the United Kingdom.
John Freedman
Photo courtesy of John
Freedman
John Freedman has written or edited and translated nine books about Russian drama and theater and has been the theater critic of The Moscow Times since 1992. His play translations – including those of Olga Mukhina – have been performed in the United States, Australia and Canada, and published in numerous anthologies and journals. He is the Russian director of The New Russian Drama: Translation / Production / Conference (2007 - 2010), a project hosted by Towson University (Baltimore, MD) and Philip Arnoult’s Center for International Theater Development (CITD) from 2007-2010. Freedman last appeared at CUNY in November 2008 with Kama Ginkas.
6:30 p.m., Monday, Dec 7, 2009
Martin E. Segal Theatre. Free!