Towson University Department of Theatre Arts, in association with the

Center for International Theatre Development, presents

A Developmental Reading of

x
By The Presynakov Brothers
Translated by Juanita Rockwell
With Yury Urnov
November 15
Main Stage Theatre

w w w. n e w r u s s i a n d r a m a . o r g

Towson University Department of Theatre Arts in association with the

Center for International Theatre Development, presents

Playing Dead
By The Presynakov Brothers
Translated by Juanita Rockwell
With Yury Urnov

Director

Yury Urnov

Featuring actors from Single Carrot Theatre and the Towson University
Department of Theatre Arts
Dramaturgy Team

Qituwra Anderson, April Baldwin,

Eric Boelsche, Abby Grimsley, Lauren Guy,
Rachel Harrell, Will Harrington, Tim Lorch,
and Kate Lilley

Production Manager for

Towson Universitys Russia Season

Cat Hagner

Playing Dead was commissioned for the Russian Season at the Towson University Department of Theatre Arts, developed with the Center for International Theatre Development.
Conversation After the Play:
Please join us for a post-performance conversation about this translation in development.
The discussion will begin shortly after the presentation and last for approximately
thirty minutes.

The New Russian Drama Season 20092010

Towson Universitys Department of Theatre Arts will present an entire season of contemporary Russian drama in
0910, developed in collaboration with The Center for International Theatre Development, Philip Arnoult, director.
Main Stage Productions

Tanya-Tanya
By Olga Mukhina
Adapted by Kate Moira Ryan
Directed by Yury Urnov
In the Studio Theatre

December 4th and 5th at 8:00 pm

December 6th at 2:00 pm
December 9th and 10th at 7:30pm
December 11th and 12th at 8:00 pm

Martial Arts
By Yury Klavdiev
Translated by David M. White
with Yury Urnov
Directed by Yury Urnov
and Stephen Nunns
In the Marder Theatre

April 21st and 22nd at 7:30pm

April 23rd at 8:00 pm
April 24th at 2:00 pm and 8:00 pm
April 25th at 2:00 pm
April 26th and 27th at 7:30pm

Frozen in Time
By Vyacheslav Durnenkov
Translated by John Freedman
Directed by Peter Wray
In the Main Stage Theatre

April 30th at 8:00 pm

May 1st at 8:00 pm
May 2nd at 2:00 pm
May 5th and 6th at 7:30pm
May 7th and 8th at 8:00 pm
Workshop Productions

Vodka, F***ing, and Television

By Maksym Kurochkin
Translated by John Hanlon
Directed by Stephen Nunns
In the Dreyer MFA Studio

October 21st and 22nd at 7:30pm

October 23rd and 24th at 8:00pm
2

The Polar Truth

By Yury Klavdiev
Translated by John Freedman
Directed by Joseph Ritsch
In the Marder Theatre

November 12th at 7:30pm

November 13th and 14th at 8:00 pm

The Schooling of Bento Bonchev

By Maksym Kurochkin
Translated by John Freedman
Directed by Yury Urnov
In the Dreyer MFA Studio

February 3rd and 4th at 7:30pm

February 5th and 6th at 8:00 pm

Staged Reading
Playing Dead
By The Presnyakov Brothers
Translated by Juanita Rockwell
with Yury Urnov Directed by Yury Urnov
In the Main Stage Theatre

November 16th at 7:30pm

Associated Productions

I Am the Machine Gunner

By Yury Klavdiev
Translated by John Freedman
Produced by Generous Company
At Towson University

Friday, December 4th at 6pm

Saturday, December 5th at 3pm
Sunday, December 6th at Noon

Playing Dead
By the Presnyakov Brothers
Translated by Juanita Rockwell
with Yury Urnov Produced by Single Carrot Theatre

February 17th March 14th

Reading of Tanya-Tanya
By Olga Mukhina
Adapted by Kate Moira Ryan
Directed by Yury Urnov
Produced by New York Theatre Workshop

October 8th

The New Russian Drama Season

By the end of the 1990s, young people who were raised in the Soviet Union and discovering
themselves as adults amidst the promise and chaos of a society undergoing a similar process of
discovery, started bringing their unique generational perspectives to the stage. In a wave of writing
that was soon dubbed new drama, playwrights created work that blends frank discussions of
contemporary social issues with bold experiments in theatrical style. For much of the twentieth
century, such writing was not seen on stage in Russia. Dramatic texts were censored and only
theatrical production could hint at a potential critical spirit or individual sentiment beneath the
approved language. Thus the new drama rang out a startling and inspiring note to fellow Russians.
The playwrights have been greeted by their peers as the heroes of a new era who are following in
long line of Russian literary figures by bringing new artistic vision to the 21st century in much the
same way that authors like Anton Chekhov spoke to the dawn of the 20th century. Throughout the
first decade of the 21st century, playwrights like Maksym Kurochkin, Yury Klavdiev, Olga Mukhina
and Vyacheslav Durnenkov, have continued to create diverse and compelling visions of life in this
shifting age.
For students and audiences in the United States, those visions offer an exciting experience of
a life that is at once familiar and unknown. The search to find ones true path amidst a deluge of
conflicting influences, the struggle to create a new community when the one we were promised
unexpectedly and cruelly dissolves, the longing for a love that continually eludes our grasp these
narratives will resonate for us in the sardonic wit of Kurochkin, the vibrant imagery of Klavdiev,
the lyrical poetry of Mukhina and the idiosyncratic characters of Durnenkov. Yet the plays also take
us into everyday experiences of people whose lives most of us have not had the opportunity to
encounter. Given the historic tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States, as well as
the environment of misunderstanding that still permeates our countrys relationship with Russia,
insights we might gain about this culture from the plays seem particularly timely and necessary.
The desire to engage with these plays, and through them with the people and the culture that
created them, gave birth to our New Russian Drama Project. Inspired by the work of Philip Arnoults
Center for International Theatre Development, which has been building bridges between theatre
artists in the U.S. and Russia for over a decade, students and faculty in the Department of Theatre
Arts have been learning about contemporary Russian theatre and its people for the last three years.
Seven members of the theatre faculty visited Russia. We attended performances, we conversed
with fellow artists, and, yes, we even drank a little vodka. Over that time we developed this project
in collaboration with CITD and partners in Russia, Moscow Times Arts Editor John Freedman and
director Yury Urnov. In order to help bring new Russian drama to audiences in the United States,
we commissioned translations of new plays. We studied the work in classes and brought in guest
artists from Russia including Yury Urnov, who is here as a Fulbright scholar for the entire school
year. In the spring, CITD will host a professional conference at the university.
Yet the plays, of course, are designed to live before an audience. Tonights presentation represents an important step in that journey for Playing Dead by The Presnyakov Brothers, one of the
four new translations created as part of our project. This evening, the translators will hear their
words spoken by actors before a live audience. They will also have the opportunity to learn how
the translation they have developed thus far may strike your hearts and minds. Were delighted
to make you part of our process of creation in this way and hope you will be inspired to follow
the development of the script to its next incarnation in full production at Single Carrot Theatre in
Baltimore in the spring of 2010. We also invite you to peruse our entire 2009 2010 production
schedule and join us for further adventures in new Russian theatre.
Robyn Quick
Associate Professor, Department of Theatre Arts
Russia Season Dramaturg

A Conversation with the Translators

Dramaturg Robyn Quick speaks with Juanita Rockwell and Yury Urnov about the translation of Playing Dead.
Juanita Rockwell has been a writer and director of projects at such theatres as Everyman, Theatre Project (Balto); The Ontological, Mabou Mines/Suite, Culture Project, (NYC);
City Theatre (Pittsburgh); Teatro Municipo (So Paolo); RS9 (Budapest); and on NPR.
Produced writing includes The World is Round (opera), Waterwalk (site-specific),
Cave in the Sky (multimedia/puppets), Lunar Pantoum (dance-theatre), and Between
Trains (play with songs). Rockwell was founding director of Towson Universitys MFA in
Theatre where she still teaches, received Fulbright and Maryland Arts Council Playwriting
Awards, and is a member of Dramatists Guild and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.
Yury Urnov was born in 1976 in Moscow, Russia. In 2000 he graduated from the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts with anMFA. Since then, he has worked in professional
theatres all across Russia and in Moscow. He directed a number of premiers of plays that
are part of the Russian New Drama movement. He has collaborated with playwrights
Maksim Kurochkin, Olga Mukhina and Vladimir Sorokin. Urnov also directed and taught in
Europe, Africa and the U.S..
RQ: What attracted you to this script? What about the script made you want to
share it with an audience in the United States?
JR: I think this question is really for Yury, since I didnt have much input into the picking
of the specific scripts. However, I would say the following:
In 2005, I was one of a group of American dramaturgs invited by Philip Arnoult
and the Center for International Theatre Development to go to Yekaterinburg and
see about 15 productions of new plays that he and John Freedman felt were part
of a rebirth of playwriting in Russia. Directors had been the major creative forces
in Russian theatre for decades, and Id been seeing a similar focus on directing in
Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and other Eastern and Central European countries Id
visited. But something big seemed to be happening with this flood of playwriting
that was coming on the scene in Russia, much of it in this isolated industrial city at
the edge of Siberia. I was fascinated by the energy and changes happening in the
world of playwriting there. I knew then that I wanted to be involved in a translation
process, whether as director or writer, of one of the pieces in this exciting environment.
So I was thrilled that there was an opportunity for me to translate one of the
plays that came out of this Yekaterinburg movement, by these two playwrights who
had, in fact, been instrumental in creating the movement. I read the British translation of Playing the Victim and felt an aesthetic kinship with the flat dark humor of
it: a certain skewed vision, a love of the elliptical, understated dialogue that can
suddenly erupt into poetry.

YU: If we are talking about the most important names in this movement, the Presnyakov
Brothers, as a team, would be among the top five. What is important for me in this
wave is that people didnt go in one direction. The playwrights we are presenting within this program mark five directions in the development of contemporary
Russian drama. This play in particular was a big event in Russia. It was produced
in the Moscow Art Theatre. The same director, Kirill Serebrennikov, also made a
film version of the play with a screenplay by the Presnyakov Brothers. The film was
presented on Channel One, the most widely-viewed television station in Russia.
RQ: Why do you think this script resonates so strongly with contemporary Russians?
YU: Valya [the main character] is to some point presented as the Hamlet of a new
generation in Russia. Russians view Hamlet as a national cultural character, and
the play as the most important text for the Russian theatre. New theatrical interpretations resonate within the culture as important events. By evoking the myth of
Hamlet in this play, the Presnyakovs created such an event in which this generation
articulates itself. Valya can be considered a hero or a face of this generation.
RQ: The Presnyakov Brothers actually wrote TWO plays with this title. The
previous version was translated and produced at the Royal Court Theatre in
London. How is this play different from the previous version?
JR: Its really a completely different play with quite a different sensibility. In the first
play, there were none of the Hamlet references that serve as the central image and
plot structure of this new play. And the endings of the two plays are almost polar
opposites in both intent and effect. The first play didnt have an inciting incident;
we entered the play at a status quo and peered at a sad slice of our anti-heros life.
This new play, like Hamlet, now begins with a dead father revealing that he was
murdered by the man who now shares his widows bed, and off we go
RQ: The title of the play was translated as Playing the Victim by Sasha Dugdale
at the Royal Court. What led you to select the phrase Playing Dead instead?
JR: As for the title, I felt immediately that the American connotations of the idiomatic
expression Playing the Victim were very different than how that title would be
heard in England, where it had received the earlier translation. This question of

A Conversation with the Translators (cont)

the cultural ramifications of idiom is huge when youre translating something: even
if the basic denotation of the phrase is the same in two different countries, the
connotation is how we experience language on a deeper level. I felt strongly that
Playing Dead had a much more useful and appropriate connotation, especially for
this new version of the play.
YU: I completely trust Juanitas choice. I see many reasons for the word victim to have
different weight and create different connotations in Russian and American minds.
RQ: The play makes a number of cultural references that are fairly specific to
life in contemporary Russia. What were some of the moments that you
found most challenging to translate for a U.S. audience and how did you
attempt to address those challenges?
JR: Yury and I have talked a lot about the characters, and how the Presnyakovs are playing with Russian types, or caricatures. So how can these caricatures be recognized as such to an American audience? They somehow need to seem Russian to
us, and yet they need to resonate with images we can understand as Americans.
There is a similar parallel in the Presnyakovs use of American pop culture references. People all over the world are familiar with South Park, and in some ways,
this is a universally shared icon of ambivalence, irony and the ridiculous. So when
the brothers put a South Park logo on Valyas hat, on some level it means something very much the same as it does here. Similarly, young people are reading up
on edgy sex tips in Marie Claire magazine whether theyre in Moscow or New York,
but does it mean the same thing in both worlds? And housing multiple generations
in one apartment may be more common here now in our present economy than it
was a couple of decades ago, so perhaps we are increasingly similar.
But its important to acknowledge the cultural differences, as well. There has
been no change in America as vast, as profound and as swift as the collapse of
the Soviet Union, and somehow this translation needs to communicate that pall of
history hanging over the world of the play. Well just have to keep threading that
needle
RQ: Can you describe a bit of your process? How did you work together as a
team to create this script?
JR: I can only tell you how we have BEGUN to work, since we still have miles to go, but
so far, our process has been significantly informed by the fact that we are both directors. I think we even share certain aesthetic interests and approaches, so there
have been some wonderful conversations so far.
We started with Yury sitting across the desk from me in my office, translating
the gist of the script as he flipped through the pages. I kept saying things like,
but what about that whole scene about the toilet? and so Valya has no opening
6

monologue about crabsticks? until I finally realized that this was a totally different
play. Then Yury went back to Russia and wrote a literal, word-for-word translation
of the script and emailed it to me.
Since then, we have had a couple of long conversations and a couple of long
rehearsals that have enabled me to make significant changes and have also shown
me how much more needs to be done to hear the tone of these characters voices
and to find the flavor of this world.
RQ: How does this developmental reading at Towson University figure into your
process? What do you hope to learn at this event? How do you imagine the
script might change before it receives its first full production?
JR: I am currently teaching a course on translation and adaptation in our MFA program
here at Towson. The students in the class are doing 5 different projects, working
from French, Spanish, Croatian, Sanskrit, and Middle English, so we are all working
through the problems of translation together.
I completed a first draft in time to do a first informal table reading with the
students in the translation class a few weeks ago, and Yury and Robyn were there
to hear the reading and discuss what we heard. This is now a second draft youre
hearing tonight, and I will write another draft before we do our first read-thru with
the cast at Single Carrot in December. Then Ill have time for another major rewrite
before we begin consistent rehearsals in January, and Im sure Ill be tweaking and
rewriting as I come to rehearsals before we open in late February (check details at
their website: www.singlecarrot.org). So theres a long way to go
YU: One of the conditions of our project is that the plays are not considered finished
until we have produced them. I think thats a great possibility to examine the translation by theatrical means and I hope it will help to create a stageable text.

About the Playwrights

The sons of an Iranian mother and a Russian father, Oleg (b. 1969) and Vladimir (b. 1974)
write together under the name The Presnyakov Brothers. They were born and raised
in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg in Siberia and attended the Gorky Ural State
University. After Oleg completed graduate work in literary theory and Vladimir finished
his graduate studies in psychology, both brothers remained in Yekaterinburg, where
they taught at the university and ran a youth theatre company. Although the company no
longer exists, it was formed out of a similar condition that continues to influence their
plays -- the turmoil of Russian society and the impact of this uncertainty on the lives of
citizens, particularly young adults. In art, say the Presnyakovs, the older generations
concerns are much better represented, and the younger generation are still trying to
break through (Marmion). Their work speaks to this youthful sensibility, in part through
frank explorations of social problems that do not shy away from the depiction of violence
and cruelty. Their desire to capture the language and characters of everyday life is one
reason they continue to reside in Yekaterinburg. As Oleg explains, Our works are written
essentially in the language of the people we live among (Zarakhovich).
Although the brothers still call Yekaterinburg home, their plays now travel the world,
as do they. Bad Bed Stories, Terrorism and Captive Spirits have been produced at theatres
in Moscow, such as the Playwright and Director Center and the Moscow Art Theatre, and
published in a Russian anthology. Terrorism was translated, performed and published by
the Royal Court Theatre in 2003. It was also produced by the Studio Theatre in Washington D.C. and the Play Company in New York. A film version of Playing the Victim, for
which they wrote the screenplay, won the prize for best film at the Rome Film Festival.
They subsequently re-wrote that play to incorporate new characters and plot twists. The
brothers have a penchant for remaking their works in this manner. According to Vladimir,
Playing with our characters again and again lets us see how their situations are developing (Zarakhovich). Between their original work and the rewritten versions of their
plays, the brothers claim to have lost track of how many plays they have written. But
according to their British agent, Judy Daish, those plays have had tremendous worldwide
impact. She claims that the brothers have become the most frequently staged Russian
playwrights after Anton Chekhov. There isnt a day that their plays are not performed
someplace the world over, says Daish. The brothers are pleased at the international
appeal of their work. As Oleg puts it, The best thing is when, in So Paolo or Budapest,
Stockholm or Toronto, people come up and say, Hey, youve expressed just what I have
on my mind, what really bothers me (Zarakhovich).
Works Cited
Zarakhovich, Yuri. Two for the Road. Time. Time.com, 17 Dec. 2006. Web. 6 Nov. 2009.
Marmion, Patrick. Chekhovs Children. The Times (London). LexisNexis Academic.

20 Jan. 2003. Web. 5 Nov. 2009.
Robyn Quick
Russia Season Dramaturg
8

Notes on the World of the Play

The Russian Hamlet
And what so poor a man as Hamlet is
May do t express his love and friending to you,
God willing, shall not lack. Let us go in together,
And still your fingers to your lips. I pray.
The time is out of joint. O cursd spite
That ever I was born to set it right!
Nay, come, lets go together.

Hamlet Act 1.5

Theatre has long been a key part of Russian culture, and therefore a means of expressing
the concerns of that culture. Throughout its very tumultuous history in the last century, a character that has continued to speak to the heart of the Russian people through changing times is
Shakespeares Hamlet. In the early twentieth century, amidst political disorientation following
the first world war, Hamlet appeared on the Russian stage as an essential christological
tragic hero who transcended the specifics of political circumstances. Productions focused
on the character as a universal savior figure, who, wrapped in a mantle of purity, eyes on
the beyond, faced with the task to set the times right, opens the eyes of the audience to a
transcendental truth, unveils nothing less that the symbolic subtext of the absolute and brings
the theatrical viewer in touch with another reality (Sokolova 142). During this time, Hamlet
reflected Russian beliefs and ideals in his pure contrast to the dark world and as a scholar
searching for and attaining truth. However, this christological Hamlet was silenced as
society changed under Lenin. In the Soviet Union, religious ideas were abolished and replaced
with social concerns and the desire for justice among social classes. Shakespeares play, over
time, was adapted to fit emerging socialist-realist guidelines. This occurred through major
revisions in the text to remove religious references and focus attention on the actions of Hamlet. This Hamlet is driven to correct social injustice and fight class inequities. In the late Soviet
era, Hamlet took another interpretive turn. The quintessential 1970s Hamlet was the legendary songwriter and actor Vladimir Visotsky. His battle against massive, continually morphing,
fabric scenery was perceived by many audience members as representing the lone individual
fighting the power of the Soviet government. One sign of this interpretations significance may
be in the statue of Visotskys Hamlet that now towers over Petrovsky Boulevard. Just as Hamlet adapted to the changing social and political context of Russia in the twentieth, century, the
Presnyakov Brothers employ a host of references to the characters conflicts and relationships
in order to create a tragic hero befitting a new generation in the twenty first century.

Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. New York: Washington Square, 2003. Print.
Sokolova, Boika. Between Religion and Ideology: Some Russian Hamlets of the

Twentieth Century. Shakespeare Survey 54 (2001): 140-51. Print.
Lauren Guy
Junior, Theatre Arts
9

Notes on the World of the Play (cont.)

Female Police Officers in Russia
In Playing Dead, Lyuda, the sole female member of the police investigative unit, operates
the video camera that records crime reconstructions. Such support functions are typical
of female police officers in Russia. According to a 2005 BBC report, Most female police
officers work in passport and visa services, investigation and forensic services, units
dealing with juvenile crime and various support units (Nearly 250,000 Women). In
recent years, police officials have looked to hire more female officers as a result of research suggesting that women are less likely to accept bribes. Mikhail Tsukruk, the chief
of police in the southern city of Volgograd relied upon this research when he instituted
a female-only unit of traffic police in order to combat a consistent concern of corruption
among existing units. But Tsukruk clearly had another goal in mind for his new unit when
he pointed out that applicants dont have to be blondes with long legs, but wed like
them to be attractive... let people admire them! (BBC World News). Perhaps a similar
attitude towards his female colleagues motivates the Captain in Playing Dead when
he invites Lyuda to keep him company for a dip in the pool and then makes sure that
request is erased from the camera.
Russia to get women traffic cops. BBC News. 29 Aug. 2006. Web. 9 Nov. 2009.
Nearly 250,000 Women Serve in Russian Army, Police. BBC Worldwide Monitoring.

LexisNexis Academic, 8 Mar. 2005. Web. 9 Nov. 2009.
Kate Lilley
Senior, Theatre Arts

10

Ethnicity in Russia
Russia is a country with a vast diversity of ethnicities living within its borders. There are
over 150 officially recognized ethnic groups in the country, seven of which have populations of over one million (Shaw 26). Relations between various members of these groups,
though mostly based on mutual peace and respect, can sometimes take a more aggressive or violent turn. In Russia, which is roughly 80 percent ethnically Russian, there have
been beatings and even murders of people seen as foreign, ethnic minority, or supportive
of ethnic equality. Most of this violence is perpetrated by members of ultra-nationalist
groups, who feel strongly that Russia belongs solely to ethnic Russians. Such nationalistic political activism, which often feeds on (and, in turn, feeds) the publics anger, often
leads to violence against minorities.
The sentiments of such activist groups can engage the interest of disenfranchised
youth and others who may not be formal group members. In Playing Dead, the young
man, Valya is among those who mistreat the character Zakhirov Tahir, based upon his
ethnicity. Both the name Zakhirov, a traditional name in Uzbekistan, and the characters
accent in the original Russian text indicate that he was probably born and raised in one
of the Eastern former Soviet Bloc countries. Valya plays upon a stereotype about this
part of the world when he taunts his coworker in reference to Tahir and even abuses the
mans name: Here he is, your obedient genie Takhirov, to grant your every wish Valyas
suspicions about those who are other than Russian extends to his concern that pita
bread might be poisoned because, as he tells his mother, we ARE at war with them, you
know. Pita is found in several Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines. But given the
ongoing military conflicts between Russia and Chechnya in recent years, that region of
Russia seems the most likely candidate for them. A Chechen staple is various forms
of their native chureka flat, unyeasted bread mixed simply from wheat or barley flour
and water (Pita). The Chechnyan independence movement prompted numerous attacks
on Russia, including the October 2002 seizure of Moscows Dubrovka Theater. Valyas
fear of pita bread, reflects one more ongoing suspicion of those who are not ethnically
Russian. In Valyas family, even family disputes at the dinner table quickly transform into
ethnic battles. Uncle Peter chastizes the young man for using chop sticks and separates
anything Eastern from his view of Russian identity. In response, Valya accuses his uncle
of having German heritage a charge that enrages the man. The intensity of the struggle
between us and them is matched only by the uncertainty of where one might land at
any given moment in this debate.
Pita. Jewish Recipes, 2007. Web. 8 November 2009
Shaw, Denis J.B. Russia: A Geographic Preface. Understanding Contemporary Russia.

Ed. Michael L. Bressler. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2009.

7-32. Print.
Will Harrington. Senior, Theatre Arts
And Qituwra Anderson. Senior, Theatre Arts
11

Notes on the World of the Play (cont.)

Police Corruption in Russia
Captain: Idiot. Hell with him. We did the reconstruction, in theory- weve got the fingerprints
on her legs, right? So it all fits. Were done here.
The Captain in Playing Dead

The police captain in the play closes a murder case and arrests a man based on theoretical evidence. Such a practice may not come as a surprise to most Russians who
generally assume that police authority may not always be exercised with care or integrity. In 2005, opinion polls were distributed by the Public Opinion Foundation in order to
illuminate just how prevalent police corruption is in Russia. The first question asked was,
Within the last one or two years, have you encountered an official who expected an
unofficial payment/service from you? The total percentage of responses, which included
variations in gender, age, educational status, income, and location, was thirty percent.
The next question was, In your opinion, what proportion of officials in Russia is corrupt? Over ten percent of the same group of people said that all of the officials were corrupt. Less than one percent said that no officials were corrupt, and less than five percent
said that only a few were corrupt. Another question that helps to convey the extent of
corruption is in Russia was, In your opinion, in which agencies and in which institutions
does one encounter the most corruption? Over fifty percent of the respondents said that
law enforcement agencies were the most corrupt. Forty five percent said traffic police,
thirty two percent said courts and state prosecutors, and four percent said the army was
the most corrupt. The survey also posed a question about the future: Can corruption in
Russia be eliminated? A total of thirty one percent said that it could be eliminated; approximately fifteen percent made no response, and the remaining fifty eight percent said
that corruption could not be eliminated (Qtd. in Schmidt 7 9).
Works Cited
Schmidt, Diana. Fighting against Corruption, and Struggling for Status.

Russian Analytical Digest. 5 Dec. 2006: 1 17. Web. 9 Nov. 2009.
April Baldwin. Senior, Political Science
And Tim Lorch. Senior, Theatre Arts

12

The Drama of the New Russia

Russia in the first decade of the century has done little to change the worlds perception
that it is a riddle wrapped in a mystery.
After a period of comparative irrelevance in the 1990s, Russia once again is a major
player in international politics. Its leadership and influence is felt in virtually every key
issue facing the global community. It is a nation whose leaders have learned to talk
democracy and freedom as skillfully as any.
This all happened, meanwhile, as Russian authorities closed down independent news
outlets; looked the other way when prominent dissenting journalists and politicians
were murdered; provided tacit support to nationalist thugs; and found ways to jail or silence
business leaders and social activists who dared to disagree with government policy.
Will the real Russia please stand up?
In fact, one generation of Russians or, more precisely, a group of playwrights from
that generation has already stepped forward. These individuals were teenagers or preteens when Mikhail Gorbachev sought to reform the Communist Party, and entered their
20s while Boris Yeltsin led Russia through awkward battles with poverty, corruption and
infrastructural collapse. They attained personal and professional maturity in their 30s as
Vladimir Putin established social stability and presided over the onset of affluence and a
contingent spiritual stagnation. They continue to create as Dmitry Medvedev leads Russia through the global financial crisis and struggles with hidden dilemmas left over from
all the previous eras put together.
These writers, of which we selected five to participate in the New Russian Drama:
Voices in a Shifting Age project, were instrumental in raising the status of Russian drama
to heights unheard of for decades. Each of their compelling voices stands alone, and their
visions are unique. They are not members of any club or movement, but taken together,
they offer striking examples of a nation struggling often clumsily, often cruelly, but always sincerely to renew itself. Moreover, they represent the diversity of contemporary
Russian drama not only in style, but in geography and background.

13

The Drama of New Russia (cont.)

Olga Mukhina grew up in Russias Far North in a family of geologists but reflects
Moscows ultra urban sensibility. Vyacheslav Durnenkov and Yury Klavdiev grew up in
working neighborhoods in the tough southern city of Togliatti, occasionally known as the
Russian Detroit. Klavdiev, incidentally, has relocated to St. Petersburg and is arguably
now that cosmopolitan citys most progressive playwright. The Presnyakov brothers, both
of them university professors, hail from Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains region, a
genuine hotbed for gritty new dramatists. Maksym Kurochkin, educated as an ethnologist
and historian, was born and grew up in Kiev, Ukraine.
All have been translated into the major languages of the world and produced throughout Europe and the New World.
Russian writers are not as overtly political as some of their counterparts in the United
States, but that does not mean they avoid issues of political and social significance. On
the contrary, Klavdiev, Durnenkov and the Presnyakovs all deal in one way or another
with the corrosion and breakdown of social norms, a painful process that inevitably leads
to confusion, chaos and violence. The plays of Kurochkin and Mukhina, in vastly divergent
ways, reflect the paralysis that plagues cultured people as the world changes and tosses
ever new challenges at them.
Anyone wanting to know where Russia stands today and where it might head in the
future would be well advised to take note of what these and other Russian playwrights
are saying. We live in an age when Russian newspapers and television are telling only
part of their nations story. In the arts, poets and prose writers have slipped into the background. The film industry has been in a state of flux and crisis for over two decades.
Not surprisingly, theater and drama have emerged as the most vital and responsive
media of social discourse and communication. Thanks to Mukhina, Klavdiev, Durnenkov,
Kurochkin and the Presnyakovs, the mystery that is Russia has become a little less enigmatic.
John Freedman
Theater Critic, The Moscow Times

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Translating Russia for America

I once met a man who could not understand why anyone would need more than one
translation of War and Peace. Its just words transposed into English, he said incredulously. Once its done its done.
It is probable that everyone reading these notes written, after all, for a universitybased project in a prestigious theater program recognizes that as a radically uninformed statement. What not everyone may realize, however, is the profound degree to
which fuzzy thinking penetrates general opinions about translation. Respected producers
and directors have told me, Oh, well clean that clumsy translation up before we go into
rehearsals.
I have also heard tell of ancient mariners saying, Well just plug that little hole,
before heading out to stormy seas.
Translation is an art. In fact, a translator is a director, a playwright, an actor and an
audience member all rolled into one. He or she constantly must hear the questions of the
actor Can I say this? even as the spectator in the minds eye is wondering, What
does this mean? while the segment of the brain thinking about how to direct this slowly
emerging text is pondering what gestures and intonations the chosen words will call into
being. All of this while the original authors voice with its unique rhythms, diction and
melodies must be singing in perfect pitch in the translators head.
No one in the theater is more sensitive than actors and spectators. It is one of the reasons why we love them so. Metaphorically, each must be invited to embark on a journey
lacking hazardous obstacles and treacherous turns not planted there by the author. If an
actor speaks a word that sticks in his or her craw, it must be because the author willed
it, not because the translator was lazy. Every time an audience member is distracted by
questions or doubts not envisioned by the author, communication has broken down. And
the translator is to blame.
A play making the transition from Russian into English is threatened by a myriad of
potentially catastrophic misunderstandings. As languages, Russian and English are
structured differently, and so provide vastly different cadences, stores of information and
electric impulses. That is nothing, however, compared to the pitfalls involved in translating cultural phenomena. Did you know, for example, that the contemporary Russian word
for red is the same one the language still employs for beautiful in fairy tales? Red
Square, in other words, has nothing to do with the place where the Red Army used to

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Translating Russia for America (cont.)

march. That gives the notion of seeing red a whole new sensation, doesnt it?
In other words, much in a translation must be interpreted as well. But it must be done
inconspicuously and in a way that is organic to the original text. So, yes, you may add
scholarship to the jobs a translator is called upon to do well.
English is another problem. The British have been good at sniffing out new plays in
Russia, translating, publishing and staging them. But as George Bernard Shaw said so
famously: England and America are two countries divided by a common language.
Indeed, many British translations done in the last decade look and sound as foreign to us
as any Russian, German or French play might.
The New Russian Drama: Voices in a Shifting Age project was established to bring
the riches of contemporary Russian drama to America in the American idiom. We believe
this is the only way that such major contemporary writers as Olga Mukhina, Maksym
Kurochkin, Yury Klavdiev, Vyacheslav Durnenkov and the Presnyakov brothers can fully be
appreciated in the United States.
We also believe there is no one way to create a translation that will allow a play to
speak clearly and breathe fully in a new language. As such, we experimented with various methods.
We engaged playwright Kate Moira Ryan to create a new American adaptation of
Mukhinas Tanya-Tanya. Playwrights Juanita Rockwell and David M. White worked
closely with Russian director Yury Urnov to fashion American variants of the Presnyakovs
Playing Dead and Klavdievs Martial Arts, respectively. John Hanlon, with Kurochkins
Vodka, F***ing, and Television, and I, with Durnenkovs Frozen in Time, Kurochkins The
Schooling of Bento Bonchev and Klavdievs The Polar Truth, took the traditional route of a
lone translator rendering an authors text.
All of us, working with the writers and production teams, endeavored to help five
unique Russian voices speak American without losing their native flavor, points of view
or insights. Each production in this season-long project is confirmation of our belief that
American theater will be richer when it embraces what a new generation of Russian
playwrights is writing.
John Freedman
Theater Critic, The Moscow Times

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Theatre Arts at Towson University

The guiding principle of the Department of Theatre Arts is that its energies and resources
remain devoted to the development of its students as creative, cooperative and humanistically educated theatre practitioners and scholars.
The undergraduate program is designed to provide, in cooperation with other departments, a broad liberal education as well as rigorous professional training in which
emphasis is placed on skills as well as knowledge. The faculty works with each student
to create of an artistic point of view and a professional work ethic appropriate for the
theatre, and other endeavors. The department offers the B.A. or B.S. in Theatre with
tracks in Acting, Design and Production, and Theatre Studies. The various degree programs and areas of study within the department work cooperatively to give students a
rich education in the diverse aspects of theatre as well as focused training that will help
them cultivate their individual talents and potential.
The Towson MFA Program in Theatre Artsnow in its 15th yearis unlike any Masters program in the United States in that it trains the total theatre artist/scholar. Every
year, a small group is hand-selected to embark on a rigorous three-year journey that
nurtures each members individual artistic vision.
The curriculum is designed for the artist who is not content working within a single
discipline: It is for the actor who is also a playwright; the designer who is also playwright; the director who is also a puppeteer; the choreographer who is also a historian.
Students work with faculty and guest artists in a diverse range of disciplines, styles
and techniques. In most cases, this informs the students work, as they create projects
both on their own and in collaboration with one another.
The program is open to all forms of experimentation; it is doggedly interdisciplinary;
and it is designed for the kind of person who is a self-directed and self-producing artist,
trying to work from his or her own aesthetic.

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Student Opportunities for Further Study of Russia

Students may combine their interests in Russian theater with their career interests as
professional communicators.
Students interested in the behind-the-scenes work of marketing and promoting the fine
artsand other careers in the communications field--may be interested in two new options
from Towson University for earning academic credits studying this topic: global trends affecting professional communicators, with an emphasis on Russia and the USA.
Independent Study
Work to be completed in January mini-mester or spring 2010 semesterfor three credits.
No foreign language requirement. Led by TU Prof. Mark McElreath and Adjunct
Instructor Gala Duckworth, each student will conduct independent research, write and
present a comparative analysis of global trends affecting professional communicators in
the students choice of careers in three countries:
1 Russia
2 USA
3 The country chosen by the student
Why Russia?
Russia is undergoing dramatic changes that significantly affect professional communicators. Both instructors have extensive experience in Russia.
Why USA?
Global standards for best practices in professional communication are being established
in the USA, some assert.Students will be expected to gather evidence that supports and
contradicts this assertion.
Why a third country of the students choice?
Student can intellectually go on a trip to any country in the world and think through what
it would be like to work there as a professional communicator. Analyzing data from three
different countries allows a triangulation of insights that may provide a more realistic
picture of global trends.
Study Abroadto St. Petersburg, Russia
Early Summer 2010, from May 23rd to June 2ndfor three credits.
Open to college students throughout Mid-Atlantic region. Russian educators and communication professionals will lead seminars, guided tours and excursions. Learn global best
practices and how to market yourself as a professional communicator anywhere in the
world. Russian language not required: all seminars and guided tours in English.
Cost: $4,750 includes tuition, health insurance, housing, roundtrip airfare, some meals
and excursions. Rolling admission. Deposit required to secure space.
More information contact Prof. McElreath at [email protected]; the TU
Study Abroad Office at 410-7043-2451; or go to www.towson.edu/studyabroad.
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The New Russian Drama project is a joint project of Towson University Department of
Theatre Arts and The Center for International Theatre Development.
CITD support comes from:
The Trust for Mutual Understanding, NY
CEC ARTSLINK, NY
The New Drama Festival, Moscow and St. Petersburg
The Golden Mask Festival, Moscow
Towson University support comes from:
Council for International Exchange of Scholars, a division of the Institute of
International Education
The Maryland Humanities Council
The Rosenberg Distinguished Artist Endowment
Towson University Faculty Development Research Committee
The Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas
Center for International Theatre Development (CITD)
Philip Arnout, founder and director
CITD Advisory Board:
Chris Coleman, Portland Center Stage
Jim Nicola, New York Theatre Workshop
Rob Orchard, American Repertory Theatre/Emerson College, Cambridge/Boston
Molly Smith, Arena Stage
New Russian Drama Project Advisory Board:
US:
Mark Bly, Alley Theatre, Dallas
Linda Chapman, New York Theatre Workshop
Kate Loewald, The Play Company, NY
Christian Parker, Atlantic Theatre, NY
Russia:
John Freedman, author, translator, Moscow
Yelena Kovalskaya, critic, Moscow
Oleg Loevsky, Ekaterinburg Young Spectator Theater
Pavel Rudnev, The Meyerhold Center, Moscow
Yuri Urnov, director, Moscow

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The photographing or sound recording of any performance without permission from the University is
strictly prohibited. Eating and drinking are prohibited in the Theatre. Smoking is prohibited in the Center
for the Arts Building. If there is an emergency, please WALK TO THE NEAREST EXIT. The house staff will
assist you.
Towson University is in compliance with federal and state regulations regarding nondiscrimination on
the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, marital status, age, political affiliation, veteran
status, disability, or other prohibited reason. The University does not discriminate on the basis of sexual
orientation. For information, contact the TU Office of Fair Practices, 410-704-2361.
Towson University is committed to ensuring that persons with disabilities are given an equally effective
opportunity to participate in and benefit from the Universitys programs and services. Individuals with
disabilities who require reasonable accommodations are requested to contact the Box Office at
410-704-ARTS in advance and we will be happy to assist you.

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w w w. n e w r u s s i a n d r a m a . o r g

CITD