Created in collaboration with Arlekin Players Theater (Boston), this production imaginatively and playfully inhabits memories and scenes from Beethoven’s life, offering a vivid portrait of one of history’s greatest composers. As he endures deafness, isolation, and poverty, Beethoven’s unshakable faith in music and humanity becomes a source of redemption and transcendence. What do we hear when the world falls silent? For Beethoven, the answer is extraordinary music—a declaration of resistance in bleak times. His suffering does not destroy him; instead, he transforms it into art. Features Beethoven’s classical work as well as original music composed and performed by Sarah Infini Takagi.
LOREM IPSUM
An experimental performance-constructor at the Praktika Theater (Moscow), based on a play by Evgenia Avgustenyak. It consists of nine short stories about cultural codes, stereotypes, and the “pain” of perception, which viewers can choose from to form a unique structure for the performance. The play is part of the fringe program of the 2018 Lyubimovka Festival of Young Drama.
BACCHUS AND ARIADNE
Thomas Arne — “Bacchus and Ariadne” (from Six English Cantatas) Performed at the Bolshoi Theatre, Beethoven Hall, Moscow — May 23/25, 2018 As part of the experimental project “Cantata Lab. Scenic Experiments.” This performance was presented by the artists of the Bolshoi Theatre Youth Opera Program in collaboration with young drama directors. Arne’s cantata “Bacchus and Ariadne” combines lyrical English baroque style with theatrical storytelling. In this production, the musical narrative is intertwined with a contemporary scenic concept, reflecting the experimental spirit of the Cantata Lab project, which sought to bridge opera and modern drama theater through collaborative staging. The performance took place in the intimate space of the Beethoven Hall, allowing for direct interaction between singers and audience and emphasizing dramatic truthfulness alongside vocal artistry.
SAINT MARIA
Saint Maria is a staged reading of a play by Natalia Lizorkina, directed by Yana Gladkikh. Performed in English with American actors at Echo Lubymovka Independent Festival of Russian-Speaking
Drama in Los Angeles
The story follows Mary, an ordinary young woman working as a barista in a café. One day she meets a mysterious customer who claims to be God and asks her to bear his child. The play reimagines the biblical story in a contemporary setting, blending irony and ambiguity. As the story unfolds, the audience is left questioning whether God truly appeared to her—or whether the encounter is a psychological defense mechanism created to cope with a traumatic event.
