moscow moscow moscow moscow moscow moscow
“Dobrin’s interpretation of “Moscow” was an absolute rollercoaster of emotion. Its staging had the audience gasping for air from laughter and then on the brink of tears in a matter of seconds. The set, costumes, intensive character work and quick pace of the show made the quippy text come alive and struck the audience right in their faces, leaving them with no choice but to come to terms with what “Moscow” means to them” - Constance Meade, The Michigan Daily
A contemporary riff on Three Sisters, this play queers the patriarchal narrative of the Russian classic by injecting the plot and characters with millennial internet speak, crass subtext yelled to the heavens, and the self-awareness of the Fleabag generation. In this production, we sought to explore and take seriously the complexity of Chekhov’s characters, while also excavating the way queer bodies, ideals, and aesthetics co-exist within the pre-existing arcs. Despite a modern flair, it became clear the way queerness could still be forbidden or brushed under the table, even in a world lifted from pop star divas and the influence of the Hiltons and the Kardashians. Aesthetically, the production sought to physicalize what Feiffer’s text does so brilliantly - place the new, bright, and shiny on top of the old, rigid, and dusty, and see what discoveries that contrast brings to light.
by Halley Feiffer
Based on Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov
Director: Ryan Dobrin
Production Stage Manager: Holly Adam
Scenic Design: Jess Fialko
Costume Design: Matthew Eggers
Lighting Design: Abi Farnsworth
Sound Design: Henry Reynolds
Props Management: Sarah Tanner
Intimacy/Fight Director: Christina Traister
Voice/Dialect Coach: Jeremy Sortore
Dramaturgy: Karin Waidley, Rory Hunt, Leo Kupferberg
Assistant Director: Liv Morris
1st Assistant Stage Manager: Elianna Kruskal
2nd Assistant Stage Managers: Mila McCoy, Johnathan Rickard
Associate Sound Design: Sydney Geysbeek
Assistant Sound Design: Jackson Carroll
Intimacy/Fight Captains: Atticus Olivet, Charles Lee-Rossing
Ensemble: Myah Bridgewater, Tatiana Cloobeck, Edie Crowley, Clara Dossetter, Miles Elliot, A. Hadley Gorsline, Charles Lee-Rossing, Rohan Maletira, Atticus Olivet, Adam Rogers, Myles Sherwin Mathews, Sam Smiley
Production: September-October 2022, Arthur Miller Theatre at the University of Michigan
Photos Courtesy of Peter Smith, Ellie Vice, Matthew Eggers, & Abi Farnsworth
