Flying by Olga Mukhina, Breaking String Theatre at the Off Center, January 28 - February 19

ALT's first take, for NowPlayingAustin's "A-Team":

Olga Mukhina’s Flying is a fast, dangerous and exhilarating ride.

Graham Schmidt and Breaking String Theatre put audiences up close to the beautiful youth of post-Soviet Russia in this 2004 piece. Olga Mukhin Qa one of those who originated the “New Drama” that came raging into Russia's mid-1990’s. It plays until February 19 at the Off Center, 2211-A Hidalgo Street (behind Joe’s Bakery on 7^th Street).

Heedless, hedonistic and rootless, a gang of six young professionals address one another only by their remarkable nicknames. Snowstorm, Blizzard, Snowflake, Maniac, Orangina and Lenochka strut, talk, preen and play hard. They revolve about one another and thrust themselves through the drab Moscow nights like shooting stars. Director Schmidt, choreographer Adrian Mishler and composer Justin Sherburn give this story a kinetic power that leaves the audience breathless at the end of the first half.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: New Russian Drama Festival, Breaking String, Rude Mechs, Scriptworks and UT at the Off Center, January 28 - 31

Found on-line:

in association with the Rude Mechanicals and the Fusebox International Theatre Festival proudly presents

The Breaking String New Russian Drama Festival

at The Off Center 2211 Hidalgo Street, Austin, TX 78702 (click for map)

January 28th through January 31st

Thanks to support from the Center for International Theater Development and its director, Philip Arnoult, Breaking String is proud to host two of Russia’s most important contemporary playwrights: Maksym Kurochkin and Olga Mukhina.

All Festival events, except performances Flying, are free and open to the public. Join us!

Friday, January 28

• 8:00 PM: North American Premiere of Flying by Olga Mukhina, translated by John Freedman.

Saturday, January 29

• 12:30 PM: Discussion on New Russian Drama. Panelists: Olga Mukhina and Maksym Kurochkin
• 2:00 PM: Panel Discussion: New Russian Drama in Context. Panelists from the University of Texas at Austin: Elizabeth Richmond-Garza, Thomas Garza, and Seth Wolitz
• 4:00 PM: Staged Reading of YoU, by Olga Mukhina, translated by John Freedman. Directed by Liz Fisher
• 8:00 PM: Flying by Olga Mukhina, translated by John Freedman

Sunday, January 30

• 1:00 PM: Discussion of the Center for International Theatre Development's New Plays for Russia Initiative, with CITD Director Philip Arnoult
• 3:00 PM: Staged reading Repress and Excite, by Maksym Kurochkin, translated by John Freedman. Directed by James Loehlin.
• 8:00 PM: Flying by Olga Mukhina

Monday, January 31

• 6:00 PM: Austin Scriptworks Panel Discussion on new play development in Russia and the United States. With Scriptworks Director Christi Moore, Olga Mukhina and Maksym Kurochkin.

Upcoming: Flying by Olga Mukhina, Breaking String Theatre at the Off Center, January 28 - February 19

Received directly and researched on-line:

i

in association with the Rude Mechanicals proudly presents

the North American premiere of

Flying

by Olga Mukhina
translated by John Freedman

directed by Graham Schmidt

at the Off Center, 2211 Hidalgo Street (click for map)

January 28 - February 19

January 28, 29, 30 (Friday - Saturday; Sunday at 5 p.m.)

February 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 (Thursday - Monday)

February 10, 11, 13, 14 (Thursday - Monday)

February 16, 17, 18, 19 (Thursday - Saturday)

Performances at 8 p.m. except for Sunday, January 30

Tickets * $15-25 General Admission

* Mondays (February 7 and 14) are pay-what-you-want industry nights

A group of Russia’s so-called “golden youth,” smart, talented, well-heeled twenty-somethings are heading for disaster. Among them are DJs, VJs, PR agents and on-screen presenters for a hot new youth-oriented Moscow television production company. These people, with hip-sounding names like Snowstorm, Maniac, Snowflake and Orangina, are creating and living the images that will define the future. None wastes much time thinking about why one of their group is repeatedly battered by her husband or why another constantly takes tranquilizers to maintain her cool, collected image. But when an unsullied teenage girl joins their group one day, they are compelled to look beyond the usual limits of their purview. And when Snowstorm is arrested for possession of drugs and Orangina undergoes a religious experience, the insular nature of their world is quickly breached.

Breaking String has been proud to collaborate with playwright Olga Mukhina and critic / translator John Freedman in the development of this production.

The Cast: Jesse Bertron, David Boss, Joey Hood, Michelle Keffer, Adriene Mishler, Michael Plaster, Gricelda Silva, Jacob Trussell, Katie Van Winkle

The Crew: Graham Schmidt (Director), Angelica Mañez (Stage Manager), Adriene Mishler (Director of Movement) Ia Ensterä (Set Designer), Jamie Urban (Costume Designer), Steven Shirey (Lighting Designer), Justin Sherburn (Music and Sound Designer), Eric Johnson (Carpenter / Electrician)

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .