On View Now > Stalin’s Master Class

Apr 13, 2024 – May 26, 2024

Stalin’s Master Class

Written by David Pownall and directed by Ron Sossi

British playwright David Pownall imagines a chilling encounter in which composers Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich are subjected to the rants and bullying of Josef Stalin and Andrei Zhdanov, Stalin’s self-important cultural commissar. Stalin and Zhdanov, reveal anti-democratic, formalist musical tendencies, alien to the Soviet people and their artistic tastes. Music that could make a whole population sick! Should one start writing music in the style ordered by the Master, or should one continue to do as one pleases, and risk death? It is January 1948, somewhere in the Kremlin. There is a piano, vodka of course, and peanuts…

Dates / Tickets / Special Events

Apr 13, 2024 – May 26, 2024

Previews
April 3 – 5 at 8pm

Opening Night
April 13 at 8pm
Performances
Wednesday, April 17 & May 15 at 8pm
Friday, April 12, 19, 26; May 3, 10, 17, 24 at 8pm
Saturday April 13, 20, 27; May 4, 11, 18, 25 at 8pm
Sunday April 14, 21, 28; May 5, 12, 19. 26 at 2pm

Post Show Discussions
Wednesday, April 17, May 15
Friday, April 26, 
Sunday, May 5

Pay-What-You-Can & Wine Night Fridays
Enjoy complimentary wine and snacks with the cast after the show.

Credits / Cast / Crew

Production

Written by David Pownall
Directed by Ron Sossi
Produced in Association with Isabel and Harvey Kibel
Scenic Designer Pete Hickok
Lighting Designer Jackson Funke
Costume Designer Mylette Nora
Sound Designer Christopher Moscatiello
Prop Designer Jenine MacDonald
Pianist Nisha Sue Arunasalam
Stage Manager Jennifer Palumbo
Graphic Designer Luba Lukova

Produced for the Odyssey by Beth Hogan

Cast

Andrei Zhdanov John Kayton
Dmitri Shostakovich Randy Lowell
Sergei Prokofiev Jan Munroe
Joseph Stalin Ilia Volok

(l to r) Ilia Volok, Randy Lowell, Jan Munroe (back) John Kayton

Photo by Jenny Graham

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