U.S. Playwright Kate Moira Ryan Adapts TANYA TANYA, Commissioned for the Russian Season at the Towson University Department of Theatre Arts

U.S. playwright Kate Moira Ryan has adapted Tanya-Tanya, a major play by Russian playwright Olga Mukhina. Mukhina's deeply personal plays have been produced throughout Russia and Europe since the 1990s, with Flying, her most recent play, about to be released as a major motion picture in Russia. Tanya-Tanya had its U.S. premiere at Cal Arts in 2006 in a translation by John Freedman ; now New Yorkers have a chance to experience it as a staged reading of excerpts at the Segal Center. Hosted by interNational Theatre exchange pioneer Philip Arnoult and Freedman. In collaboration with the New York Theatre Workshop. Tanya-Tanya was commissioned for the Russian Season at the Towson University Department of Theatre Arts, developed with the Center for InterNational Theatre Development.

Olga Mukhina is one of the most important and influential contemporary Russian playwrights. Her play Tanya-Tanya is generally considered the starting point of what grew into the "New Drama" movement in Russia in the 2000s. Mukhina followed with YoU, produced at the Moscow Art Theater in 2001. Following a seven-year hiatus (during which she gave birth to two sons), Mukhina reemerged with Flying, which she produced and directed herself. A major motion picture adaptation of this work is planned for release in Moscow in 2010. Tanya-Tanya, YoU and Flying have been produced throughout Europe and the United States.

Kate Moira Ryan's adaptation of Olga Mukhina's play Tanya Tanya will open at Towson University in December, directed by Yury Ournov. Her musical, The Weatherman, written with composer David Clement, will be workshopped at La Jolla Playhouse also in December. Her play, Bass for Picasso will be produced on Theater Row by Theater Breaking Through Boundaries in April. Recent projects include - The Beebo Brinker Chronicles written with Linda S. Chapman and directed by Leigh Silverman ran to sold out houses off-Broadway and received the 2008 GLAAD Media Award. It is published by the Dramatists Play Service and will open at Brava Theater in San Francisco this February. 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother, written with and for Judy Gold, ran eight months off Broadway, received the 2007 GLAAD Media Award and is currently in its third year of a nationwide tour. A book based on the play was published by Hyperion and was nominated for the Quill award. Her play, Cavedweller, based on Dorothy Allison's bestselling novel was produced by New York Theater Workshop and was directed by Michael Grief. It is published by Dramatist's Play Service. OTMA was produced by the Atlantic Theater Company and published by Playscripts. It has been performed at colleges around the United States as well as in Russia. She has received numerous fellowships, most recently the Sundance Playwriting Fellowship, the Alfred E. Sloan Fellowship, and four fellowships from Center for InterNational Theatre Development to Russia.

Philip Arnoult Philip Arnoult is widely recognized, nationally and internationally, not only for his efforts to nurture and present new theater and dance from throughout the world, but also for his commitment to long-term, international projects that put artists together to take the first steps toward collaborative projects. He is the founder of The Baltimore Theatre Project (1971) and the Center for InterNational Theatre Development (CITD) (1990). During the 90's, he developed and directed the US/Netherlands Touring & Exchange Project, working with a diverse set of partner US theatres . CITD developed the Eastern & Central European Exchange Initiative (1999-2004) linking young directors from Poland, Hungary, Romania and Russia with a select group of US partner theatres. Arnoult and CITD developed a wide set of activities in East Africa (1998 - 2007) inKenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, ranging from the development of the GoDown, a contemporary arts center in Nairobi, to commissions, training opportunities, and mobility support. In 2005 CITD began New Visions/New Voices: a Russian/US Initiative, with the current New Russian Drama translation project a key component. He continues his relationships with Stacy Klein and Double Edge's Farm in western Massachusetts, the Grotowski Institute and Theatre ZAR in Wroclaw, Poland, and various projects in Bulgaria, Romania and Armenia. For over 25 years, he worked as a board member and colleague with Martha Coigney and the InterNational Theatre Institute. He has worked with Antioch College, The University of Tennessee, Bennington College, and Towson University in a variety of consultative roles. He has given lectures and conducted workshops and seminars in Argentina, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Cuba, Denmark, Egypt, France, Finland, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Kenya, Korea, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Tanzania, Uganda, and the United Kingdom.

John Freedman has written or edited and translated nine books about Russian drama and theater and has been the theater critic of The Moscow Times since 1992. His play translations - including those of Olga Mukhina - have been performed in the United States, Australia and Canada, and published in numerous anthologies and journals. He is the Russian director of The New Russian Drama: Translation / Production / Conference (2007 - 2010), a project hosted by Towson University (Baltimore, MD) and Philip Arnoult's Center for International Theater Development (CITD). Freedman last appeared at CUNY in November 2008 with Kama Ginkas.

6:30 p.m., Monday, Dec 7, 2009
Martin E. Segal Theatre. Free!