Breaking String Theater Presents VODKA, F*CKING AND TELEVISION, 11/29-12/15

Breaking String Theater Co. (Austin, TX) presents Vodka, f-ing and Television, by Maksym Kurochkin, translated by John J. Hanlon and directed by Liz Fisher at Hyde Park Theatre, November 29 - December 15. 

Widely regarded as one of Russia’s greatest living playwrights, Maksym Kurochkin was introduced to Austin in 2011 at Breaking String Theater Co.’s inaugural New Russian Drama Festival; he would return as the spotlight artist for New Russian Drama Festival 2012, which saw the American premiere of his play, The Schooling of Bento Bonchev. Kurochkin’s plays’ imagination, immediacy, irreverence and humor have made him a sensation in Russia as well as in Texas, and Breaking String is excited to extend its relationship with Max’s work.

Vodka, f-ing and Television is a dark comedy about a struggling writer, and the vices holding him back. But Kurochkin gives this plot a surprising twist: The vices become personified, and each gets a chance to justify their presence in the hero's life, or get the boot. Inspired by artistic malaise, Vodka, f-ing and Television is like the Cohen Brothers' Barton Fink meets Sartre's No Exit. Led by director (and frequent Breaking String collaborator) Liz Fisher and featuring performances by noted artists Adriene Mishler, Joey Hood, Jude Hickey and Noel Gaulin, and design by Ia Enstera (scenic), Steven Shirey (lights), Glenda Barnes (costumes) and Lowell Bartholomee (video), and set within the embracing closeness of Hyde Park Theatre’s black box theatre space, VF&T promises to make a splash in Austin this holiday season.

The show runs November 29 - December 15, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8:00pm. Industry night is set for Monday, December 3 (artists pay what you can). Back-to-back performances (8pm, 10:00pm) on Friday, December 14, Saturday, December 15. Talk-back Saturday, Dec 8 (With special guest - Translator John J. Hanlon).

All performances take place at the Hyde Park Theatre, 511 W. 43rd St., Austin, TX.

General Admission: $15 - 25, Sliding scale. Student rush tickets released 10 minutes before curtain for all performances: $10. Available at breakingstring.com/tickets and 512-784-1465.

BREAKING STRING THEATER, founded and led by Producing Artistic Director Graham Schmidt, produces drama important to Russian culture and exposes Austin audiences to new developments in Russian theater. We do this by staging excellent productions of Russian traditional and avant-garde plays, providing artists with a creative, respectful and professional work environment, and pursuing collaboration with Russian theater artists, notably through our annual New Russian Drama Festival, where we spotlight high-profile Russian playwrights and bring them to Austin for brief residencies, as well as premieres of new plays.

MAKSYM KUROCHKIN is recognized as one of the most imaginative playwrights in Moscow today, “the ideal playwright for the global age,” as Moscow Times critic John Freedman defined him. He was introduced to Austin audiences in 2011, when Breaking String premiered a staged reading of his play, Repress and Excite. In 2012, Breaking String spotlit his work during New Russian Drama Festival 2012, which featured the American premiere of Kurochkin’s The Schooling of Bento Bonchev. In response to Bento and the festival staged readings, Austin Chronicle Arts Editor Robert Faires wrote, “These plays' irreverence, imagination, and immediacy were so familiar and engaging that if I hadn't already known they were minted in Moscow, I might have taken them for plays created locally.” Regarding his accomplishments in Russia, Kurochkin is the recipient of the Boldest Experiment of the Year award from the Moskovsky Komsomolets daily for Kitchen, the Moscow New Drama award for the futuristic comedy Titus the Irreproachable, and the Russian Anti-Booker award for experimenting with new avenues in drama. In Afisha magazine, Russian critic Yelena Kovalskaya named Kitchen one of the top 20 plays in Russia in the first decade of the century. The Moscow Times named his Repress and Excite the best play of the 2006-7 Moscow season. Translations of that play and Vodka, f-ing, and Television, his trailblazing work from 2003, appeared in TheatreForum magazine. A translation of The Schooling of Bento Bonchev was workshopped at Towson University in 2010 and published in Performing Arts Journal. Titus the Irreproachable, translated by Noah Birksted-Breen, was a featured reading at the Russian Theatre Festival in London in February 2010. John J. Hanlon's translation of Mooncrazed was presented at the HotINK festival at NYU in January 2010.

This translation of Vodka, f-ing and Television was produced under the auspices of the CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL THEATER DEVELOPMENT’s New Voices / New Visions initiative. The Center for InterNational Theatre Development, led by Philip Arnoult, has been a frequent collaborator with Breaking String in bringing the best that contemporary Russian theater has to offer, home to Austin, TX.

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