CRIME + PUNISHMENT Opens This January at West of Lenin

Akropolis Performance Lab (APL) opens Crime + Punishment: a psychological account of a certain crime at West of Lenin on January 5, 2018.

It begins with a theory that goes something like this:

Very great men have a right to do very bad things if it will allow them to bring greater benefit to humanity.

Crime + Punishment follows the fortunes of Raskolnikov, a debt-ridden and disillusioned university drop-out who devises this theory ... then acts upon it. After dehumanizing, robbing, and murdering a pawnbroker, Raskolnikov descends into a guilt-ridden fever dream where he is plagued by the ghosts of his crime and conscience. In this original adaptation of Dostoevsky's master work, APL ventures into the lower depths of 19th-century St. Petersburg, where the mysteries of the Russian soul and intellect, crime and love are deeply, irrevocably entwined as we reveal the mind of a killer in his search for meaning and redemption.

At 150 years since the novel's publication, Crime + Punishment challenges our collective complacency to today's ubiquity of violence and pushes back at notions that historical progress must necessarily derive from violence or that ends justify means.

Minimalist and low-tech, yet full of the inventive stagecraft and theatrical magic that are hallmarks of APL's craft, Crime + Punishment combines bold dramaturgy with dynamic physicality and a rich musical soundscape of Russian folk song and sacred chant. The production features the distinct sound of a hurdy-gurdy and the tight a cappella harmonies for which APL has twice received Gypsy Rose Lee Award nominations.

Crime + Punishment opens in its hometown after receiving its world premiere in Ohio, presented in the fall by the Center for Applied Theatre and Active Culture (CATAC) and New World Performance Lab (NWPL) as part of NWPL's 25th-anniversary celebration.

Production Team:

Director/Playwright - Joseph Lavy

Music Director - Zhenya Lavy

Set/Lighting Designer - Kix

Costume Designer - Fantasia Rose

Ensemble:

Tyler J. Polumsky - Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov

Emily Jo Testa - Alyona Ivanovna, Pulkheria Raskolnikova

Annie Paladino - Lizaveta, Avdotya Romanovna Raskolnikova

Sara Kaus - Sonya Marmeladova

Joseph Lavy - Marmeladov, Svidrigailov

Zhenya Lavy - Katerina Ivanovna Marmeladova, Hurdy Gurdist

Matt Sherrill - Dmitri Prokofych Razumikhin

Jennifer Crooks - Porfiry Petrovich

The Company:

Akropolis Performance Lab is an ensemble-based theatre company founded in 2000 by Co-Artistic Directors Joseph and Zhenya Lavy, whose artistic lineage traces directly through the Central and Eastern European heritage of Grotowski to Meyerhold and Vakhtangov. Artistic Associates work together over the course of years through ongoing weekly physical and vocal training, as well as extended exploration and rehearsal processes.

With an artisanal approach to theatre, APL favors a minimalist aesthetic, subtly nuanced for small audiences, questioning intellects, and individual experience. The ensemble crafts deeply layered performances at the intersection of source material, cultural heritage, physical action, music, dance, and personal memory. Simultaneously ancient and new, beautiful and essential, APL's work is designed to eliminate the noise of our techno-frenetic world and to enrich and clarify the actor-witness relationship.

One of Seattle's longest standing devising ensembles, APL's recent productions include Ecce Faustus (2016), The Glas Nocturne (2015-17, Seattle Footlight Award recipient, reviewed in Theatre Journal), Pomegranate & Ash (2015), and Uncle Vanya (2014). Among other honors for the company, Dream of a Ridiculous Man was presented for the 2005 national Theatre Communications Group conference and was the subject of a feature article in Moscow's The Stage, and the company's work on Seneca's Oedipus and Week 2 of the world premiere of Suzan-Lori Parks' 365 Days / 365 Plays both earned mention in academic publications.

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