AsT EuRoPEAN

Volume 1, Number 2 __ April 1981

EDITOR Is NOTE:
First of all, many thanks for the numerous complimentary comments you have sent
us about the first of NEWSNOTES. We would also like to report that quite a
number of additional readers have requested that their names be added to our mailing
list. We expect the readership to increase significantly for our third number, as
more people become aware of our activities. Incidentally, the third number will
appear in September, 1981. Of course, please feel free to inform those potentially
interested that they may receive all subsequent numbers simply by writing to us.
Please remember that we will continue to solicit from you all information per-
taining to Soviet and East European Drama and Theatre which reflects your own
activities or institutional activities in this field. As before, this includes
meetings, conventions, programs, performances, research and grant opportunities,
publications, bibliography, pedagogy-methodology, and other announcements. In
addition, feel free to submit short reviews of performances and literary works,
and very short articles.
We would also appreciate from you your ideas concerning the format
of NEWSNOTES and any additional categories of coverage you would like to see in it
in the future. We shall be grateful to receive any critical commentary from our
readers.
Leo Hecht
NOTES ON EVENTS (Past, Present and Future):
On March 28, Yuri Trifonov died in Moscow at the age of 55 . Although he was
a novelist, he was also very much interested in the theatre. In fact,
the dramatic adaptation of his novel The Exchange, was included among the plays to
be discussed at the Summer Institute in New York. Like many writers, Trifonov
writing in an orthodox vein and received the Stalin Prize for his first
novel, Students. His best mature work was The House on the Embankment, a short
novel which appeared in 1976, and which has also been quite successfully adapted
to the stage. It caused a sensation since it focused on the covrctrdi:t: and oppor-
NEWSNOTES is a publication of the Institute for Contemporary Eastern European Drama
and Theatre under the auspices of the Center for Advanced Study in Theatre Arts with
support from the National Endowment for the Hurnanites. Room 803, City University
Graduate Center, 33 West 42nd St., New York, NY 10036. NEWSNOTES Editor: Leo Hecht,
Dept. of Foreign Languages and Literatures, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030
\
NEWSNOTES/April 1981
tunism of a university student who permits himself to be used in a conspiracy to
destroy one of his professors and intended father-in-law, who was innocently per-
secuted by the security police. The material is partly autobiographical since
Trifonov's father, a high party official, was executed during Stalin's purges of
the 1930's, and his mother spent years in labor camps .
Roman Polanski has been invited to stage Peter Shaffer's Amadeus in Warsaw,
and has allegedly accepted .
Throughout the western world, commemorative events are taking place dedicated
to the centennial of the death of Fedor M. Dostsevsky. Since his novels are
frequently adapted to the theatre, most recently his first novel Poor People on
the Moscow stage, this event is worthy of mention.
Wasil Fiedorow from Knox College reports that his course on Russian Drama is
doing well. Among the lessons he has learned was to make certain that courses of
this nature be advertised as requiring no knowledge of the Russian language in
order to eliminate misunderstandings and low enrollment.
On March 13-15, Bill Kuhlke, Bob Findlay and Bela Kiralyfalvi presented a
panel on Contemporary Eastern European Theatre at the Association of Kansas Theatres
Convention in Saline, Kansas.
The following is a schedule of activities of the Department of Slavic Languages
and Literatures of the University of Kansas . It is being reproduced here not only
because the major portions of these activities are connected with the performing
arts, put to portray how actively involved a vital department may become if it has
the will and the means:
DEPARTMENT OF SLAVIC LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES
SPRING 1981
SCHEDULE OF EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
A. VISIT OF RUSSIAN WRITER VASILY AKSYONOV
Th. 1. January 15, 2:30 - 3:30 p.m. 4075 Wescoe
Seminar (in Russian) on his own works.
Fr. 2. January 16, 7:30 - 9:00 p.m. Forum Room, Kansas Union
Talk (in English) on "Contemporary Russian Literature: Crossing the
Border."
Fr. 3. January 16, 9:15 p.m. Red Slipper Room, Eldridge House, 8th and
Massachusetts
Cash-bar reception for Aksyonov and his wife.
B. SOVIET FILM OF DOSTOEVSKY'S NOVEL CRIME AND PUNISHMENT. Russian dialogue,
English subtitles, 220 minutes.
Tu. 1. January 20, 2:30 - 6:15 p.m. Room 3 Lippincott (Old Green Hall)
Wed. 2. January 21, 7:30 11:15 p.m. Room 3 Lippincott (Old Green Hall)
2
NEWSNOTES/April 1981
C. VISIT OF DR. ALMA H. LAW FROM COLUMBIA UNIV. RUSSIAN INSTITUTE
Wed. 1. February 4, 10:30 - 11:20 a.m. 4011 Wescoe
Guest lecture in SLAV 715, Russian Theatre and Drama: 1953 - Present
(Prof. Kuhlke's class)
Wed. 2. February 4, 7:30- 9:00p.m. Council Room, Kansas Union
3
Talk (in Russian) on ''Recent Development in Russian Theatre and Drama.
11
Wed. 3. February 4, 9:15 p.m. 101-T Windsor Place, Meadowbrook Apts.
Reception for Alma Law
D. GRADUATE STUDIES COLLOQUIUM
Fr. 1. February 20, 7:30 p.m. 101-T Windsor Place, Meadowbrook Apts.
Panel Discussion on Modern Adaptations of the Old Russian Literary
Tradition.
Prof. Gerald Mikkelson,
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Puskin's Adaptation of the Lenten Poem of
St. Ephremius Sirin.
11
Ph.D. candidate Leonard Stanton,
11
Father Kliment Zebergol'm's
biography of Elder Leonid of Optina Pustyn': A Neglected Source of
The Brothers Karamazov.
11
Ph.D. candidate Alexander Boguslawski,
11
Aleksej Remizov's Recreation
of the Ancient Apocryphal Tale 'Nikolaj Strannik'."
Ph.D. candidate Robert Mann, "St. George in Vasilij Suksin's Kalina
krasnaja.
11
E. VISIT OF DR. ALEKSANDAR PETROV
Th. 1. February 26, 2:30 - 3:20 p.m. 4075 Wescoe
Lecture 1/4
in the series on "Slavic and European Poetry on the Left: Successes
and Failures.
11
F. VALENTIN RASPUTIN: SOVIET WRITER IN RESIDENCE
PROPOSED DATES OF VISIT: March 16 - April 5.
Tu. 1. March 24, 2:30 - 3:20 p.m. 4075 Wescoe
Seminar Ill (in Russian) on Contemporary Soviet Literature
Th. 2. March 26, 2:30 - 3:20 p.m. 4075 Wescoe
Seminar lf2 (in Russian) on Contemporary Soviet Literature
Fr. 3. March 27, 7:30- 9:00p.m. Council Room, Kansas Union
Rasputin on Soviet Literature and his own works
NEWSNOTES/April 1981
Fr. 4. March 27, 9:15p.m. Eldridge House
Cash-bar reception for Rasputin.
Tu. 5. March 31, 2:30 - 3:20 p.m. 4075 Wescoe
Seminar #3 (in Russian) on Contemporary Soviet Literature
Th. 6. April 2, 2:30 - 3:20 p.m. 4075 Wescoe
Seminar #4 (in Russian) on Contemporary Soviet Literature
G. MSTISLAV ROSTROPOVICH CELLO CONCERT
Thursday, April 2, 8:00 p.m. Hoch Auditorium
H. PISKUNOV BROTHERS VIOLIN/PIANO CONCERT
Sunday, April 5, 3:30 p.m. University Theatre
I. VISIT OF DR. ALEKSANDAR PETROV
Tu. 1. April 14, 2:30 - 3:20 p.m. 4075 Wescoe
Lecture 115
Th. 2. April 16, 2:30 - 3:20 p.m. 4075 Wescoe
Lecture #6
in the series on "Slavic and European Poetry on the Left: Successes
and Failures."
J. POLISH FILM "ASHES AND DIAMONDS'-' BY ANDREJ WAJDA
Wed. 1. April 22, 7:30 p.m. Woodruff Auditorium
K. HUNGARIAN FILM "ANGI VERA" (1979)
Th. 1. April 30, 7:30p.m. Woodruff Auditorium
L. SLAVIC AWARDS BANQUET
Fri. 1. May 1, or Saturday, May 2, 1981
"Cross Currents," a three month (Jan.-March) festival of arts and humanities
4
at the University of Michigan, sponsored by the Center for Russian and East European
Studies, included lectures by Josef Svoboda, the Czech scenographer, and Jarka Burian,
of SUNY Albany, on "The Uses of Scenography in Contemporary Theatre," and on "Modern
Czechoslovak Theatre." An extensive exhibition of Svoboda's work was also part of
the Festival.
On March 7, Phil Hill presided over a session, "A Survey of Soviet and Polish
Drama Since World War II," at the 32nd Annual Southeastern Theatre Convention in
Orlando, Florida. Papers were presented by Phil Hill (Furman University), Joseph
Trancale (University of Richmond), Jay Raphael (University of Virginia), Thomas Jones
(University of South Carolina), and Leo Hecht (George Mason University). The session
was well attended and satisfying.
On March 6, Leo Hecht presented a paper on Soviet censorships at the Annual
Drama Conference at the University of Florida.
NEWSNOTES/April 1981
On May 21 and 22, the twenty participants in last summer's NEH Institute on
Contemporary Polish and Soviet Drama and Theatre will meet at the Graduate Center in
New York for a two-day follow-up session. The prominent Soviet Edvard
Radzinsky, who will be spending the month of May in the United States at the invita-
tion of the Institute and the Slavic Department of the University of Kansas, will
take part in the follow-up session as a special guest . Mr. Radzinsky will also
spend ten days at the University of Kansas where he will lecture on contemporary
Soviet drama and theatre. During May several members of the Institute will host
Mr . Radzinsky's visits to ot her American cities including Washington D. C. , Los
Angeles , and San Francisco.
We are pleased to announce that on May 21 at 7:00 p.m. the Quaigh Theatre of
Manhattan will present a staged reading of Vatzlav by Slawomir Mrozek
at the Graduate Center's Third Floor Studio. Reservations to join the members of
the Institute for this reading may be made by calling (212) 790-4249 or by writing
to the Institute, Room 803, Graduate Center, 33 W. 42 Street, New York, NY 10036.
Also scheduled for the follow-up session is a viewing at the 72nd Street
Embassy Theatre of the award-winning Soviet film, "Moscow Doesn't Believe in Tears,"
about the lives of three girls in Moscow over the past twenty years. This film,
which won an "Oskar," is directed by Vladimir Menshov and stars Vera Alentova,
Alexei Batalov and Irina Muravieva.
Dr. Tymon Terlecki will be visiting the United States from England in the Fall,
1981. Professor Terlecki will be available to lecture on Stanislaw Wyspianski, Jan
Kochanowski, and Edward Gordon Craig. Professor Terlecki may be reached at 84
Hazlewell Road, London SW15 6UR, England .
The new Soviet film Several Days from the Life f I.I. Oblomov, after a novel
by Ivan Goncharov, opened its American premiere at the Embassy 72nd Street in New
York on March 6, and is still playing there at this. writing. The film which won
the Cannes Jury Prize, was directed by Nikita Mikhalkov and stars Oleg Tabakov in
the title role.
Andrzej Wajda's Man of Marble closed at the Cinema Studio I in New York on
March 14.
The filming of An Ideal Husband, a play by Oscar Wilde, has just been completed
at the "Mosfilm" studios under the direction of B. Georgiev . The main roles are
played by Liudmila Gurchenko, Iurii Iakovlev, Elena Koreneva and Pavel Kadochnikov.
PROFILE NOTE:
5
Rajmund Klekot is universally hailed as one of the greatest mimes performing
today and is admired by his peers, including luminaries such as Marcel Marceau.
Klekot began his 22-year-old career in Wroclaw, Poland, with the Polish Mime Theatre .
Under the direction of Henryk Tomaszewski, Klekot traveled throughout Europe, Africa,
and the Middle East performing leading roles. In 1974, Klekot along with three other
mimes formed the renown Warsaw Mime Theat re which traveled throughout Europe and
made seven tours to the United States performing in such places as the Cathedral of
St. John the Divine, and La Mama in New York. Klekot was invited to the United
States in 1979 to make an American premiere of "The Wanderer," which has been acclaimed
NEWSNOTES/April 1981
a classic of modern mime .
In 1980, he was invited to perform at the International Festival of Pantomime
and Ballet in Warsaw as well as the American Club of the American Embassy. Klekot
plans to tour the United States extensively.
6
Among his initial performances this year were those at Ohio University, April 2
and 4, as part of the University's "Theater Festival of Mime," which also marked
the debut of that institution's "Actor's Mime Theatre," directed by Ron Wilson.
Inquiries concerning Mr. Klekot's future itinerary should be addressed to
Elizabeth Hill, Ltd., International Artists' Management, 4 Smith Lane, Stony Brook,
NY 11790.
SPECIAL FEATURE :
This article, written by Ama Law, describes the most recent developments on
the stages of Moscow and Leningrad. We are grateful to have received them. A
similar descriptive article on Polish drama and theater was promised to us, and
will appear in the next issue. We shall, of course, be happy to receive discussions
of recent development on the stages of other East-European countries, especially
Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Rumania.
THEATRE NEWS FROM LENINGRAD: At the Gorky Theatre this season, chief director,
Georgii Tovstonogov returned to the Russian classics with a handsome production of
Ostrovsky's Wolves and Sheep done in the mode of the nineteenth-century provincial
theatre complete with "Divertissements" between the acts. And in honor of the
twenty-sixth Party Congress this spring, Tovstonogov staged Vishnevsky's Optimistic
Tragedy with L. Malevannaia of the Lenin Komsomol Theatre as the Kommisar, a role
made famous by Alica Konnen when the play was first staged by Tairov in 1933 at his
Kamerny Theatre. Meanwhile, upstairs in the Gorky's little theatre,, actor-director
Vladimir Retsepter continues his experimentation with chamber works. This time
Retsepter, whose other innovative productions have included Pushkin's Rusalka and
Mozart and Saleri, has chosen Aleksandr Blok's The Rose and the Cross, a work that
has always been regarded as unstageable. Retsepter very effectively presents it
as a "reading" out of which gradually emerges a performance using very simple
props and costumes.
One of the most popular productions this season is The House, based on Fyodor
Abramov's chronicle of the Pryaslin family, which is currently at the Maly Dramatic
Theatre. It is directed by Lev Dodin, whose staging of Abramov's Brothers and
Sisters with the third-year students at the Leningrad Institute of Theatre, Music,
and Cinematography two years ago was one of the highlights of the season. This
extremely moving evocation of contemporary rural life is beautifully designed by
artistEdvard Kochergin, who uses five "wooden horses" of the kind that traditionally
decorate the roofs of rural Russia to create a striking scenic metaphor.
Also of interest this season is Pyotr Fomenko's production at the Comedy Theatre
of Tyorkin-Tyorkin, based on Aleksandr Tvardovsky's famous comic satirical poems
about the adventures of this Soviet version of the Good Soldier Schweik. And the
NEWSNOTES/April 1981
newly-reorganized Youth Theatre under the direction of Vladimir Malyshchitsky,
continues to expand its repertoire, most recently with productions of Peter Weiss's
How Mr. Mockinpott Was Cured of His Suffering, and a contemporary Soviet play,
Medical Leave, by V. Kondratyev, about war and life on the home front as seen
through the eyes of a young soldier who returns home af t er having been wounded in
battle.
AND FROM MOSCOW: The Moscow Art Theatre has officially opened its "Little
Stage," t.rhich in the words of the theatre's Chief Director, Oleg Efremov, "is to
be used as a testing ground for the theatre's younger generation of actors and
directors . " Among the productions currently in the works are Shvarts's The Dragon,
and an adaptation by Alla Sokolova of Turgenev's Fathers and Sons. Also on the
Little Stage, Mark Rozovsky is currently directing what by all accounts should
be an extremely interesting work--his own one-act play, Kafka, Father and Son,
a gripping verbal duel between parent and child based on Kafka's The Judgement,
and on the "Letter to His Father."
At the Taganka, in a departure from their usual format, three one-act plays
recently opened: Love, by Lyudmila Petrushevskaya (a work that's also being
7
given a very sensitive rendering on the Ermolova's Little Stage directed by A.
Kamenskaya, a young director from Minsk); Women and Children by Aleksandr Volodin;
and Semyon Zlotnikov's Two Poodles, a delightful encounter between two dog owners
who in the guise of talking about their pets acturally reveal a great deal about
themselves. In all this has been a good season for young playwrights, many of whom
are seeing their plays staged for the first time in professional theatres. In
addition to performances of works by Petrushevakaya (who has now been invited to
write a play for the Lenin Komsomol Theatre) and Zlotnikov, another promising play-
wright, Olga Kuchkina-Pavlova has made her debut with a production at Oleg Tabakov's
Studio on Chipligin Street of her Passions According to Varvara, a "comic-Melodrama"
about a desperately lonely fifteen-year-old girl who suddenly announces that she is
pregnant.
REVIEW NOTE - Strider :
The late Nina Vance, founder and head of the Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas
appears to have had fine sense of appreciation for Soviet plays. In May 1977 she
was very much impressed by Mikhail Roshchin's play Echelon at the Sovremennik Theater,
and invited the director, Galina Volchok to Texas. For six weeks Volchok worked
with the Alley's company in preparing a duplicate of the production, in English
translation, for American audiences. This 1978 production received great critical
acclaim.
The Alley has done it again. In December 1980-January 1981, it staged Strider,
a "play with music," adopted from a story (Kholstomer) by Leo Tolstoy, Since Houston,
at that time, was the site of the national conferences of both the MLA and AATSEEL,
the production was well attended. The adaptation was by Mark Rozovsky who, together
with S. Vetkin, also composed some of the music. Additional music for the American
production was composed by Norman Berman. The Alley production was directed by Beth
Sanford.
There was a total cast of 16 (12 male and 4 female) some of whom played several
roles. In addition there were three musicians. Virtually no props were required.
Costumes were also at a minimum - primarily halters and tails, and just a few 19th
century uniforms. In other words, the financial demands of the production were
eminently reasonable. The Alley is a rather small, intimate arena theater, so
staging also ca .LSed no problems.
8
NEWSNOTES/April 1981
The play itself faithfully incorporates all the material in the original story
which, in turn, expressed the essence of Tolstoyan philosophy: the Rousseauan concept
of nature; the nobility of a natural life; the detrimental effects of property owner-
ship; the wasting of lives in unnatural, immoral pursuits. These are serious phil-
osophical problems which would not seem to fit into the mold of the traditional
"musical," but yet they do. The play mixes humor, tears, profundity and lighthearted-
ness in marvellous measures.
The Alley performance was simply superb. This deeply touching tale of human
weaknesses as seen through the eyes of a horse was performed with tenderness, compassion
and sensitivity. The same must be said for the performance of the musicians who added
just the right touch of tears and laughter. A special ovation must go to Robert
Donley who acted the title role which calls for an older man - a multi-faceted character
actor. As a matter of fact, the entire cast was outstanding.
This play would lend itself extremely well to university stages or smaller theaters.
In fact, the stage work was developed through a series of improvisations by the acting
students of the Sovremennik Theatre in Moscow who used it to study musical arrangements,
choreography and mime. The play was first brought to the Chelsea Theatre in New York
in the spring of 1979 by Robert Kalfin, where it played to capacity audiences for six
months, and was then moved to the Helen Hayes Theatre on Broadway where it closed soon
thereafter.
L.H.
REVIEW NOTES - The Suicide:
Nikolai Erdman (1902-70) was a product of NEP, the period of the New Economic
Policy (1921-28) when nearly everthing was attempted in the arts, and the new Soviet
censors were more than lenient. This a time when it was perfectly acceptable to
poke fun at the new Soviet institutions and to satirize them in grotesque forces.
His Mandate which was staged in 1925, was highly successful. This next play was The
which was written in 1928 and was to be staged by Meyerhold in 1929. It got
as far as a dress rehearsal before the Central Committee of the Party halted the
production. During the purges of the 1930's Erdman was arrested and sent to a Siberian
labor camp where he spent twenty years . He was released in 1956 and devoted the last
14 years of his life to writing screenplays, an activity in which he was quite success-
ful and received several prizes.
The Suicide is an absurd, grotesque farce in the tradition of Gogol and the later
Sukhovo-Kobylin. There is not one favorable character in the entire play. The char-
acters depict adverse personality traits rather than real people. Semion Podsekalnikov,
a born failure, blames the system for his abject defeat in life. He finally decides
to commit suicide. Somehow his intent becomes known, and an entire array of grotesque
citizens approach him with suggestions . They are representatives of the church, the
reactionaries, new capitalists, intransigent communists, prostitutes and other hangers-
on. Only their negative traits are brought out . Semion promises each of these
terested parties that he will make it known, through a suicide note, that his act was
in support of their interests. In the end, Semion turns out to be too cowardly to
commit suicide, to the great chagrin of the other characters.
The Arena Stage (Washington, DC) production was in accordance with an adaptation
by Richard Nelson of a translation by Xenia Youhn. It was performed January 16 -
NEWSNOTES/April 1981
February 22, 1981, and directed by Gene Lesser. The first production of this
adaptation was presented at the Goodman Theatre, Chicago, under the direction of
Gregory Mosher. The Arena used a cast of 23, considerable props, a multitude of
costumes, and a great deal of music. It was a rather colorful (and expensive)
production.
The title role was played by Richard Bauer, who had previously played the
part of the intellectual in the Arena's superb production of Mrozek's Emigres.
Others in the cast included Stanley Anderson who had played XX in Emigres, and
Zilov in Vampilov's u e ~ Hunting. As always, the quality of the acting at the
arena was outstanding . The members of this ensemble theater are finely attuned to
each other. The staging, costuming, lighting, etc. were equally good. The produc-
tion was extremely well received by the audience. It was a highly enjoyable and
amusing evening, if not a memorable one. Despite the technical excellence, there
appears to have been some misreading of the playwright's intent. Instead of the
hypocritical pronouncements by Semion which must be delivered in such a manner as
to stamp them hypocritical, the play occasionally slipped into serious moods where
Semien's harrangues were given political import as anti-Soviet pronouncements of
substance . Certain scenes of debauchery and drinking were overly long and lost
their effectiveness- especially the last two scenes dragged a bit. The major
weaknesses, however, should not be attributed to the superb Arena company, but to
the quality of the play itself. It is, after all, definitely not one of the great
Russian dramatic masterpieces of the twentieth century, but simply a good piece of
farcical -entertainment.
L.H.
REVIEW NOTES - Victory Over The Sun:
9
In the first issue of Newsnotes we simply mentioned that the production of this
"Opera" was to take place in Washington, D.C. in conjunction with the Smithsonian
exhibit on "Russian Avant-Garde Art." After the appearance of the Newsnotes, your
editor had the opportunity to attend a performance. It was staged at the Baird
Auditorium of the Smithsonian on January 23, 24 and 25 (a total of seven performances),
in front of a highly receptive audience. Nearly every seat in the rather large
theater was taken.
This cube-futurist opera was created by four of the leaders of the avant-garde
of the second decade of the twentieth century: the artist Malevich; the poets
Kruchenykh and Khlebnikov; and the composer Matiushin. It was first staged in
St. Petersburg in 1913, but only performed twice. In conformance wi th the Futurist
creed, it attempted to transcend the concrete, realistic world of today and turn
to concepts which were diametrically apposed to either realism or mysticism which
governed the stage of the times. Language was to be used to communicate directly
the internal state of the speaker and therefore could not be bound by words . The
same was true for music and art. The sun, the Apollonian symbol of rationality
and clarity, was the personification of everything the Futurists wished to destroy -
hence the name of the opera.
The entire performance lasted only an hour. It was a complete delight - a
blending of verbal and musical sound, form and color, and a total feast for the eyes
and ears. Of course a number of experts on the period have attempted to establish
the theory that there is a deep meaning and even traditional form to the piece. They
may be right, but it would seem more productive to consider the opera _to _be superb
"fun" from which all concepts of reason are rebelliously purged.
NEWSNOTES/April 1981
The cast of 29 did marvellously well. The costume designs which were adapted
by Martha Ferrara from the Malevich drawings, were superbly effective. There are
too many well-deserved credits to list, but special praise must be bestowed upon
the director, Robert Benedetti. A special compliment must also be paid to the
beautifully prepared and enlightening program. A number of drawings and several
short articles did much to answer many questions a lesser informed viewer may have
had. One of the articles was written by Alma Law, who also acted as a consultant
for the entire production.
L. H.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES:
10
Several persons have asked me for the exact cites of the following three works
on Soviet drama and theatre. Here they are:
Segel, Harold B. Twentieth-Century Russian Drama: From Grorky !the Present.
New York: Columbia University Press, 1979.
Marshall, Herbert. The Pictorial History of the Russian Thea tre. New York:
Crown Publishers, Inc., 1977.
Velekhova, Nina . Moscow Theatres: A Pictorial Guide. Moscow: Planeta Publishers,
1979.
A soft-cover version of the book which concerned itself with the exhibit by the
same name at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. several months ago, is
now available. It is a superb piece of work and a must for all who are interested
in the art of this period. It also contains a superb, lengthy a rticle by Alma H.
Law, entitled "The Revolution in the Russian Theater." This beautifully illustrated
book is distributed by the MIT Press, Cambridge, MA 02142. The cite is as follows:
D'Andrea, Jeanne and West, Stephen, eds. The Avant-Garde in Russia 1910-1930.
New Perspectives. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1980.
We would like t o call to your attention the National Film and Video Center, 1425
Liberty Road, Eldersburg, MD 21784. Although their prices appear to be somewhat
elevated, they do offer materials of interest. They have several of the Eisenstein
originals to include Ivan the Terrible; several contemporary Soviet films, such as
Ballad of a Soldier; and more reasonable Beta tapes of American Film Theatre prod-
as The Three Sisters.
For those interested in the Brecht-connection with Soviet theatre, may we suggest
the following articles, both by Katherine Eaton, who may be contacted at 1103 Congress
Ave., Denton, TX 76201:
"Brecht's Contacts With the Theater of Meyerhold." Comparative Drama, No. 1,
Vol. II, Spring, 1977.
"Bemerkungen zu Brecht und Tretjakow." Brecht-Jahrbuch, 1979 .
11
NEWSNOTES/April 1981
Novy Americanetz (sic) is a new weekly newspaper in the Russian language which
is directed to the many thousands of new Soviet immigrants into the United States.
Its publication and business office is located at 500 8th Avenue, Suite 1204, New
York, NY 10018. It is being mentioned here, since it frequently reviews Soviet films
and occasionally has interesting items concerning other performing arts.
A new Russian language bookstore has opened in New York City. Catalogs and
information may be requested from Lukomorye Book Store, P.O. Box 161, Bay Station,
Brooklyn, NY 11235.
There's a new drama book store in New York, the owner a graduate of the Theatre
Dept. at the Graduate Center. He's very interested in being of whatever help he can
to the Institute and the participants in terms of ordering drama books and all. The
name and location of this store is: Applause Theatre Books, 100 West 67th
Street, New York, NY 10023. The owner, Glenn Young will be happy to order books on
Russian drama and theatre (in English).
We are pleased to announce that the Institute's Annotated Bibliography of
Soviet Plays will be available at the end of May . This Bibliography is a
publication of the Center for Advanced Study in Theatre Arts of the Graduate Center
of the City University of New York with partial funding from the National Endowment
for the Humanities. The Bibliography includes all plays written since 1956 in the
Soviet Union (plus the dramatic works of Mikhail Bulgakov, Evgeny Shvarts, and
Nikolai Erdman) which are available in translation. In addition to providing a
summary of the plot for each of the more than one hundred plays, and information as
t o number of characters, etc., the Bibliography lists all translations available
both published and unpublished, and where they may be obtained. It also contains
a selected bibliography of books and articles published since 1956 on Soviet drama
and theatre. The Bibliography can be obtained by mail for $3.50 ($4.50 outside the
U.S.) to cover costs of printing, handling, and mailing. Send check or money order
to "Annotated Bibliography," CASTA Institute, Rm. 803, Graduate Center, 33 W. 42nd
Street, New York, NY 10036.
Jerzy Grotowski's Polish Laboratory Theatre film AKROPOLIS is being distributed
by Arthur Cantor, Inc., 234 West 44th St,, NY NY 10036, For rental or sale infor-
mation, please call Laurie Kirschenfeld at (212)391-0450 or write to the above
address.