A 20-year-old woman named Annie who returns to her native Russia to brush up on the language and lose her American accent discovers fairytale elements in her own life — including evil stepmothers, wicked witches, and ravenous bears — in the Yale Repertory Theatre‘s next production, “The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls,” running Jan. 31-Feb. 22.
Annie must learn how to become the heroine of her own story, one more mysterious and treacherous than any fairytale from her childhood.
A finalist for the 2012 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, “The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls” marks the Yale Rep debuts of Whiting Writers’ Award-winning playwright Meg Miroshnik and two-time OBIE Award-winning director Rachel Chavkin, who recently staged the musical “Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812” in New York.
Miroshnik, a graduate of Yale School of Drama, also wrote “The Droll (A Stage-Play about the END of Theatre,” “The Tall Girls,” and an adaptation of the libretto for Shostakovich’s “Moscow, Cheryomushki.” Her work has been developed or produced by La Jolla Playhouse, O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Lincoln Center Directors Lab, South Coast Repertory, the Kennedy Center, Lark New Play Development Center, Chicago Opera Theater, and the Moscow Playwright and Director Center, among others, and has been published in “Best American Short Plays, 2008-2009.” She holds commissions from South Coast Rep, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and the Yale Rep.
Chavkin is the founding artistic director of the Brooklyn-based ensemble The TEAM. Her credits include the world premiere of Dave Malloy’s electro-pop opera “Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812”; The TEAM’s “RoosevElvis,” named one of 2013’s Top Ten by Time Out New York; Lauren Yee’s “The Hatmaker’s Wife”; The TEAM’s “Mission Drift”; “Three Pianos”; and the world premiere of Taylor Mac’s “The Lily’s Revenge.” Chavkin is a New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect and an artistic associate at Classic Stage Company and at London’s Gate Theatre.
The cast includes Sofiya Akilova, Celeste Arias, Stéphanie Hayes, Jessica Jeliffe, Felicity Jones, and Emily Walton.
The production team includes Christopher Ash (scenic design), KJ Kim (costume design), Bradley King (lighting), Chad Raines (sound design, music direction, and original music); Jane Guyer Fujita (vocal and dialect coaching), Amy Boratko (dramaturgy); and Hannah Sullivan (stage management).
Performances are at 8 p.m. each night Tuesday-Saturday, and at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 8 (followed by “Talk Back” with members of the company); Wednesday, Feb. 12 (preceded by a reception for seniors at 1 p.m.); Saturday, Feb. 15 (an open-captioned performance, followed by a “Talk Balk”); and Saturday, Feb. 22 (an audio-described performance). There is one Monday performance on Feb. 3. Tickets are $20 Feb. 3-Feb. 5. Opening night is on Friday, Feb. 7. Tickets range from $20-$98 and are available online, by phone at 203-432-1234; and in person at the Yale Rep box office, 1120 Chapel St., at York Street. Student, senior, and group rates are also available.
