"The Lower Depths" by Maxim Gorky is a powerful classical Russian play about a group of hilarious, downtrodden lodgers in a boarding house. Their lives consist of staving away hunger and poverty mixed with idle entertainment until a pilgrim, Luka, arrives on the scene. Luka brings with him tales of the world abroad as well as a seemingly bottomless supply of hope and dreams. He inspires the residents of the boarding house to reach and try to pick themselves up from the dregs of society, while teaching love and respect and responsibility. However, charged with the fire Luka kindles in them, the muck at The Lower Depths begins to stir, and the result is not as positive as Luka had hoped.
Written on the cusp of the Communist Revolution in Russia, this play brings us intimately close with a society that found life so unbearable that they decided to take up arms to attempt a Utopia. However, what you may find is that these people struggled with a reality not unlike the one we face here in America in 2014, and the conclusions they come to at the end of the play bear a language uncomfortably familiar to our ears.
Cast Includes: Jonathan Hendrickson, Jay Reum, Jim Anderson, Lauren Wainwright, Shira Segal, Ryan Feyk, Kelley Evans, Alexandra Gellnder, Jessica Smith, Jakob Minevich, Arthur Dudin, Ross Pivec, Dougass Rossi, Linda Elizabeth, Harry Jean-Conte, and Tim Liu
Performance Details: From February 12th - 23rd, there will be performances every night Wednesday - Saturday at 8:00 PM. On Sundays there will be a 2:00 PM Matinee and a 7:00 PM evening performance. The performances will be located at The Grand Theater at The Producer's Club (358 W 44th St, New York, NY 10036).
About The Director: Yuriy Pavlish is a maverick artist engaged in a variety of theatrical and musical disciplines. Since graduating from Boston College in 2012, he has worked with several talented artistic groups in New York City, including La Petite Morgue (http://lapetitemorgue.blogspot.com/), New Light Theater Project (www.newlighttheaterproject.com), Favela Entertainment Group, and most recently, Roll the Bones Theater Company. With most of these groups he has worked in multiple capacities, including the roles of actor, director, playwright, producer, web developer, graphic designer, and financial director. When not engaging in theater, Yuriy is a musician and recording artist under the moniker of Snow Tone (https://www.facebook.com/SnowTone). Some of the most recent shows he loved working on include I Can Build You (Director), FavelaFest (Musician/Producer), Panic Room Presents: Four (Producer, Playwright, Director), In Sight (Director), and, of course, The Lower Depths!
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