lenin's embalmers by vern thiessen
Cast Lenin......................................................................................................................................... Vern Thiessen* Boris....................................................................................................................................Marguerite Lawler Vlad.............................................................................................................................................. Chris Pereira Nadia.............................................................................................................................................Sarah Emslie Stalin............................................................................................................................................ Doug Mertz* Krasin............................................................................................................................................Griffin Cork Apparat 1.....................................................................................................................................Diego Stredel Apparat 2........................................................................................................................................Helen Belay Creative Team Director ...................................................................................................................... Alexander Donovan** Set Designer.....................................................................................................................................C.M. Zuby Lighting Designer.......................................................................................................................... Sofia Lukie Costume Designer................................................................................................................Robert Shannon Sound Designer...................................................................................................................... Logan Chorney Lighting Design Assistant................................................................................................Brianna Kolybaba Dramaturg....................................................................................................................................Jason Chinn Vocal Coach............................................................................................................................Michael Kaplan Fight Coach............................................................................................................................Janine Waddell* Fight Captains.......................................................................................................................Diego Arciniega Chris Pereira Stage Management Stage Manager............................................................................................................................ Jennie Emms Assistant Stage Managers........................................................................................................ Sam Kennedy Roxanne Côté Faculty Advisors Stage Management Advisor.............................................................................................Oliver Armstrong Design Advisor.......................................................................................................................Lee Livingstone Directing Advisor.................................................................................................................. David Kennedy *The participation of this Artist is arranged by permission of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association under the provision of the Dance-Opera-Theatre Policy. **In partial fulfilment of their MFA Directing Thesis Project.
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Production Team Production Manager .....................................................................................................Gerry van Hezewyk Technical Director ....................................................................................................................... Larry Clark Assistant Technical Director......................................................................................... Kaylie Rennebohm Production Administrative Assistant .......................................................................... Jonathan Durynek Wardrobe Manager..............................................................................................................Joanna Johnston Cutter ............................................................................................................................................... Julie Davie Hair Styling ...................................................................................................Lloyd Bell, Michael Devanney Master Carpenter.................................................................................................................. Darrell Cooksey Scenic Carpenters..............................................................................................................Barbara Hagensen Paint Crew ...................................................... Tiffany Martineau, Beyata Hackborn, Brianna Kolybaba Bailey Ferchoff, Tristan Fair, Logan Chorney, Madeline Blondal Anita Diaz, Rachel Bos, Drew Lekic, Jacob Fulton Properties Master............................................................................................................................Jane Kline Properties Builders............................................................................Jacinda Maxwell, Barbara Hagensen Lighting Supervisor .....................................................................................................................Jeff Osterlin Head of Lighting ...............................................................................Tiffany Martineau, Matthew Koyata Lighting Technicians....................... Jacinda Maxwell, Matthew Koyata, Tristan Fair, Logan Chorney Brianna Kolybaba, Beyata Hackborn, Bailey Ferchoff Sound Supervisor................................................................................................................. Matthew Skopyk Sound Assistant...............................................................................................................................Rachel Bos Running Crew Lighting Operator........................................................................................................................... Galen Hite Sound Operator...............................................................................................................................Rachel Bos Stage Crew................................................................................................. Kaylie Rennebohm, Skye Grinde Acknowledgements: Thank you to the Citadel Theatre, Nikolai Guzov (Directing & Russian Culture Advisor), Bill Dolman and Connor Falvey (Jewish Culture Advisors) and Dana Tanner-Kennedy. Join us in the lobby post-show for an up-close experience you won’t want to miss.
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Contents 5 Studio Theatre Mandate • 6 A Welcome Message From Melanie Dreyer-Lude 8 Director's Notes • 9 Dramaturgical Notes 14 About The Playwright • 15 Tribute to Kenneth Agrell-Smith 16 Admin, Production, Front of House & Volunteers • 18 Donors
U of A Studio Theatre Mandate educational opportunities for BFA acting, design, technical theatre and stage management students, as well as MA, MFA and PhD students
• To provide research / creative activity
opportunities for the Department of Drama’s faculty directors and designers
2018 — 2019
season
NORTHERN LIGHT THEATRE PRESENTS
• To provide opportunities for connections
with departments across campus through the choice of plays which have cultural, literary and historical significance
• To provide opportunities for the
community at large to engage with the Department of Drama through guest artist collaboration and attendance as audience members
OCT 12 - 27, 2018
• To provide sterling training and
what you can and FREE for PREVIEW OCT 11 Paystudents with valid student I.D.
The Studio Theatre at ATB Financial Arts Barns | 10330 - 84 Avenue | 7:30pm Nightly, 2:00pm Sunday Matinées
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A WELCOME MESSAGE FROM
MELANIE DREYER-LUDE I cannot express how excited I am to have joined the Department of Drama as Chair, and to now be a member of the University of Alberta family. This department hosts an exciting array of world class training programs in scholarship and practice at the graduate and undergraduate levels. What a privilege to join a team of scholars and artists who are at the top of their fields doing important work in our communities locally, nationally, and internationally. This year I will have a chance to meet the students and witness their transformations from aspiring artists and scholars to emerging career professionals. I can hardly wait. Studio Theatre has been designed as a laboratory to provide multiple opportunities: for our students to put their skills into practice; for the creative expression of our faculty; for us to demonstrate the ways in which theatre can connect departments and disciplines through story-telling; and for us to connect with our communities by sharing what we do with the guests who join us in creation, and the audiences with whom we share our work.
with his interpretation of the classic tragedy, All for Love. Will Eno’s sad, funny, and delightful Middletown opens a window into the need for love in the daily business of living. The medieval adventure story, Silence, finishes our season by exploring a moment in history that asks us to reconsider The 2018-2019 season provides an contemporary perspectives on gender, impressive range of styles, genres, and religion and politics. artists. Lenin’s Embalmers begins our We hope you will join us this season, journey with a political comedy by an and help bear witness to the possibilities award-winning local playwright. Eric of transformation that happen when we Overmeyer’s contemporary classic, make theatre together. On the Verge, allows us to join three wonderful women as they travel Melanie Dreyer-Lude through time and space. Our guest Chair, Department of Drama director, Peter Hinton, will astonish 6
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DIRECTOR’S NOTES things for granted and forget that many people still live under conditions where even humour is forbidden. Such was the case not so long ago in Russia, though fortunately that has changed (sort of). The Soviet Union eradicated the social, political, and professional rules of life. With the rulebook thrown out, it was up to the individual to figure out how to navigate one’s life in this new landscape - a landscape where death was around every corner in the form of secret police and conniving colleagues. With death peeking through the curtains every day, one had to wonder: what will I leave behind when I die? What from my life is worth preserving? Tonight “Do not obey in advance. Be calm when you’ll see a smorgasbord of characters the unthinkable arrives. Stand out. Believe dealing with these very questions. in Truth. Establish a private life. Be as This play could not have come to life without courageous as you can.” a multitude of dedicated artists, advisors, Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny designers and technicians. Leaf through Russians have a saying: “What makes the program and you will see their names, I us laugh, makes you cry.” Amen to implore you to read them all. I am forever in that, Comrade. These past few years their debt. I can’t thank this talented cohort North Americans have understood that of student actors (and seasoned vet of the statement far too well. One only needs to stage, Doug Mertz) enough for sharing this look south at our American neighbours story with me. I am particularly indebted and their Oompa-Loompa leader (no to Vern Thiessen for trusting me with offense, Oompa-Loompas). At least this gem. Thank you to my advisor, David we have the comfort of knowing that’ll Kennedy, for reading so many brutal drafts of my thesis. And a big thank you to my never happen to us (probably). family, friends, and partner, Susie Youn, for All jokes aside, things aren’t as bad as listening to me drone on about this piece they seem. For one, we can still make for so many months. jokes. We can still vote, have a semblance of private lives (no matter how hard Oh, and please laugh, Putin’s probably the Internet tries), and we don’t have a watching. cult of worship surrounding a violent Alexander Donovan dictator (yet). Sometimes we take these 8
DRAMATURGICAL NOTES By Jason Chinn
In Lenin’s Embalmers, two Jewish chemists, Boris Zbarsky and Vladimir Vorobiov, are tasked with preserving Vladimir Lenin’s body after his death in 1924. Their efforts were successful and considered a scientific miracle. Almost one hundred years later, the body is still on display most afternoons in Moscow’s Red Square (Lenin’s Mausoleum has a pretty good rating on tripadvisor.ca, FYI, just make sure you get there early to beat the queue). For Lenin, the idea of being on display would have been abhorrent. After his death, Nadezhda Krupskaya, Lenin’s widow, stated that he wished to be buried alongside his mother in St. Petersburg in a simple grave plot, wanting no monuments erected in his name. Yet over the last ninety-four years, Russian
scientists have continued to meticulously maintain the condition of Lenin’s body with a rigorous preservation process, even replacing and resculpting body parts when necessary. You might wonder, why then was Lenin embalmed? Before we answer that question we’ll look at some of the historical events that precede Lenin’s Embalmers; a tumultuous shift from the Tsarist autocracy in Russia to Stalin’s tyrannical regime.
World War I and the February Revolution The downfall of Tsar Nicholas II and the Russian autocracy paved the way for a new world order led by Lenin, and subsequently Stalin. This was made possible in part by Russia’s disastrous
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DRAMATURGICAL NOTES continued to face defeat throughout the summer of 1917 (Thompson and Ward, 207). Here we come to the first of two major events that improved the conditions for Lenin and the Bolsheviks to take power, the first being July Days. By July of 1917, a group of soldiers and sailors in Petrograd protested the Provisional Government, along with support from the Bolsheviks. Soldiers loyal to the Provisional Government opened fire on the protesters and a number of Bolshevik leaders were arrested. Lenin avoided arrest by fleeing to Finland. From afar he continued to foster distrust of the Provisional Government among his supporters. July Days shed light on the Provisional Government’s tenuous hold on the capital during times of instability. The second event was General Lavr Kornilov’s failed attempt at seizing Petrograd and establishing a military dictatorship. The Bolshevik militia, known as the Red Guard was able to defend the city with the help of striking railway workers, making it impossible for Kornilov to move his troops. The Bolsheviks capitalized on this threat of counter-revolution in their bid for power and emerged as saviours of the revolution, gaining a majority in the Soviet Petrograd. On October 10, 2017, Lenin decided to return to Petrograd in secret October Revolution By April of 1917, Lenin returned to and begin the preparations to seize power. Petrograd, Russia, after years of exile Beginning October 25, the Bolsheviks did in Europe to lead the Bolsheviks. In his just that. The Red Guard and loyal soldiers April Theses, Lenin called on the people seized key points around Petrograd and to reject the Provisional Government, subsequently stormed the Winter Palace transfer all power to the Soviet Petrograd, arresting the ministers of the Provisional and denounce the war. The Provisional Government. Government “nevertheless pushed forward with its plans to mount a major Lenin’s Rule military offensive designed to relieve Immediately after gaining power, Lenin’s pressure on the Allies on the Western newly formed Russian Communist Party Front” and Russian soldiers continued was faced with a devastating civil war against involvement in World War I. John M. Thompson and Christopher J. Ward write that the war contributed to the end of the Tsarist autocracy in four pivotal ways: by displacing millions of imperial subjects which resulted in the weakening of the old fabric of society; intensifying the resentment of Russian soldiers who felt expendable; causing the partial collapse of the economy; and discrediting Nicholas II as weak and incompetent (Thompson and Ward, 196). The people’s discontent with the oppression of imperial rule and the hardships of wartime came to a head in February, 1917. On February 23, thousands of women took to the streets of Petrograd on International Women’s Day to protest bread shortages. Women were soon joined by students and workers. Soldiers who were ordered to put an end to the unrest mutinied and joined the cause as well. By March 2, control of the capital was lost and Nicholas II was forced to abdicate. A Provisional Government was formed by the Duma until a constituent assembly could be elected. At the same time a group of revolutionary activists comprised of workers, moderate socialists, and soldiers assembled to form the Soviet Petrograd.
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DRAMATURGICAL NOTES continued the White Army, a group of armies united in their opposition against the Bolsheviks. Lenin’s response to the increasing economic instability and the threat of the White Army was to implement War Communism in 1918, a series of economic policies meant to nationalize industry. One such policy (Prodrazvyorstka) was essentially the confiscation of grain from peasant farmers to feed the urban centres and the Red Army, leading to peasant uprisings. War Communism was not a success. In March, 1921, Lenin introduced the New Economic Policy (NEP) in an attempt to put the country’s economy back on track. The NEP allowed peasants to pay the government a
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fixed tax and sell goods in an open market, denationalized industry, and mostly freed the labour market to operate privately and for profit (Thompson and Ward, 218). Many Bolsheviks criticized Lenin’s shift to capitalistic policies but he argued that changes were necessary to stabilize the economy before socialism could progress. And he was right. Unlike the policies of War Communism, the NEP worked to repair the economy. Lenin also established ties with the Western nations (with the exception of the United States) asserting that capitalist and socialist nations could co-exist. In May, 1922, Lenin suffered his first stroke after undergoing surgery to
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DRAMATURGICAL NOTES continued remove bullets from his body from a failed assassination attempt. In March of 1923, he suffered a third stroke which left him partially paralyzed and unable to speak. His condition continued to worsen and he died on January 21, 1924. In the wake of Lenin’s death, Joseph Stalin outmaneuvered his political opponents and took control of the Soviet Union. Stalin ruled by terror until his death in 1953, with millions of Soviet civilians dying under his reign.
The Embalming
In her book, Lenin Lives! The Lenin Cult in Soviet Russia, Nina Tumarkin writes, “Lenin’s death appeared to precipitate the gravest political crisis the Bolshevik regime had had to face since the close of the civil war… Lenin had been its main source of legitimacy” (Tumarkin 135). For Lenin’s heirs, his death was an issue of political
stability; to rule Soviet Russia in Lenin’s name would keep the people loyal to their cause. This loyalty to Lenin was clearly demonstrated at Lenin’s lying-in-state, when over half a million people waited in the freezing cold to pay their respects over four days in January. Naturally, those vying for power of the Soviet Union took notice of the people’s powerful response. If Lenin could be preserved, perhaps so could the people’s love and legitimacy of the Bolshevik regime. Thompson, John M. and Christopher J. Ward. Russia: A Historical Introduction from Kievan Rus’ to the Present. New York: Westview Press, 2017. Print. Tumarkin, Nina. Lenin Lives! The Lenin Cult in Soviet Russia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1983. Print.
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT Winnipeg born Vern Thiessen is one of Canada’s most produced playwrights. Thiessen got his start in theatre as an actor after graduating with a BA from the University of Winnipeg. His first foray into playwriting, The Courier, premiered in 1988 at the Theatre Centre in Toronto. In 1992, he graduated from the University of Alberta Drama Department with an MFA in Playwriting. Thirty years later Thiessen has developed an impressive catalogue of work, including such 14
award-winning plays as Vimy (Carol Bolt Award for Best Play) and Einstein’s Gift (Governor General’s Award for English Language Drama). Thiessen’s work has been produced across Canada, the United States, and Europe. He is currently the artistic director of Workshop West Playwrights’ Theatre, one of the country’s most influential and prolific theatre companies dedicated to the development and production of new Canadian plays.
TRIBUTE TO KENNETH AGRELL-SMITH With deep-felt respect, we recognize the passing of Ken AgrellSmith, theatre artist, educator and mentor. His death leaves a great part of the stage empty. He is an alumnus of this Department -his rollicking MFA thesis production of Canterbury Tales (1973) played to standing room only Studio audiences. Agrell enormously influenced high school theatre programming in Alberta. He set extraordinarily high standards and under his tutelage students rose to the occasion. We greatly valued the exceptionally able and disciplined students that came from his program into ours. Many of those are
leading educators and artists today. Speaking from across Canada, their remembrances bear thunderous testimony. Here is one: “He taught me that my thoughts were worth something. He taught me the power of art to transform and disrupt. He taught me that the unexamined life is not worth living.” Agrell fiercely loved learning, his students, teaching, art, friends, colleagues. His passion for rigorous study, exploration, learning, discovery -- and living -- was infectious. We will miss connecting, in the weirdest or most lavish of performance places, to celebrate or lock horns over what we saw and heard from the stage. His presence and tangible contributions will endure as a gift to all who knew and were affected by him. David Barnet, Alex Hawkins, Tom Peacocke & Jan Selman, on behalf of the Department of Drama.
The Triangle Factory Fire Project by Christopher Piehler in collaboration with Scott Alan Evans Directed by Barbara Mah
Oct 10-20, 2018
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Administrative Staff
Production Staff
Melanie Dreyer-Lude Chair, Department of Drama Julie Brown Assistant Chair, Administration David Prestley Theatre Administrator / Events Coordinator Liz Ludwig Graduate Advisor / Executive Assistant Connie Golden Undergraduate Advisor Helen Baggaley Office Coordinator Jonathan Durynek Box Office Coordinator
Gerry Van Hezewyk Production Manager Larry Clark Technical Director, Timms Centre Matthew Skopyk Sound Supervisor Jeff Osterlin Lighting Supervisor Don MacKenzie Technical Director, Studios Darrell Cooksey Master Carpenter Jane Kline Properties Master Joanna Johnston Wardrobe Manager Karen Kucher FAB Costumer Julie Davie Cutter Jonathan Durynek Production Administrative Assistant
With assistance from Faculty of Arts staff: Pamela Osborne Marketing and Communications Advisor Erik Einsiedel Communications Associate
Front of House Jake Blakely, Danielle Dugan, Akari Fujimoto-Hoekman, Terri Gingras, Konstantine Kurelias, Laura Norton, Emily Pole, Candice Stollery, Jake Tkaczyk, Sandy Xu
Volunteers Katie Austin, Debbie Beaver, Susan Box, Hridya Chaudhary, Joan Damkjar, Victoria deJong, Jonathan Durynek, Pooja Happy, Michael Jenkins, Randa Kachkar, Don Lavigne, Kevin Liang, Sareeta Lopez, Jair Lugo, Marlene Maylj, Angus McDonald, Tom and Gillian McGovern, Sylvia McKain, Jennifer Morely, Arisa Nakagawa, Hao Ni, Christina Nguyen, David Prestley, Amir Shah, Gerri Slaney, Ira Tuzlukova, Levon Vokins, Jaime Whiting, Diane Wong
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Donors Heartfelt thanks to the individuals, foundations and organizations listed below for recognizing the importance of the arts by directly investing in the Department of Drama’s innovation and leadership in theatre training and performance. A round of applause to our supporters!
Baha & Sharon Abu-Laban Vera Apletree Robert & Linda Ascah Doug & Annalisa Baer Barbara Baer Pillay William & Carole Barton William & Kathleen Betteridge Lindsay D. Bell Richard Bowes Janita Broersma-Zylstra Adolf & Kathleen Buse Brent Christopherson Douglas Cole Jill Concannon Lesley Cormack Jim & Sheila Edwards Family Fund at the Edmonton Community Foundation Ellen Daniel Brian J. Deedrick Robert Desmarais Leonard & Jackie Evenson Jennifer Ezekowitz Lyle Trytten & Elizabeth Fair Ian Dymock & Dorothy Fabijan Stuart C. Fink Richard Leaker & Sandra Foy Mike & Anna Giles Kelly Handerek Royle Harris Christopher R. Head Steven Hilton
John & Brenda Inglis Pavel & Sylva Jelen David W. Johnston Joan Johnston Jane King Robert Longworth & Linda Crawford Amin Malak Lawrence & Nicole Mallet John & Peggy Marko Gordon & Norma McIntosh Rod & Heleen McLeod Larry Prochner & Barbara McPherson Mark & Roma Minenko Roderick & June Morgan Peter & Elaine Mueller Steven Nicely Ruth Nishioka Audrey O'Brien Jack & Esther Ondrack Tom & Judy Peacocke Joseph Piccolo & Julie Brown Ronald W. Pollock Charles Roberts Bente Roed Terrance Rowswell O'Connor Award Fund at the Edmonton Community Foundation Alan & Ramona Sather J Marilyn Scott Alison Scott-Prelorentzos
Linda N. Seale Jan Selman Albin J.E. Shanley Solberg & Shirley Sigurdson Dale & Daryl Springer Brian Taylor & Dorothy Haug Thomas Usher Margaret Van Dyke Henriette Van Hees Sonia Varela Alan & Lorraine Welch James Wetterberg Lorris & Mary Williams Susan S. Wong Jerry & Debbie Yee Rozelle Young Diane E. Zinyk Various Anonymous Donors
This list includes those who donated to various Drama funds from August 1, 2017 to August 31, 2018. Apologies for inadvertent omissions or errors. Contact 780-492-2271 for corrections.
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By Fabien Cloutier
OCTOBER 10—13 & 17—20, 2018
Theatre of La Cité francophone (8627 91 street) Directed by Nancy McAlear Production design by T. Erin Gruber Tickets and showtimes at www.lunitheatre.ca
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