Check out our interview with Robert Gonyo on his fabulous independent theatre podcast, Go See a Show!

“…I really fell in love with Dostoyevsky’s humanist lens, and how perceptive he is about people, and able to really appreciate them for who they are, even when they behave in dubious ways. He has such a beautiful understanding of humanity…it was just such a really exciting world to dive in to…” – Lavinia Roberts, playwright of Poor People

The Playwright, Director, and Cast of “Poor People”, Go See a Show Podcast, August 26, 2015

2 More Chances to See Poor People, part of the New York International Fringe Festival!

Two short Theatre for Young Audiences’ plays, received honorable mention in the Treasure Valley Children’s Theatre, 8 in 48 Idaho: Short Play Festival.

Here is our first review of Poor People, part of The New York International Fringe Festival 2015.

Poor People, Theater is Easy, by Emily Cordes, August 18, 2015

Quotes:

“Poor People thus asks us to examine how our environments shape our decisions, and to question a society which condemns its poor and forces them to choose survival over humanity.”

“BOTTOM LINE: An empathetic portrait of love and desperation.”

“With clear-eyed compassion and unflinching emotional truth, this adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novel Poor Folk captures the platonic love between two working-class characters in nineteenth-century Russia, following their efforts to survive in a cruel and indifferent world.”

Here are some photographs of St. Petersburg today by photographer Svetlana Surzhikova, who also took photos at the Drama League Directing Residency and rehearsals of Poor People.

Come see Dostoyevsky’s 1845 St. Petersburg in Poor People, part of the New York International Fringe Festival 2015, NYC, runs August 16th-29th.

Set in 1845 in St. Petersburg, Russia Poor People tells the story of a platonic relationship between an older clerk, Makar, and a young seamstress, Varvara. Poor People comments on NYC urban life of the 21st Century and reflects the challenges of the economic disparity of our time.

4 More Performances Left!

https://poorpeopletheplay.wordpress.com

Tonight from 6 to 9 is the closing artist reception for the Lilac Arts Series, where I had a collection of masks on display for the summer. Come to Pier 25 in TriBeCa. Meet some artists, see some art, see the ship, have a drink, and watch the sunset.

Explore This 1930s Boat-Turned-Art Gallery On The Hudson River: Gothemi

Here is a piece I created titled, “A Doll,” part of Secession 2015.

Exquisite Corpse Company heads to Governors Island to present its latest, large-scale, immersive performance event, Secession 2015. The lives and work of the artists of the Vienna Secession fuel over 20 emerging visual artists to create new pieces in response. A company of seven playwrights, four directors, and seven actors will bring the gallery to life in an original performance piece born of the same. Creating a living gallery, audiences will weave through the walls of art guided by the the muses and ghosts that inspired them.

More Information about Secession 2015.

Poor People at the New York International Fringe Festival 2015, NYC, runs August 16th-29th.
Set in 1845 in St. Petersburg, Russia Poor People tells the story of a platonic relationship between an older clerk, Makar, and a young seamstress, Varvara. Poor People comments on NYC urban life of the 21st Century and reflects the challenges of the economic disparity of our time.

Poor People will be presented at:
The Kraine Theater
85 E 4th Street
New York, NY 10003

Sunday, August 16, 2015 at 3:45pm
Thursday, August 20, 2015 at 4:45pm
Monday, August 24, 2015 at 7pm
Thursday, August 27, 2015 at 7pm
Saturday, August 29, 2015 at 5:30pm

Performance runs 90 minutes, no intermission.

https://poorpeopletheplay.wordpress.com

Here is an interview of director Irene Kapustina and me about “Poor People,” opening this Sunday, part of the New York City International Fringe Festival.

Theatre in the Now:  Spotlight on Irene Kapustina and Lavinia Roberts 

I will be building an installation and series of masks for Secession 2015, based on the artists of the Vienna Secession, with Exquisite Corpse Company.  This theatre production and art gallery is site specific in a house on Governors Island.

Here are some of the masks for Bride of the Wind, by Oskar Kokoschka.

“The matter in it is simple: it concerns some good-hearted simpletons who assume that to love the whole world is an extraordinary pleasure and duty for everyone. They cannot comprehend a thing when the wheel of life with all its rules and regulations runs over them and fractures their limbs and bones without a word.”
– Belinsky on Poor Folk, 1846