Well the benefit was a raging success, as far as I could tell. In a super dumb move, I went to the 92nd Street Y instead of 92 Y in Tribeca and only when I ran into Tony Blair did I realize I was at the wrong celebration. So I showed up late after everyone was more than a little giddy and it seemed like it must have been an amazing party by the way everyone was stumbling around. It’s a deep-seated habit-slash-character flaw of mine to never check addresses before I leave the house. I learned it from my psychic mother. She never left the house with a clear idea of where we were going. When we were little she would put us in the car and just drive saying things like, “I’m have a strong feeling that I should turn right the next street.” Unlike me, she was usually right.

This has been an incredible fellowship year so far – I feel so lucky to have been given this remarkable support. This week I’m transcribing my notes from the trip to Moscow so I can start working on the new play again. Last week, we did a workshop of Creature with a terrific cast led by Leigh Silverman – who will direct the P73 / New Georges co-production in the fall. In addition to her other talents, Leigh turns out to be a fantastic dramaturg and I got more work done in one week than I have been able to eke out in the three years. Also, my new favorite writing schedule is 5 a.m. – 8 a.m. 

And thank you to P73 for sending me to Moscow! Now that I’m home and not in danger of being kicked out of Russia, I can say that the research for my new play involved interviewing journalists who have in one way or another run afoul of the Kremlin. One of the common themes of these talks was the idea of the reluctant dissident — most of the reporters I interviewed had been satisfied with complying with government censorship for years. They might be told to avoid a certain topic for a few weeks or asked to invite a certain official on their radio show, and they typically just gritted their teeth and agreed. What was fascinating was hearing each person’s story about the specific moment they could no longer say yes to what was being asked of them. 

The new play also has a kind of supernatural aspect to it – and I so I investigated a bit of that too. Moscow has a lot of ghosts.

But I’ll save that for later.

The grounds of Novodevichy convent, where Tsars sent the wives they were tired of and Peter the Great locked up his sister Sophia so he could steal her throne.  

Right behind me is the ice-skating pond where Kitty and Levin first meet in Anna Karenina. Also Chekhov and Gogol are buried here. And more recently, Yeltsin.

Between interviewing people and seeing a play every night – thank you John Freedman, critic of The Moscow Times for the impeccable recommendations and the free tickets – plus finding myself hopelessly lost in Moscow at least three times a day, I haven’t had time to figure out how to upload my pictures. I’ll try tomorrow, I promise.  I can’t really say much about the journalists I’ve interviewed yet, for various reasons, but the theater has been incredible. On Tuesday, I attended a premiere at Theater Ten’ (Shadow Theatre) in which I was one of five lucky audience members who got to sit in a tiny room and watch the most amazing story played out on a miniature replica of the Bolshoi Theatre populated by tiny actors and tiny audience members and tiny, gorgeous sets.  (Sometimes you also get to trade your money in at intermission for tiny money with which you can buy tiny sandwiches, but those were not available at the premiere.) This is a family run tiny theater and many of Russia’s most famous directors and designers have worked here – staging King Lear, Tartuffe, etc. all in miniature.

Also lots of Chekhov, Ionesco, more Chekhov, and tonight a new play.

Okay I have to go, I’m late and I have to factor in my getting lost time.

Here it is, the little alleyway.

Well, my Russian visa finally came through so here I am. Today I spent three hours trudging the streets of Moscow to get the visa registered. Two of those hours were spent asking passersby, “Skazhite, pazhoulista, vy ne mogli byi skazat gde nakhoditsa Bolshou Sergeevsky pereulik’?” or approximately “Tell me, please, there is no possible way you could tell me where is located Big Sergei’s Little Alleyway?” Nobody could tell me. One old man even insisted that no such alleyway ever existed, nor would ever exist. “It’s simply impossible.” he kept repeating, “It may not be!” Finally I found what according to MapQuest looked like Big Sergei’s though it wasn’t marked, and walked into to a swanky apartment building called the Millenium House where the front desk girl assured me she had no idea what I was talking about until the doorman interrupted, “Big Sergei’s is the very little alleyway we’re standing on right now!”

So I got my visa stamped and I’ll post pictures of me standing in the alleyway tomorrow, don’t worry.

Also, in more fellowship news I’ve interviewed a total of one journalist, rocked a bus tour, and seen a Chekhov medley? performed on by students in an abandoned gallery space near the Arbat – in one scene a seagull peed on Irina’s head while she lamented her life at the post office. I thought this was really funny, though the rest of the  audience found it to be serious. Eventually everyone else started laughing, too, and I thought, yes I am quite correct. This is indeed funny and thank God I was here to make that clear to everyone.

Almost set to go to Moscow (please come through, Russian visa) to interview journalists and hopefully see a lot of plays. The great critic John Freedman has translated a lot of the younger Russian playwrights into English and I’m trying to get a hold of his Olga Mukhina collection since everyone raves about her. It’s currently going for $99.95 on Amazon. While trying to figure out my theater schedule I also stumbled upon this description of a  newer play called The Siege at the Moscow Art Theatre:

Those who will come to look ours play, will see fine, hazardous actors, graceful modern scenography, they will listen to a wonderful alive music. And if to define the maintenance of performance shortly, it’s about war.