EVENT HORIZON

EVENT HORIZON

Russian production

EVENT HORIZON

by Heather Raffo
Directed by Elena Nenasheva

with Anna Khlestkina

Original Music & Sound Design: Oleg Krokhalev
Costume Design: Sasha Ageeva
Director of Virtual Media Design: Jared Mezzocchi
Translated from the English by Dmitrii Bezuoglov
English subtitles translated by Michael Smolenkov

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Heather Raffo (Playwright) is an award-winning playwright and actress whose work has been seen off-Broadway, off-West End in regional theater and in film. An American with Iraqi roots, her plays have been hailed by The New Yorker as “an example of how art can remake the world.” Raffo is the author and performer of NOURA (Weissberger Award, Helen Hayes Award Best Original New Play) which premiered in Washington D.C. before moving to Abu Dhabi, Cairo, New York City, and theaters across the nation, and 9 Parts of Desire (Lucille Lortel Award, Blackburn commendation, Helen Hayes, Drama League and Outer Critics Circle nomination) which ran off-Broadway for nine months and has played across the nation and internationally for over a decade. Raffo’s libretto for the opera FALLUJAH, part of Kennedy Center’s International Theater Festival, received its world premiere at Long Beach Opera and opened at New York City Opera in 2016. A film of the opera aired on PBS accompanied by a documentary titled Fallujah: Art, Healing and PTSD. From the Kennedy Center to The Aspen Ideas Festival and from London’s House of Commons to the U.S. Islamic World Forum, Raffo continues to bring her work into diverse environments both nationally and internationally. Special thanks:  Brandon Jones, Wariboko Semenitari, Maija Garcia, Naomi Barr, Amy Raasch, Masha Tsimring, Irina Kruzhilina, Jenny Koons, Tobi Adeyemo, Anthony Adu, Nayib Felix, Corneilus Franklin and Tristan Gabriel Turner.

Elena Nenasheva (Director) was born in Leningrad in 1987. She is a graduate of the Moscow Art Theatre School (class of Viktor Ryzhakov). In 2020 she was nominated for a Golden Mask Award. Selected works: Seagull Version, Lonely City, Distance Apart, POSLE, Trendsetters. She participated in such festivals as "Lubimovka," "New Drama," Alexander Volodin National Theatre Festival “Five Evenings,” "Our Theme." Elena also participated in the following international Theater Labs: Summer School of Theater in Kaposwar (Hungary), Russian Theatre Lab in Tallinn (Estonia), Theater Lab in Ilkhom (Uzbekistan).

Anna Khlestkina (Alex) actress, performer, director, born in 1986 in Moscow. In 2007 she graduated from Boris Shchukin Theater College with major in Stage and Film Acting; and in 2019 - from Boris Yukhananov's Studio of Individual Directing (MIR-5). In 2007-2016 she was an actress in Taganka Theater. Acting credits: Electra, Woes of Wit, Brothers Karamazov, 1968. New World, Orchestra Rehearsal, Crows and many others. She worked with Yuri Lyubimov, Tadashi Suzuki, Boris Yukhananov and other famous directors. Performing (dancer) credits: Moments (Olga Tsvetkova), Verso la specie (Claudia Castellucci), numerous Kanako Suzuki’s projects and others. She worked as a choreographer on Marina Davydova's project Constriction of the World, and as a professional singer and improviser – on the projects of such composers as Kirill Shirokov, Dmitri Kurlyandsky and others. Her directing credits include Fiorenza (Stanislavsky Electrotheatre) and a one-person show Psychosis 4.48. She participated in the Theater and Science Lab Annihilation-2019.

Oleg Krokhalev (Original Music & Sound Design) was born in Perm. In 2019 he graduated from Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory with the major in Composition (class of V.G.Tarnopolsky). He participated in such projects as SOTA (Golden Mask Institute, “Stanislavsky” Electrotheater), Performance (concerts on Trekhgornaya Manufactory), Underground Improvisation (commissioned by Berlin Academy of Arts), Suedseite Nachts (Stuttgart), Open Space Lab, (Young Composers Academy in Tchaikovsky). His compositions have been performed by such artists as Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble (MCME) , New Music Studio, Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, New Russia Orchestra directed by Yuri Bashmet, ensemble Russia and others. Oleg writes music for many Russian theaters. Since 2020, he has served as the editor of the concert section of Your Leisure portal. He is a Curator of the music division of RemPut festival (November 1-4, 2020).

Sasha Ageeva (Costume Design) is a costume designer. She graduated from the School of Design in the National Research University Higher School of Economics with the diploma of "Artist for theater and film" (class of Anastasia Nefedova). She is in the art group apadakaladas. In 2019-2020 Sasha has been a design technician in “Stanislavsky" Electrotheater. She has worked with such directors as Elena Nenasheva, Sasha Denisova, Philip Grigoryan, Grigory Dobrygin, Dmitry Sergin, Fedor Levin and others.