WHY DOES MAXIM GET KILLED FIRST?

Aleksey Sinyaev (Playwright) was born in 1986 in Kizel, a Ural town in Perm Krai, Russia.  In 2018 he graduated from Yekaterinburg Theatrical Institute.  His plays have won numerous awards: Tractorina won second place at Eurasia 2017 drama competition and was shortlisted on Actors 2017; Erinii won the Remarque competition in 2018 and Best Historical Play in 2020; Hacked won second place in the Eurasia 2019 drama competition, third place in the Culmination 2019 competition, and was shortlisted for the Author's Stage 2019 and Initial Event of the 21st Century competitions. His play The End of Beria was staged at the Russian Army Theater in December 2019.

Jessica Kubzansky (Director) is the Artistic Director of Boston Court Pasadena, specializing in adventurous new works and significantly re-envisioned classics. She is also an award-winning director working nationally. She’s previously had the privilege of working with Arena Stage directing Jeanne Sakata’s Hold These Truths. Recently directed for Boston Court: the world premieres of Kit Steinkellner’s Ladies, Sarah B. Mantell’s Everything That Never Happened, Stefanie Zadravec’s Colony Collapse, RII (her own three-person re-envisioning of Shakespeare’s Richard II), Michael Elyanow’s The Children, as well as Luis Alfaro’s Mojada, A Medea in Los Angeles (a co-production at the Getty Villa), and the New York and world premieres of Sheila Callaghan’s Everything You Touch (a co-pro with Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre at the Cherry Lane). Recently elsewhere: The Father with Alfred Molina (Pasadena Playhouse), Othello (A Noise Within), Jeanne Sakata’s Hold These Truths (Portland Center Stage), Aditi Kapil’s Orange (South Coast Rep), Aaron Posner’s Stupid Fucking Bird (ACT Theatre Seattle), and more. Kubzansky received the Los Angeles Drama Critics’ Circle’s Margaret Harford Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatre.

Michael Manuel (Maxim) was most recently seen in The Father at the Pasadena Playhouse. He recently won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, Stage Scene LA, and LA Theatre Bites Best Actor awards for Frankenstein at A Noise Within. Some of his regional credits include: the Alley Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Seattle Rep, Yale Rep, Shakespeare Theatre DC, South Coast Rep, Geffen, Pasadena Playhouse, Mark Taper, UCB, Groundlings, and IMPRO theatre in multiple productions. Michael is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.

John Nobori (Sound Design) is a California-based sound designer and composer. His work has been heard in plays produced by such organizations as Cornerstone Theater Company, The Getty Villa, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Other recent credits include Center Theatre Group’s production of Elliot: a Soldier’s Fugue and South Coast Repertory’s production of Orange. He has been nominated for several awards for excellence in sound design and has been honored with an Ovation Award for his work on The Golden Dragon at Boston Court Pasadena. BA University of California, Irvine.