Chekhov Inernational Theatre Festival, Studio Six (USA), SounDrama Studio (Moscow, Russia)and VNESHECONOMBANK present

Gorod.OK (A Town) 

After History of New York by Washington Irving and The History of a Town by Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin


Director – Vladimir Pankov

Set Designer – Maxim Obrezkov

Musical Head – Sergei Rodyukov

Choreographer – Sergei Zemlyansky


Performers:

Studio Six - Taylor Sutherland, Adam Muskin, Matthew Raines, Derek Loher, Vaz Santosham, Leah Loftin, Nicole Kotolefa, Karen Tararache

SounDrama Studio – Anastasiya Sycheva, Seseg Khapsasova, Alisa Estrina, Pavel Akimkin, Olga Dyomina, Vladimir Nelinov, Andrei Samoilov, Alexei Chernykh

The First Night – July 15, 16, 17, 2011
Meyerhold Centre 

February 2, 3 - Mossovet Theatre      

By comparing and juxtaposing separate parts of the works by Washington Irving and Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, finding in them contradictions or, on the contrary conjugations and common features and thereby directors suggest to the audience that with all the evident differences, national, temporal or territorial, people will always find something common between them which paves the way for searching common meanings and interests. We are always faced with common problems and likewise we share some common values.

The comparison of various fragments of the two literary works, connected only via associations, helps form a broader range of contexts – the performance, the situational space which is the space of THEATRE. Thanks to the conditional nature of theatre this field can become a meeting place of personages whose living together in the real world is absolutely impossible. These conventional rendezvous become the main object of interest in writing and staging


Vladimir Pankov

“For me ‘GorodOK’ project is continuation of the experiment aimed at bringing different cultures together. I have been long experimenting with languages and cultures of various countries and nations. “GorodOK” is an attempt to explore the inter-relationships between the Russian and American cultures in terms of the relationships between the two languages. For me a language is a combination of sounds and rhythms. It is music. The combination of the Russian and English languages produces a new language, yet unknown to anyone but understandable to everybody. This production brings together two great classical works: Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin’s The History of One City and Washington Irving’s The History of New York. It is also interesting enough that this production brings together two companies: Studio Six and SounDrama. It is very important how they will manage to find points of contact, what values will prove to be common to them and how it will be possible to create a single organism of them, thereby disproving the widespread notion that we are essentially different”.


Studio Six

The main troupe of Studio Six consists of twelve American actors having graduated from the Moscow Art Theatre Drama School in 2005 (under mentorship of Oleg Tabakov and Mikhail Lobanov). They were the first foreign students having taken the full course of the four years of studies.

The graduates decided to stay together so as to carry out their “American dream” – create a new generation repertory company. What they have learned in Russia transcends the limits of the theatre business and the art of acting. They have realized that culture in a large measure defines the condition and health status of the society. They set up an ensemble repertory company in the US. It is a vigorous and truly modern experimental troupe. At the of Studio Six production are ensemble work, contemporary directorial thinking and active interaction with audiences.


SounDrama

SounDrama was found in the end of 2003 by the efforts of “Pan-Quartet” band and the art director of the studio Vladimir Pankov.

The name of the studio, and for now – a new genre –appeared during the work on the play “Krasnoy Nitkoy” (By Red Thread, Russian idiomatic equivalent for “to run all (through)”, to stand out): people wanted to give a definition for the genre, but the performance couldn’t be described neither as musical nor as a dramatic play. Thus, the name SounDrama was born.

SounDrama is regularly invited to perform at the international theatre festivals in France, Poland, Germany, Belgium, Russia, Hungary, Finland, Ukraine and other countries, where it has won several awards for its theatre performances.

The musicians of SounDrama studio are involved in all stage projects of the studio as the creators of the original music for performances, live music performers, actors. Moreover, SounDrama studio has created music in many different genres for 30 theatre performances of different Russian theatres, including “Chekhov Moscow Art Theatre”, “Et Cetera”, “Sovremennik”, “Pushkin Theatre”, “National Youth Theatre”, “Center of Drama and Directong” and others. Also SounDrama has made original soundtracks for 7 Russian movie projects and several TV shows.


VLADIMIR PANKOV

Born in Moscow, he early showed interest in traditional Russian music and took part in several expeditions studying various folklore traditions.

He was trained as an actor at Oleg Kudryashov’s workshop at the Russian Theatre Academy (GITIS) that he finished in 1999. Between 1999 and 2003 he was an actor with the Moscow State Variety Theatre.

He set up “The Pan Quartet” music group in 2000. The group created music for theatrical productions and appeared at many European Festivals.

Vladimir Pankov plays many musical instruments, both classical and ethnic: clarinet, horns, flute, jijiridu, guitar, charanga, balalaika, psaltery, brass, percussions and some others. He has taken part in many folk festivals and has been performing with many jazz and classical musicians. He has also collaborated with the Culture TV Channel. As a pedagogue he taught, choreography, gesture and acting techniques at the Concord Center.

In 2005 Pankov set up the SounDrama studio as a creative association of directors, actors, choreographers and designers producing works based on the synthesis of the arts: drama, choreography and music.

As an actor Pankov appeared in many theatrical productions and films. In the recent years he has been working extensively as a theatre director having staged A. Zheleztsov’s Run All Through (2003), Y. Isayeva’s Doc.tor (2005), The Transition (2006), M. Bulgakov’s Morphine (2006), M. Tsvetayeva’s The Fine Young Man/Le Gars (2007), Gogol. The Evenings after N. Gogol (Part One – 2007; Part Two – 2008, Part Three – 2009), W. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (2009), A. Chekhov’s The Wedding (2009) and others.

As a composer and music director Pankov took part in over 30 theatre and film projects.

Vladimir Pankov is a holder of the following awards: Debute-2003 Prize for vocal parts in the play Sladkogolosaya Ptitsa Yunosti (Sweet Bird of Youth); Chaika Prize for the music of the play Twelfth Night; Prize of the Moskovskiy Komsomolets newspaper for the best music of the year and the best supporting role in the play Plastilin staged by K. Serebrennikov; President’s Grant of the Culture Initiative Foundation. 

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