A Work in Progress play reading
Full development season: December 6-17 2023, I Shall Go Out Across the Snow Covered Field
Cosmopolitan, glamorous, polyglot, independent, journeyer, translator, singer. Lina Prokofiev’s extraordinary life traversed the dynamics of New York, the sophistication of Paris and the horrors of the Gulag. Her story mirrors the 20th century: the greatest advances in the arts and sciences and the worst degradations of totalitarianism.
How did a young girl from Madrid who only wanted to act and sing, become captivated by the musical genius Sergei in New York, but end up abandoned by him in Moscow, then sentenced as a counterrevolutionary spy to twenty years forced labour in the Gulag of Abez?
This is a story of desire, decay and defiance, drawing on the lyrics and music of songs performed by Lina and set against the spectre of her celebrity composer husband whose only allegiance was to his music. It reveals a life of loyalty, beauty, brutality and ultimately, endurance.
Written and performed by Faye Bendrups
Musician (solo viola): Guillermo Anad
Director: Lisa Petty
Lighting Designer: Greg Carroll
Stage Manager: Katie Williams