CANCELED: Black Snow

Written by Mikhail Bulgakov
Adapted by Keith Reddin
Directed by Steven Pearson
Center for Performance Experiment

Keith Reddin’s adaptation of legendary Russian author Mikhail Bulgakov’s 1936 novel is a semi-autobiographical account of Bulgakov’s experience with the Moscow Art Theatre, headed in part by influential director Konstantin Stanislavski. In Black Snow, a writer named Sergei Maxudov is persuaded to submit his novel to the “Independent Theatre” to have it adapted for the stage, but quickly finds himself and his creation subject to the whims of the theatre’s figureheads. Censored for its criticism of the Soviet government, the original novel didn’t actually see publication until 1967, more than twenty-five years after Bulgakov’s death.