About the Play:

Black Snow is a full-length drama adapted for the stage by Keith Reddin, based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Mikhail Bulgakov about the cloak-and-dagger of the Russian theatre in the politically calamitous 1920's. When a writer's novel fails, he attempts suicide. When that fails, he dramatizes his novel. To his surprise – and the resentment of literary Moscow – the play is accepted by a renowned theatre. His dream turns into a nightmare as he also must cope with autocrats, bureaucrats and artistic compromise. Black Snow is the ultimate backstage novel, and a brilliant satire on Mikhail Bulgakov's ten-year love-hate relationship with Stanislavsky Method acting and the Moscow Arts.

Black Snow is adapted by Keith Reddin from the satirical novel of the same name by Mikhail Bulgakov based on his own experiences with the Moscow Art Theatre and its famous director, Konstantin Stanislavsky (sometimes spelled "Stanislavski"), inventor of Method acting. Sergei Maxudov is reluctantly working as a newspaper man and has written a novel everyone is sure will never pass the censors. In despair, Maxudov is about to commit suicide when he is interrupted by the mysterious Rudolfi, a publisher who wants to buy the novel. But after the novel's first instalment appears in print, Rudolfi unaccountably disappears, leaving Maxudov in the lurch. But Maxudov's bleak literary prospects are rescued once again, when a note is slipped under his door requesting him to come immediately for a talk with Ilchin, the holder of a long string of artistic titles at the legendary Independent Theater. Maxudov accepts an offer to adapt his novel for the stage and sets off on a roller coaster ride in the tumultuous world of the Independent Theatre. Seeing his play advertised alongside Shakespeare and Sophocles, Maxudov is overcome with giddiness at his new fame, but the experience soon takes a darker turn when he meets the theatre's artistic director, the formidable Ivan Vasilievich. Ivan decides he must personally oversee the production and inflicts his legendary acting method upon the rehearsals. Maxudov soon discovers he is contractually manacled to the eccentric whims of the theatre's management and has no power to stop their meddling with his creation. Maxudov becomes increasingly frustrated by the artistic hypocrisy of the theatre, which itself is subject to government oppression. Reduced to another cog in the workings of the labyrinthine theater bureaucracy, Maxudov is forced to choose between artistic compromise or suicide.

Black Snow premiered in 1993 at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago and went on to win the Joseph Jefferson Award for best play. The New York premiere in 1998 off-Broadway at the Judith Anderson Theatre. While the play is rarely performed professionally, it has become a popular choice for college, high school and community theatre productions.

Cast: 4 female, 11 male (flexible casting)

What people say:

"…Mr. Reddin has crafted an incredibly funny and effective farce from Bulgakov's railings against the autocrats and institutions…." — Wall Street Journal

"Black Snow is wonderful, wonderful and – at the risk of overselling – wonderful…In its first act it is one of the funniest plays of the season…in the second act, it gets better, darker, even funnier, more poignant and extremely powerful." — Chicago Tribune

About the Playwright:

Mikhail Bulgakov (1891-1940) was a Russian writer, medical doctor and playwright active in the first half of the 20th century. Schooled as a doctor, he gave up the practice of medicine in 1920 to devote himself to writing. He went on to write some of the greatest novels in twentieth-century Russian literature, including White Guard and Black Snow.

Keith Reddin is an American actor and playwright who is considered by many to be a staple of Chicago theatre. He has written and acted in numerous plays with many local, regional, off-Broadway, and Broadway theatres. He graduated from Northwestern University and attended The Yale School of Drama.