"Dead Souls" – Yale Bookends x Eno River Players

OUR STORY

Dead Souls tells the story of Chichikov, a social climber who travels around nineteenth-century Russia buying up dead serfs and mortgaging their souls. As rackets go, it’s pretty ingenious––as are some of the strategies deployed by the landowners who try to get the best of Chichikov in turn. Con-men collide; comedy ensues. It’s definitely one of the funnier classics of Russian literature.

The story has been brought to the stage before––by Stanislavski, no less, in 1932. But Stanislavski, praise be, didn’t quite do justice to the story. Critics complained that the Moscow Art Theatre’s rendition was stuffy and academic, and went soft on the satire. Worse, it wasn’t in the spirit of Gogol.

We––the Yale Bookends in collaboration with the Eno River Players––want to rectify this injustice. We want to bring this story to life like never before. A new translation by Ilya Khodhosh of the stage adaptation by Mikhail Bulgakov, author of Master and Margarita. An hour-long cut, heavy on the comedy and faithful to the satire. From Durham to Brooklyn, across the pond to London.

But, being reluctant to mortgage dead peasants, we’re seeking funding from nobler sources. Our production is lean: three actors, one director. Still, producing a show is expensive. Your donation would help us cover:

Please consider donating today. Your support will bring our vision within reach, will help us turn our dream into reality. Thank you for taking the time to learn about our project. And we hope to see you in the audience someday soon!

CAST & CREW

Leo Egger is a classic theater director and the founding artistic director of the Eno River Players. He has directed productions of Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, As You Like, Phaedo, Richard II, The Government Inspector, and Coriolanus. His work is about make-believe.

Hamzah Jhaveri has trained in sketch comedy for five years with The Fifth Humour. He has performed in a Yale Dramatic Association production of The Government Inspector and has held a supporting role in a virtual production of Dorot.

Dominic Sullivan has performed professionally both in America and in the UK, most recently, in The S.S. Cancelled as Mr. Colon at Teatro Latea. He has played numerous leading roles including: the titular character in Shakespeare’s Coriolanus and Protesilaus in the premiere of Ellen McLaughlin’s new play, Mercury’s Footpath.

Nico Taylor has held leading roles in Gogol’s The Government Inspector, as well as the comedies Hand to God and The S.S. Cancelled. He has performed sketch comedy with Red Hot Poker. He is otherwise a very serious person.