Big Trip
Big Trip 1: Pushkin "Eugene Onegin" in our own words.
Every Russian grows up knowing Eugene Onegin, Aleksandr Pushkin’s landmark novel-in-verse. The work and its poetic images form part of the national consciousness. For In Our Own Words’ first staging in Moscow, Krymov created a children’s play in which four non-Russians explain their deep love of Pushkin to a room full of children.
Now, in the face of the war in Ukraine, the way the world looks at Russian literature and art has changed. In Krymov Lab NYC’s production, four immigrant Russians desperately try to communicate the value of an untranslatable classic to us, a New York audience. Why should we care about a story about a shallow Byronic hero, a deep teenage girl, and a less-than-successful birthday party? And is there still a place in today’s world for Dostoevsky, for Tchaikovsky, or even for Pushkin?
Big Trip 2: Three love stories near the railroad.
What is a love story? Most people think of love stories as romance, but there are many kinds of love: romantic, parental, or humanistic; love of beauty, of the land, of God; love for theatre, and love for hard work. There is love that is being born, love that goes sour, and love that dies away. These kinds of love stories are the result of the inevitable collisions between people with different wants and needs.
Three Love Stories Near the Railroad emerges from three classic American tales. In Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants," a couple grapple with the consequences of an unexpected pregnancy. In "Canary for One," three families hurtle towards uncertain futures and a parent's love turns destructive. In Desire Under the Elms, Eugene O'Neill's Americanized Hippolytus, a father, stepmother, and son struggle to find understanding and home in a land as hard and unforgiving as they themselves are. While the originals are known for their terseness and psychological realism, Krymov Lab NYC explores what lies beneath the words.