Moscow Nights is a dynamic force bringing the riches of Russian culture to Louisiana audiences. |
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EVENTS Russian Festival for Children Moscow Nights is staging a world premier of the Russian version of “Cinderella”, written by Yevgeny Shvarts. It has never been translated into English and has never been produced in the United States. Our translator, Dr. James Falen, is known throughout the literary world for his brilliant translations of the poems of Alexander Pushkin. The festival will be held at St. Martin's Episcopal School in Metairie, where we hold our biannual Russian Winter Festival (last held in 2010). The festival will take place on the weekend of March 02 - 03 2013. This is the first time in the history of Moscow Nights that we are devoting our entire program to children's education and cultural enjoyment. A good story deserves a thousand tellings! But most children have been exposed to only one version of the "Cinderella" tale. Local children will be given a broader understanding of the true universality of this classic literature. Every culture has its own Cinderella tale, and sometimes there are several re-telling within one culture. The differences between the versions excite and inform children in a way that the same story, told in the same way day after day, does not. What's more, live action theater connects with children and resonates because the players tailor their performances to connect with the children sitting before them! With our group of talented translator, director, set and costume designers, composer, choreographer, local actors and dancers, we will offer an afternoon full of Russian fairy tales as well as a bazaar with music, dance, art exhibitions and other children’s activities. The bazaar, which will last for an hour and one half, will focus on activities and performances that appeal to children and their needs. With this production, Moscow Nights brings centuries of Russian Theater tradition to Jefferson Parish in a finely crafted cross-cultural arts experience. Our version of "Cinderella" will incorporate original musical composition and dance. We will work with professional actors, dancers, musicians, designers, a director, a composer, a choreographer. Our efforts right now are dedicated to raising the funds through grants so we can begin our rehearsals at the beginning of the Fall 2012 season ... Attending The New Russian Drama Festival On March 09 2012, Natasha journeyed to Austin, Texas, to see the New Russian Drama Festival of Austin at the Breaking String Theater. The trip was very useful, since in Austin Natasha was able to meet with Graham Schmidt, the founder of the New Russian Drama Festival, meet with visiting Russian Playwright Maxim Kurochkin, and meet the Moscow-based American-born Journalist John Freeman. Everyone involved in this festival has the same interest in presenting Russian Drama in America that is central to Moscow Nights' primary goals! "The Shadow" ~ Natasha's Success Story of 2011! Natasha O. Ramer, Artistic Director of Moscow Nights, returned from Lithuania. She directed the theater play "The Shadow" by Yevgeny Shvarts at the Drama Theater in Siauliai, Lithuania in September. The play was a huge success, drawing large audiences and an enthusiastic crowd response. This performance was great for the theater, which had invited Natasha to direct this play as part of the theater's celebration of its 80th anniversary. The Russian Winter Festival 2011 & Natasha In Lithuania … A lot of people in New Orleans & throughout America are asking about our “Moscow Nights’ Russian Winter Festival 2011”. As of this time, everything is on hold due to Natasha being involved in the Siauliai Drama Theater's presentation of "The Shadow" by Eugene Shvarts. As soon as more details are available, we will post any updates to this blog and to all of our members & friends. NATASHA O. RAMER’S BIG DATE IN LITHUANIA! Our Artistic Director Natasha O. Ramer currently finds herself staging a major theater event in her home town of Šiauliai, Lithuania. The Šiauliai Drama Theater has invited Natasha to direct the opening play of its 2011 season. The invitation is a signal honor, since the play marks the theater’s celebration of its 80th anniversary. The theater chose Natasha to direct this anniversary performance. Natasha has chosen to stage Evgenii Shvarts’s “The Shadow,” a Russian adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tale of the same name. The play, which will open in Šiauliai on September 23, 2011, will become part of the Drama Theater’s ongoing repertoire. Šiauliai is a very special place for Natasha. She grew up there, graduating from high school and music school before leaving for her advanced theater training at the Russian Academy of the Performing Arts in Moscow. Her studies at the Russian Academy launched her career in theater. Following her graduation, Natasha O. Ramer returned to Šiauliai in the early 1970s, where she assumed the post of artistic director of the Šiauliai Drama Theater. She did numerous outstanding productions in this theater, so that natives recall the period of Natasha’s tenure as the theater’s renaissance. Since 1984 Natasha has lived in New Orleans, so her return to Šiauliai is thrilling both for her and for the Šiauliai Drama Theater. While working on her play in Šiauliai, Natasha O Ramer is taking a break from her duty like an Artistic Director of Moscow Nights, Inc. Her most recent work with Moscow Nights was her direction of Carol Rocamora’s play “I Take Your Hand in Mine” at the Russian Cultural Center in Washington, D. C., in February of this year. The famous New Orleans actors Kathy Randels and Scott Jefferson were well received by capital audience, and the play got a lot of wonderful publicity. We think it worthwhile to bring your attention to this unusual theatrical event and experience. For Natasha, who left the Soviet Union for the United States in 1982, the opportunity to return to the theater of her early career is something that is extremely exciting both for her and for the audiences in her home town of Šiauliai. For an example of the local publicity that Natasha’s arrival received in Šiauliai, we refer you to the local newspaper at www.skrastas.lt for April 9, 2011, April 20, 2011, and June 13, 2011.
On February 14, the evening devoted to creativity by A. P. Chekhov has taken place in the Russian Cultural Centre. The theater from New Orleans, Louisiana under the direction of Russian director Natalia Ramer has presented performance “Your hand in mine” in English, which was based on letters from Chekhov and Olga Knipper. Year 1986. Melikhovo - Chekhov House-Museum. Are shooting a documentary about Chekhov. The long winter evenings in the old house Cech. There is no visitors. Lit kerosene lamps. The superintendent allowed a little move in the frame Chekhovian thing: a chair, barrel organ, scattered on the table "kegs" Russian lotto gun on the wall - perhaps the very thing which, according to the laws of the genre, in the end should be fired ...
I shift the sheets of paper, written by hand by Anton Chekhov. Outside, the wind whistles. Lumps of snow. Blizzard. Year 2011. Winter evening. The old mansion in Washington. In the shadows mysteriously rushing reflections in mirrors, creaking floorboards. Glimpse of the silhouette of a man, for him - a lady in a hat with feathers swaying in pterothorax. Dim the lights. Play by playwright Carol Rakomory "I firmly shake your hand" in a production directed by Natasha Rammer. Basis of the plot pieces - letters of Anton Chekhov and his wife, Olga Knipper Leonardovna. The atmosphere of the old mansion (the Russian Cultural Centre), here in Washington, reminded me of that old, melihovskuyu atmosphere. Of course, melihovsky house where a modest home and the exposition of the museum reflects an earlier period of life of the great writer (those years when they were written in "The Seagull", "Sakhalin Island", "Guys"). And then he loved another woman - Lika Mizinova. And yet the mood, chamber, breathing time as it seemed to me - there, from a distant melihovskoy estate at the Kaluga tract. Directed by Natasha Rammer first staged the play in New Orleans. And then brought the show to Washington. World Chekhov. The play involved two actors: Kathy Randels - Olga Knipper-Chekhov, and Scott Jefferson - Anton Chekhov. The play - in English. Actors play in a small room at arm's length to the audience, and it creates some special state: searing breath of love.
There is a legend that Chekhov once thought of writing a great novel - "About Love". PS Almost all the photos for the play "I firmly shake your hand" made during a rehearsal for a few hours before. Interior room has not yet been "populated", and in a frame, no, no, yes and fell into a formal portrait of Peter "waves on the shore of the desert", the image of Catherine the Great, with a scepter of power ... Monarchs on the back side of a makeshift stage as a not so combined correspondence with the love of the author of The Seagull, "during their performance, of course, the veil. But the picture they were: do not judge strictly - this is not avant-garde director's finding, and "production costs". Some photos taken in the dressing room, in preparation for the actors to exit. And finally, a few shots - during the performance. Anton Chekhov - Jefferson Scott, Olga Knipper Leonardovna - Kathy Randels. A love story. "He and she fell in love, got married and were unhappy ..." Read the Chayka.org article version #1 on Chayka or version #2
Russian Tea and Entertainment
Moscow Nights Celebrates its Tenth Anniversary THE RUSSIAN WINTER FESTIVAL 2010 Music, Dances, Songs, Poems, Theater, “MOSCOW NIGHTS AND FRIENDS”, a concert featuring: Master of Ceremonies: Chris Wecklein From Atlanta, Georgia, with balalaika, guitar and bayan: Our singers: Danny O’Flaherty (appearing at the 2 pm matinee only) and Russian singers Natalya Flint and Svetlana Lonadier Our dancers: The Komenka Ethnic Dance Ensemble, Sarah Grundmeyer Abrusley, Our theater: Actors Scott Jefferson, Diana Shortes, Mila Bobina, Donald Lewis, Roscoe Reddix, Veronica Russell, Kathy Randels and Julie Vorus Our cabaret: Natasha O. Ramer with Harry Mayronne, Jr. and Miss Viola, Chris Wecklein and Faina Lushtak And for the first time with Moscow Nights… Cover Painting by Larisa Ivakina Artistic Director: Natasha O. Ramer Where: Solomon Theater at St. Martin’s Episcopal School When: Saturday, January 16 (Bazaar, 12-9 pm, Concerts, 2 pm and 7 pm) Admission: General $15 *Seniors $10 *Children $5 Reservations: 504-208-9905
On Saturday November 14th, 2009 "Moscow Nights" and Tulane University will host a cultural and educational event. Professor Alexandra Raskina from the German and Slavic Department will bring her TIDES-191 class to the home of Natasha Ramer for a field trip to experience the music of Boris Fogel. They will have a "Russian tea room" experience complete with pastries and beautiful Russian music, with the famed Russian concert master Fogel who currently resides in Boston.
Moscow Nights, Inc. presents ‘An Afternoon with Anton Chekhov’ METAIRIE, LA – Moscow Nights, Inc. presents An Afternoon with Anton All four pieces will be presented at the Jefferson Parish East Bank Regional Library free of charge. A veteran of Russian theatre, director Natasha Ramer is excited to bring these Russian classics to life on the stage for the first time in Metairie. “I am so happy to bring these wonderful plays to a brand new audience. The mission of Moscow Nights is to bring the best of Russian culture to the people of the greater New Orleans metropolitan area. And we are thrilled to continue our Chekhov series started three years ago in anticipation of his 150th birthday next year.” Ramer directs a collection of esteemed local actors, which include Martin Covert, Rebecca Frank, Scott Jefferson, and Diana Shortes. The readings will be held in the library’s spacious meeting room. I Take Your Hand in Mine will play Friday, March 27 at 2pm and Sunday, April 5 at 2pm. The three one-acts will play on March 28 and 29 and April 3 and 4 all at 2pm. ADMISSION IS FREE. School groups, retirement communities, and social clubs are strongly encouraged to attend. Call 504.208.9905 to reserve seats. Visit Moscow Nights, Inc. website at www.moscownightsus.com
This program is supported by a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council as administered by the Arts Council of New Orleans.
In 2010, the entire theatrical world will mark the 150th anniversary of Anton Chekov's birth. Our organization doesn't want to miss out on this date, and so to prepare for the celebration, Moscow Nights is already planning to delight audiences with a new reading of his early plays "Swan Song" (1887), "The Bear" (1888), and "The Marriage Proposal" (1888). All of these plays were written by the noted playwright before his more famous masterpieces "The Seagull", "Uncle Vanya", "Three Sisters", and "The Cherry Orchard". We will perform these plays at the Jefferson Parish East Region Public Library at Metairie in the last weekend of March and the first weekend of April, 2009. The promotional materials for these plays will appear on our website later. This program is supported by a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council as administered by the Arts Council of New Orleans.
Moscow Nights, Inc. would like to thank all who participated in RUSSIAN WINTER FESTIVAL 2008
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Click here to view images from February 14, 2011, "I Take Your Hand in Mine"
In February, 2009, Moscow Nights, Inc. will host a guest from Moscow, Olga Kravchenya, a film production designer and art director. Kravchenya is a winner of a Russian Cinema Academy Award, a "Nika", for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration for the 2005 film Vera's Driver. Her work in the films Ellipsis (2007), Russian Ragtime (1994), and Richard the Lion Hearted (1993) were also nominated for a "Nika". She recieved her education at the Russian State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK), and is an Honored Artist of the Russian Federation. After perestroika, she was also famous for her weekly political satire TV show, "Kukly" ("Dolls", 1994-1998).