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The Russian National Postal Service

Posted by DCA Theater on January 27, 2009 in January-June 2009 Season, Maria's Field

Written by TUTA company member Alice Wedoff

The TUTA rehearsal space reveals itself in its full glory at noon on a sunny day. The wall to wall, ceiling high windows make the most of the loft’s southern exposure, casting patches of light on the scuffed wooden floor. On Saturday, January 24th the space was warm and cozy in the high noon sun and the smell of fresh brewed coffee. It seemed that even the space itself was doing its best to impress our guests, particularly one Mr. Bogaev, who had traveled all the way from Russia to be with TUTA for the weekend.

Through the support of the DCA, TUTA was fortunate enough to have renowned Russian playwright Oleg Bogaev here with us for the U.S. premiere of his play Maria’s Field, now running at the Storefront Theater. In an effort to further share his work with the Chicago community, TUTA decided to open its doors to the public for a reading of his first hit play, Russian National Postal Service. With the playwright and a happy crowd of about forty people looking on, four Chicago actors (Gary Houston, Kay Schmitt, Andy Hager, and P.J. Schoeny) brought to life Bogaev’s story of a lonely, poverty-stricken pensioner and the fantastic correspondences he carries out with the famous (and infamous) characters of his imagination. The reading had the audience rolling in laughter and hushed with tears, displaying the universality and depth of Bogaev’s writing.

After the reading and replenishing of coffee and cookies, TUTA’s soft-spoken, be-spectacled artistic director, Zeljko Djukic took the floor to introduce the soft-spoken, bespectacled Bogaev. Zeljko spoke of the day they had spent together, a Serbian-American theater director who spoke no Russian with a Russian playwright who spoke no English (or Serbian). He spoke of a complicity between them that transcended language. The discussion that followed bounced from topic to topic: American theater, Russian theater, playwriting, inspiration, Maria’s Field, and Russian National Postal Service. The audience clung to every word filtered through the translators (Maria’s Field co-director Luda Lopatina and actress Dalia Cidzikaite). There was a sense of the exceptionality of the moment, and a desire to glean as much as possible from this artist. Oleg Bogaev came to us from a place dramatically different from ours, but shows us that truly great theater is universal.  When asked what his impression of Americans was, he stated that his stereotype of giant smiling people had been debunked. “We’re all the same,” he said.  One need look no further than the man and his work to see the proof.

Alice introduces The Russian National Postal Service; Gary Houston and PJ in the background