TheatreSquared To Co-Produce "Russian Troll Farm: A Workplace Comedy"
Landmark digital collaboration features five live performances
Tuesday, Oct. 20 - Saturday, October 24
With encore viewing on demand through November 2
TheaterWorks Hartford in Hartford, Connecticut and TheatreSquared in Fayetteville, Arkansas announced today that they have joined forces to digitally produce Sarah Gancher’s timely new play about the everyday banality of destabilizing democracy, Russian Troll Farm: A Workplace Comedy. With additional support from The Civilians—NYC’s experts of theatre “at the intersection of the theatrical and the real”—the collaboration creates a “site-specific work for the internet” inspired by the actual transcripts from the Russian government-backed Internet Research Agency in the run-up to the 2016 election. Zoom theatre has never looked like this.
Billed as a unique live theatre experience with “digital magic,” the highly collaborative project is a cross between theatre, film, and multimedia design. Led by directors Jared Mezzocchi (Co-Director, Multimedia Designer) and Elizabeth Williamson (Co-Director, Dramaturg), the live performances will test the limits of digital performance and are the capstone of an intensive period of socially isolated, virtually connected, new play development.
At the infamous (real-life!) Internet Research Agency, professional internet trolls work for days at a time to influence American popular opinion, creating the illusion of consensus—or conflict. Russian Troll Farm: A Workplace Comedy imagines the daily lives of these workers as they invent characters, stage conflicts, and create conspiracies. What happens to their grasp on the truth when the whole job is lying?
“The trolls are out in full force right now,” said playwright Sarah Gancher. “I want everyone on the right and the left to be able to spot them and to see what they’re doing—or at least wonder: what happens to a democracy when the voices of real citizens are drowned out by fictional characters?”
“For a play about how state-backed, professional trolls did their best to wreak havoc on an American election, it felt appropriate to do our best to hack Zoom,” said TheatreSquared Artistic Director Robert Ford. Added TheatreSquared Executive Director Martin Miller, “This summer, audiences tuned in from England to San Francisco as the creative team debuted the first act. What better time to finish the story than right now?”
TheaterWorks Producing Artistic Director Rob Ruggiero added, “We couldn’t ignore the timing, either. With the upcoming election and life as we’ve known it these past 4 years, producing this work has never mattered more. And if we can tell some part of the story and help people laugh along the way – even better. This collaboration provides such a powerful opportunity in partnering with TheatreSquared and The Civilians - two teams that know how to do this best - we’re really grateful for it.”
“Sarah Gancher’s play is precisely the kind of work The Civilians exists to champion,” said The Civilians’ Artistic Director Steve Cosson. “Sarah is boldly engaging with immensely important real-life stuff and doing so with a keen sense of storytelling and exuberant humor. And through the alchemy of theater, she gives us a fictional story that makes the otherwise unbelievable truth of our political situation feel real. It’s a remarkable feat—to create something that’s both wildly entertaining and a bracing wake-up call.”
The cast for Russian Troll Farm: A Workplace Comedy includes Danielle Slavick playing Masha, Obie-winner Mia Katigbak (Henry VI, NAATCO) playing Ljuba, Haskell King playing Egor, Ian Lassiter (War Horse, Lincoln Center Theater) playing Steve, and Greg Keller (Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven, Atlantic Theatre Company) playing Nikolai.
Additional members of the creative team include Brenda Abbandolo (set & costume design), Andre Pluess (sound design and composer), and Amith Chandrashaker (lighting design).
Russian Troll Farm: A Workplace Comedy will stream to a password protected platform for five live performances. The schedule is Tuesday, October 20 through Saturday, October 24, 2020 at 7:30pm Eastern. For those unable to attend a live performance, encore viewing is available during an on-demand window from October 24–November 1, 2020.
Tickets for Russian Troll Farm: A Workplace Comedy can be purchased online at RussianTrollFarm.com or by calling 860.527.7838 starting October 7. Members of TheaterWorks Hartford have tickets included as part of their 2020-2021 membership. Founding Subscribers of TheatreSquared may purchase tickets at a special rate. Single stream passes are available for $20.20.
For additional ticket assistance, contact the Box Office at TheaterWorks at 860.527.7838 or email boxoffice@twhartford.org or at TheatreSquared at 479.777.7477 or email tix@theatre2.org.
Please visit RussianTrollFarm.com for more information.
About the artists
Sarah Gancher is a playwright who loves epic stories, big ideas, and deep comedy. Her most frequent subject is how history is reflected in individual lives—how places, communities, and debates evolve over time. Her plays have been produced or developed at London’s National Theatre, Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre, The Public, New York Theater Workshop, The Atlantic, Berkeley Rep, Steppenwolf, New York Stage and Film, Ars Nova, WP Theatre, The Flea, La Jolla Playhouse, Seattle Rep, Hartford Stage, RoundHouse, Mosaic (DC), P73, NYC Summerstage, and Telluride Theatre, among others. Sarah frequently collaborates with devising ensembles. She has written two musicals with rock band The Bengsons: The Lucky Ones, a commission for Ars Nova, and Hundred Days, which had its New York premiere at the 2017 Under the Radar festival at the Public and went on to rave reviews at New York Theatre Workshop. Both The Lucky Ones and Hundred Days garnered a number of 2018 Lortel, Drama League, and Drama Desk nominations and wins. Sarah was the collaborating playwright on Mission Drift, a musical about capitalism and the myth of the frontier written with director Rachel Chavkin, composer Heather Christian, and The TEAM. She has written for Blue Man Group and worked behind the scenes at The Colbert Report, The Metropolitan Opera Guild, The Big Apple Circus, and Norway’s Stellapolaris, among others. She currently teaches playwriting at NYU Tisch's Department of Dramatic Writing and The New School's MFA Playwriting program.
Jared Mezzocchi (Co-Director, Multimedia Designer) received his M.F.A. in performance and interactive media arts at Brooklyn College. He is currently on faculty at University of Maryland, College Park, where he leads the projection design track in the M.F.A. design program. He is a resident artist at Wooly Mammoth Theater Company in DC and has directed and designed at theaters across the U.S. and in Europe, including designing for Big Art Group, The Builders Association, Rob Roth, 3-Legged Dog, Hearts Center, and UTC #61. He made his Off-Broadway debut at Manhattan Theatre Club with his projection design in Vietgone, written by Qui Nguyen and directed by May Adrales. In 2012, he received the prestigious Princess Grace Award, the first projection designer to be honored with this national theater award. In 2017, he received the first Lucille Lortel Award for the category of Outstanding Projection Design (Vietgone, Manhattan Theater Club). In addition to the Lucille Lortel, he received a 2017 Obie Award and nominations for an Outer Critics Circle Award and a Drama Desk Award. In Spring 2017, he was accepted as a fellow to the Macdowell Colony. Most recently, he wrote and directed an adaptation of Oliver Jeffers' book How To Catch a Star at the John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center. He grew up in New Hampshire, where he returns every summer as a producing artistic director of Andy’s Summer Playhouse, an innovative children’s theater producing original work by professional artists from across the country.
Elizabeth Williamson’s (Co-Director, Dramaturg) Broadway and West End credits as a dramaturg include: The Inheritance (Olivier, Critics Circle, Evening Standard, GLAAD, and Drama Desk Awards for Best Play, Outer Critics Circle Honoree), A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder (Tony Award for Best Musical), Anastasia. Williamson’s other recent projects include directing/adapting Jane Eyre (Hartford Stage), dramaturging Bess Wohl’s Make Believe (Outer Critics Circle Honoree), and directing Sarah Gancher’s Seder (Hartford Stage.) Off-Broadway and regional credits include the Young Vic, Primary Stages, Hartford Stage, Pioneer Theatre Company, Court Theatre, Steppenwolf, About Face, BAPF, La Jolla Playhouse, Theatre de La Jeune Lune, HERE, others. She has served as associate artistic director/director of new play development for both Hartford Stage and Pioneer Theatre Company, commissioning and developing work by Kaneza Schaal, Bess Wohl, Matthew Lopez, Sarah Gancher, Dan O’Brien, Mfoniso Udofia, Octavio Solis, Brighde Mullins, and many others. She is the 2007 recipient of an NEA Fellowship in Literary Translation. Education: Oxford University, École Jacques Lecoq, Bennington College. Member: SDC, LMDA.
About TheaterWorks Hartford
Celebrating its 35th season, TheaterWorks Hartford (TWH) produces high quality, contemporary theater that is relevant to our audiences, engages a diverse community, and provides insight into the human experience. TWH is committed to the power of storytelling in creating community. Founded in 1985, TWH has produced over 170 plays and presents approximately 225 performances per season. TWH also owns and manages the historic property at 233 Pearl Street, known as City Arts on Pearl. City Arts provides an affordable home and services to a diverse family of non-profit arts organizations.
For updates on TheaterWorks Hartford, visit here and follow on Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube.
About TheatreSquared
TheatreSquared’s signature offering of bold new plays in an intimate setting has driven its growth to become the state’s largest theatre, offering more than 300 performances annually in two intimate spaces. The playwright-led company is one of mid-America’s leading laboratories for new work, having launched more than 60 new plays. Notable collaborators have included Bryna Turner, Anne García-Romero, Pulitzer Prize finalist Lisa D’Amour, Qui Nguyen, Mona Mansour, Tony Award nominee Lee Blessing, Amy Evans, and many others. TheatreSquared’s remarkable expansion—with a twentyfold increase in audience in just the past decade—parallels the emergence of its home region in the northwest corner of Arkansas as a booming population center and destination for American art. Offering far-reaching access and education programs and an open-all-day gathering space, the Commons Bar/Café, TheatreSquared remains rooted in its founding vision, that “theatre—done well and with passion—can transform lives and communities.”
For updates on TheatreSquared, visit here and follow on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or Twitter.
About The Civilians
Celebrating our 20th Season, The Civilians is dedicated to ambitious and exuberant new theater that creatively interrogates our lived experience; questions and tests the stories that shape our world; and awakens new thinking. Our signature work is “investigative theater,” projects created through field research, community collaborations, and other methods of inquiry. With a multi-faceted new work program (R&D Group, Cabaret Series and more), we develop or produce 15 – 20 new plays and musicals each season. Shows originated by The Civilians include Anne Washburn’s Mr. Burns, a post-electric play, Lucas Hnath’s Dana H., José Rivera’s Another Word for Beauty, and many works with composer Michael Friedman: Gone Missing, Pretty Filthy, Paris Commune and more. The company has been produced in several BAM Next Wave Festivals, with many major regional and Off-Broadway theaters, and we were the first theater company to be Artist-in-Residence at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Our collaboration with Ghostlight Records, The Michael Friedman Recording Project, is creating nine albums of our founding member’s works. To hear the first five albums, visit here.
For updates on The Civilians, visit here and follow on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or Twitter.
Press Contact: John Wyszniewski, Everyman Agency, john@everymanagency.com, 347-416-3881.
###