Periods of Collapse OR Mother Russia
By Lauren Yee
‘I don’t know how to buy toothpaste. I go to the store. there are so many brands to choose from now, that I can’t. I go and I come out with nothing. I haven’t brushed in two weeks. my teeth are rotting and I don’t know what to do about it.’
June 1992 – three years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Six months since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Euvgeny and Dmitri, two young Russian bros, are in dead end surveillance jobs. Their latest target is Katya, a young Ukrainian pop star turned nursery teacher – and the ex-girlfriend of their boss. They’re just trying to find their way after the fall of Communism, all watched over by Mother Russia.
Lauren Yee’s CAMBODIAN ROCK BAND, with music by Dengue Fever, premiered at South Coast Rep, subsequent productions at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, City Theatre, Merrimack Rep, Signature Theatre, Portland Center Stage, and Jungle Theatre. Her play THE GREAT LEAP has been produced at the Denver Center, Seattle Repertory, Atlantic Theatre, the Guthrie Theatre, American Conservatory Theatre, Arts Club, InterAct Theatre, and Steppenwolf, with future productions at Long Wharf and Asolo Rep/Miami New Drama. Honors include the Doris Duke Artists Award, Whiting Award, Steinberg/ATCA Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters literature award, Horton Foote Prize, Kesselring Prize, Primus Prize, a Hodder Fellowship at Princeton, and the #1 and #2 plays on the 2017 Kilroys List. She’s a Residency 5 playwright at Signature Theatre, New Dramatists members, Ma-Yi Writers’ Lab member, and Playwrights Realm alumni playwright. TV credits: PACHINKO (Apple), SOUNDTRACK (Netflix). Current commissions include Geffen Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse, Portland Center Stage, Second Stage, South Coast Rep. BA: Yale. MFA: UCSD.
Lauren is eligible for the Bruntwood Prize International Award
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