Pop-Up Theatre from St. Petersburg, Russia makes its US debut with the North American premiere of “Fuel” a monologue based on interviews with David Yang the Russian businessman and founder of ABBYY Software, one of the largest tech companies in Russia. "Fuel” offers an insightful glimpse into Russian society by using abstract drama to highlight the thoughts, aspirations and dreams of its citizens and to depict societal change. The play covers the period of Yang’s earlier life through the last years of the USSR, Glasnost and Perestroika and into the dawn of the 21st Century. It begins with Yang’s childhood (he wondered about the fleeting nature of existence even at a young age), and his initial career path: that of a physicist. He describes struggling through schooling at the Moscow Institute for Physics and Technology, the most important physics program in Russia. Along the way, he is met with racism (as a Chinese Russian), a grueling workload and thoughts of suicide. Yang’s career intersects with the phenomenon of “flash mobs” in Russia. “Fuel” considers the existential ramifications for a recently totalitarian system coming to terms with individual expression: the ability of non-state actors to instigate the movements and actions of masses of people without the prior knowledge of the authorities.

Fuel Description in Russian. Герой спектакляо – Давид Ян, создатель компании Abbyy, разработчик электронных словарей Lingvo и зачинатель флешмобов в России. Документальная пьеса Евгения Казачкова написана на основе многочасовых бесед с самим Яном, единственным персонажем «Топлива». Вербатим открывает театру возможность сфокусироваться на внутреннем мире человека, на драматургии его жизни. Ян в формате лекции рассказывает о поступлении в физтех, об авантюре с первым электронным словарем, о том, как жизнь профессиональная запараллелилась с личной. На выходе получается история о поиске смысла жизни, о жажде бессмертия, о том, как изменить мир к лучшему. Фрагменты флешмобов, инициированных Яном, вкраплены в ткань повествования: флешмоб как иррациональное действие, направленное на деформацию привычной реальности, зарифмован с темой решающих выборов. Максим Фомин, играющий Яна, обращается к зрителям, но иногда к своей копии, оживающей на экране. Образ Яна двоится, троится, иллюстрируя не только сложность человеческой натуры, но и возможности интеллекта, меняющего сознание с помощью технологий.

Pop-Up Theatre was founded four years ago based on a strategy to develop a form of “guerrilla theater.” The goal of the company is to create new performances that expand the meaning of the word “theater.” To go beyond, break boundaries, explore reality and become an object and subject of study itself. All three of the creative team members of Pop-Up Theatre’s “Fuel” are part of a younger generation of Russian theatrical practitioners that operate within the “knot of contradictions” termed New Drama, which was described by the Russian publication Colta as “a kind of alternative to repertoire theatre…where everything has been the same for centuries.”

Yevgeny Kazachkov (Playwright)
Playwright Yevgeny Kazachkov is also a translator and screenwriter. He leads the scenario workshop at the Higher School of Art Practices and Museum Technologies of the Faculty of Art History of the Russian State University for the Humanities. He also teaches at the Moscow Film School.

Semion Aleksandrovskiy (Director)
Director Semion Aleksandrovskiy is one of the leaders of modern theatre directing, working in documentary theatre. He is also a lighting designer – a training that is used to good effect in the projections and staging of “Fuel.” He graduated in 2007 from the directing department of the St. Petersburg Theatre Arts Academy, Studio of People's Artist of Russia under the tutelage of Lev Dodin.

Maxim Fomin (Lead Performer)
Maxim Fomin is an actor and performance artist who works collaboratively with theatre creators. Other Golden Mask nominated projects that featured Mr. Fomin include Bertolt Brecht’s “Refugee Conversations” in 2017 and the Masterskaya Theatre stage adaptation of Alexander Fadeyev’s novel “The Young Guard” in 2015.