Seagull: True Story – May 16-June 1
May 16 – June 1, 2025
Ellen Stewart Theatre
66 East 4th Street
New York, NY 10003
Tickets:
Adults: $45
Students/Seniors: $40
First 10 tickets are $10 (limit 2 per person)
Ticket prices are inclusive of all fees.
Running time: 2 hours and 30 minutes, including 1 intermission
See ProgramDiscussion Panel, May 21st:
This performance ace will be flowed by a discussion panel with:
-Hansol Jung, playwright
-Blanka Zizka, Wilma Project
-James Nicola, Artistic Director Emeritus of New York Theater Workshop
Special Event: Fundraising Gala:
ABOUT
Kon, a director at the Moscow Art Theatre, stages a bold, free-spirited production of Chekhov’s The Seagull—until Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine casts a shadow of censorship. His once vibrant reimagining, rooted in freedom, is reduced to an empty shell of his vision. Determined to save his play, Kon flees to New York, hoping to bring his true vision to life. But the American dream proves cold. His important and symbolic theater production finds little welcome, and he faces loss and rejection. Like Treplev, he teeters on the brink of suicide but refuses to give up. Torn between his Russian roots and an elusive American paradise, Kon must redefine himself as an artist and survive. Inspired by real events.
Alexander Molochnikov (Director), a theater and film director, spoke against Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and moved to NYC. His acclaimed works span drama, ballet, opera, and film.
MART Foundation, a U.S. nonprofit, produces and supports global performing arts, recently co-producing Our Class at BAM/CSC. Through inventive programming, MART showcases top contemporary theater, music, and dance.
En Garde Arts, founded by Executive Artistic Director Anne Hamburger in 1985, is the award-winning pioneer of New York City’s site-specific theatre movement.
CREDITS
CREATIVE
CAST
BIOS
Alexander Molochnikov is a theater director, writer and filmmaker. He worked for over ten years in Moscow where he directed five major productions in drama, a ballet and an opera, two feature films and a TV show. In 2022, he spoke out against the Russian military invasion of Ukraine and then moved to New York. He is now unable to return home to Russia. Since 2014, his first play, 19.14 Cabaret, an antiwar manifest about World War One has been running in repertoire for over ten years at the Moscow Art Theatre of Chekov. However, the theater has removed his name from all materials. The billing now says “Directed by Director”. His opera The Telephone. Medium by Gian Carlo Menotti premiered at the Bolshoi Theatre, along with the ballet The Seagull, which was honored with the “Golden Mask” (the Russian equivalent of the Tony Awards) for best ballet of the year. His feature film Tell Her about moving to the U.S. as a child premiered in 2020 at the 47th SIFF. He created and directed a six-episode series Monastery which became the most popular show of 2022 on streaming platforms in Russia and has directed over ten other shows and films in Moscow. In December 2024, he premiered Crime And Punishment at the Tel Aviv Gesher theater. Keeps filming and staging in NYC.
Discussion Panel, May 21st:
Hansol Jung, playwright. Plays include Merry Me (NYTW) Wolf Play (Soho Rep & Ma-Yi), Wild Goose Dreams (Public Theater), Romeo and Juliet (NAATCO) and Cardboard Piano (Humana Festival). Winner of Obie, Lucille Lortel, Whiting and Herb Alpert award. TV & Film: Pachinko (Apple+) Tales of the City (Netflix). She is a proud member of NYTW’s Usual Suspects, Kilroys and a founding member of the new play collective The Pack. https://www.thepackcompany.org/
MFA: Yale.
Blanka Zizka joined the Wilma Project in 1979. She co-directed her first production, George Orwell’s Animal Farm, with her husband Jiri Zizka. Two years later, they became the Artistic Directors, opened a small 100-seat theater in Center City Philadelphia, and changed the name to the Wilma Theater. In 1996, they moved to a new 300-seat theater. In 2015, Blanka founded the Hothouse company of actors, which has become the heart of the Wilma. Blanka directed around 80 productions. Her favorite: O’Neill’s The Hairy Ape, Fugard’s Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act, Cartwright’s Road, Stoppard’s Travesties and Invention of Love, Mouawad’s Scorched, Slobodzianek’s Our Class, Ruhl’s Eurydice and In the Next Room. Ijames’ Kill Move Paradise, Joseph’s Describe the Night, and Archduke. She received Zelda Fichandler and Vilcek Awards, and many Barrymore Awards for directing and production. She retired from the Wilma in 2021 and works as a freelancer.
James Nicola is the Artistic Director Emeritus of New York Theater Workshop. He is a recipient of Tufts University’s P.T. Barnum Award, the Erwin Piscator Award, the 2015 Miss Lilly Award for supporting women in theater, a 2019 Obie Award for Lifetime Achievement and a 2022 Special Tony Award.
