2026 CDTPS Mainstage Show: Kostroma
When and Where
Description
Join us for the 2026 Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies Mainstage Show Kostroma written by CDTPS alumna Polly Phokeev, directed by CDTPS faculty member Beatriz Pizano and performed by our DRM403 students running from March 5 to 8, 2026 at the Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse.
Synopsis:
A post-communist fever dream about a woman trying to wrangle together a fair election in an autocratic regime run by clown bureaucrats, about a family trying to reconcile at the end of the world, about a community trying to find its footing in the aftermath of a failed revolution. There are ghosts, chickens, executioners, ballrooms filled with shards of glass. Absurd, playful, queer in every sense, Kostroma, like politics, like family, is an Escher staircase, winding through a shifting landscape like dictators and children reinventing the rules of a game in play.
Cast:
The family
Masha: Andrea Perez
Stepan: Malcolm Crysler-Howard
Kaka: Ella Annis
Artur: Lev Tokol
The officers
Muzzle: Grace Huestis
Buckle: Grace Keeping
Grim: Artemis Riedmueller
Whip: Hannah Jamal
The city
Ina: Anya Ivantchenko
Old man: Samuel Barnes
Simon: Japneet Kaur
Chicken: Ella Annis
Mayor: Kennedy McCarthy
Others
Lepidopterist: Adelaine Aniag
Pacifist: Japneet Kaur
Opportunist: Kennedy McCarthy
The Local: Dalila Bejar-Ali
Creative Team:
Playwright: Polly Phokeev
Director and DRM403 instructor: Beatriz Pizano
Costume Designer: Andrew Nasturzio
Lighting Designer: Trevor Schwellnus
Sound & Projection Designer and DRM354 instructor: Daniel Tessy
DRM403 TA: Yizhou Zhang
CDTPS Manager of Theatre Operations: Ariel Martin-Smith
CDTPS Technical Director: Adrien Whan
Intern Technical Director: Cici Nie
Stage Manager: Sichun Xia
Performance dates:
Thursday, March 5 at 7:30PM
Friday, March 6 at 7:30PM
Saturday, March 7 at 2:00PM
Saturday, March 7 at 7:30PM
Sunday, March 8 at 2:00PM
More details on how to reserve your tickets will be coming soon.
Poster by Adelaine Aniag.