Spotlight on 3rd Year Inna Tsyrlin

The 25th Annual Seabury Quinn, Jr. Playwrights’ Festival is almost here! The featured, Thesis Productions of our Third Year MFA Playwrights debut this weekend, April 18th-20th, in Kantner Hall on the Elizabeth Evans Baker Stage. To celebrate the opening of the featured productions, and leading up to the festival staged readings on the 25th, 26th, and 27th, we will be featuring daily spotlights on Ohio University’s nine MFA Playwrights.

Name: Inna Tsyrlin

Pronouns: she/her

Hometown: Melbourne, Australia

Undergrad: Bachelor of Commerce, Monash Australia

Favorite Play: I Am My Own Wife by Doug Wright

I Am My Own Wife, has taught me that as a writer I shouldn’t ever judge my characters and that one character can be many things.

Favorite TV show: Catastrophe

Favorite Movie: The Godfather

Favorite Book: Eugene Onegin by Aleksander Pushkin

“Fun fact” related to Stitched with a Sickle and a Hammer:

My play is based on a real event, but I haven’t stuck to the facts. The beauty of theatre is you get to imagine/re-imagine what could have been and then bring that to life on stage.

Another factoid: My play, although set in 1944, is responding to the current US-Russian relations and shows just how many connections there are between the two nations. My hope is that my play sparks a curiosity toward Russia beyond the current political and media circus.

New Play Exchange: Inna Tsyrlin

See Inna’s Thesis Production of Stitched With a Sickle and a Hammer

directed by Anne McAlexander

8:00 p.m. – April 19th & 27th, Elizabeth Baker Theater, Kantner Hall
2:00 p.m. – April 20th, Elizabeth Baker Theater, Kantner Hall

Aleksandra, a political prisoner at a GULAG camp and part of the camp’s theatre troupe, is forced to aid Soviet authorities disguise the existence of the camp in front of a visiting American delegation. She prepares for two roles: the character on stage – Nina from Chekhov’s The Seagull – and the role of an actor who isn’t imprisoned. In the face of totalitarian power, inside and outside the camp, Aleksandra must decide whether to comply with the regime that has taken away her freedom or commit an act of counterrevolution.

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Twitter: @ohioplaywriting