Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Bulgakov Project History



Artel began work on the Bulgakov Project (working title) on March 15, 2006. Ten artists dove into an investigation of Mikhail Bulgakov's life, writings, Russian history and culture, as well as examining those of America and the world.

Our process is collaborative: we co-create, we riff off each others ideas, impulses, we improvise, we discuss the final score, we present the work in progress. The final work will be a devised original piece of theatre based on Bulgakov. Artel anticipates presenting the project by the Spring of 2007.

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Now: It's been almost 6 months, we come together 3 times a week. We dream to come together every day. The daily grind of jobs for survival will make us stronger. One day will own a farm.

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Past: In addition to individual reading lists, we have collectively improvised, imagined the following plays (pictures are coming soon):
  • Days of the Turbins
  • Zoya's Apartment
  • Crimson Island
  • Flight
There are many others to cover, as well as those of Vladimir Mayakovsky, and possibly other playwrites of the time period.

Our creations thus far (pictures are coming):
  • 2 installments of solo compositions
  • 1 installment of "Bulgakov-15 elements" group compositions
  • 2 "Bulgakov Raw" invited audiences, work-in progress performances

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Future: The next extensive work-in-progress will be presented in November in several rounds.