Written by Nikolay Rudkovsky
Translated and directed by Aiste Ptakauske
CAST
Old lady – Allison Caldicott-Levitt
Olya – Sophia Wang
Tolya – Brendan McGowen
Waitress – Brittany Woodford
Vadim Petrovich – Taylor Beia
Karina – Janice Pak
Stripper – Justin Montalvo
Olya’s mom – Heather Alpert
Tolya’s mom – Jenny Curtis
Producer of the band – Shawn Allen
Stage Manager – Rebecca L. Trotter
Staged reading at School of Theater of California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA, USA in February 2010
Rudkovsky’s play Everything as You Wanted (Inflation of Feelings) clearly stands out from the Belorussian new drama context due to its optimistic take on the contemporary society. Subtly and wittily depicting vices of modern consumerism, the play looks beyond this surface for indestructible values such as love, friendship, family, and creativity that still hold this society together. Masterfully and playfully intertwining funky modern city culture with the peculiar and secluded lifestyle of a contemporary Belarus village, the play looks into relationship dynamics of couples that belong to three very different generations of the Belarus society. Analyzing the notion of romance as conceived by those who can still remember World War II, those living under the rule of Lukashenka, and those who are only discovering rules of the world as they gradually reveal themselves to them, Inflation of Feelings presents its audience with a fine anatomy of love which as accurately grasps the essence of this feeling as accentuates its different nuances.