Everything as You Wanted (Inflation of Feelings)

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.

Inflation of Feelings at CalArts