nthWORD Shorts

“War, that’s a pain that never goes away, it’s when you can’t even look at the world anymore because all you can do is calculate where a sniper would most likely settle in. It’s when you hate seeing the sun. It’s the trees and the earth that are always with you and which smell of scorched gun powder and blood.”

—Yury Klavdiev (from "I Am the Machine Gunner" trans. by John Freedman)

If you haven't had a chance yet to read our feature I Am the Machine Gunner in the current issue, take some time on your lunch break. You'll want to read it again, and maybe even a third time, like I did. It's that good. The one man monologue reads like a short story. Gunner is being staged for the first time in the US this week. So if you're on the East Coast, get there. Here's the skinny:

BALTIMORE - September 2-12, 2010, at Baltimore Theatre Project Generous Company will present John Freedman's translation of Yury Klavdiev's I Am the Machine Gunner starring James Knight and directed by David M. White.

Yury Klavdiev’s I Am the Machine Gunner is a work that transcends time, place and person to capture the struggle of a gang member trying to find the same honor in his own battles that his grandfather found fighting Germany in World War II. Translator John Freedman states that, “Klavdiyev’s mix of violence and tenderness, vulgarity and poetry, is now clearly beginning to make a mark in English. His plays are not for the squeamish. But if you appreciate theater that puts you on the spot, Klavdiev is ready to do that.” Echoing both the horrors of war and the brutality of gang life Freedman presents a poetic, vulgar, violent and aggressive translation of Klavdiev's work. With regard to this exhilarating hour-long theatrical experience White states, “We’ve started not asking if spectators want to come to the theater, but rather, can they handle it?”

White initially saw the Klavdiev’s I Am the Machine Gunner at the Nova Drama festival in Bratislava, Slovakia in May 2008 and commissioned the translation from Freedman. In development since June of 2008, Generous Company’s production of I Am the Machine Gunner is the culmination of two years of rehearsal retreats and two workshop productions. White says, “Machine Gunner was a play that I thought would translate well for American audiences, and I knew I wanted actor James Knight in the role.” In 2009, Knight, who has been seen at the Old Globe (San Diego) and Mint Theatre Company (NYC), travelled with White to Moscow, Russia to meet with John Freedman and Yury Klavdiev and attend the Golden Mask Festival on a Center for International Theater Development grant. White and Knight again met with Freedman and Klavdiev at the 2010 New Russian Drama Conference at Towson University. I Am The Machine Gunner was workshopped at WordBRIDGE Playwrights Lab in June 2009 and Towson University in December 2009.

Generous Company is a group of artists dedicated to developing and producing works for stage, film and online media in a supportive, collaborative, generous environment. Projects include the internationally recognized WordBRIDGE Playwrights Laboratory. Generous Company has recently relocated from Connecticut to Baltimore, MD.

The U.S. Premiere of I Am The Machine Gunner will be at the Baltimore Theatre Project:

September 2, 3, 4 @ 8:00pm

September 5 @ 7:00pm

September 9, 10, 11 @ 8:00pm

September 12 @ 7:00pm

Telephone Box Office: Tuesday - Friday, noon - 4:00pm  Phone: 410-752-8558

Address: 45 West Preston Street, Baltimore MD 21201

Press Contact: David White, Phone 860-271-6215.