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Theatre Novi Most presents "M2: Mayakovsky and Marinetti" at Open Eye Figure Theatre May 14 - 23.

Vladimir Rovinsky is an actor, writer and director steeped in the tradition of Russian drama: Anton Chekhov, Ivan Turgenev, Alexander Pushkin, Nikolai Gogol. But you wouldn't know it from hearing him teach:

"I tell my students that language and scripts are the death of the theater," said Rovinsky, in a recent conversation. He continued:

Rovinsky says it's movement and expression which is vital to the real understanding of a story. And so he creates theater that is even more dependent on action than it is on words. Russian-born Rovinsky and his wife, American-born Lisa Channer, are the co-founders of 

, or "New Bridge Theatre." They met at the Yale School of Drama as part of a large-scale Russian-American theater project. Ravinsky says then, and in the years following (as he decided to continue working in the United States), language became an obstacle:

As for Lisa Channer, she was drawn to explore the strange relationship between Russia and the U.S. She says the countries are both attracted to and repulsed by one another:

When Channer and Rovinsky moved their theater company to the Twin Cities a couple of years ago, Channer says they did so in part because of the strong presence of Russian immigrants.

Channer says her husband, who often gives his lines in Russian, gets to have a more subtle relationship with the Russian-Americans in the audience.

While Russia and the United States tend to dominate Novi Most productions, that is not always the case. The theater company's upcoming show "M2" is inspired by the lives of two futurist poets, 

. Ravinsky wrote the play based on historical letters, poems and texts by the two futurists. Marinetti was the founder of 

, which rejected the past; celebrated speed, machinery, violence, youth and industry; and sought the modernisation and cultural rejuvenation of Italy. But Channer says don't let the philosphy and intellectualism dissuade you from seeing the play:

Rovinsky says ultimately the play itself becomes a sort of visual poem.

"M2: Mayakovsky and Marinetti" runs May 14 - 23 at 

Arts and Culture

State of the Arts Blog

Marianne Combs

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Theatre Novi Most explores the strange relationship between the U.S. and Russian through an extremely physical style of drama.

A new bridge between two distinct cultures

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