By Rinat Tashimov (Russia)
Translated from Russian by Bela Shayevich
Directed by Brian Kulick, Theatre
Stage Manager: Christina Marie Woolard
Featuring: Alma Cuervo*, Stan Demidoff*, Roberta Maxwell*, Judith Roberts*, Daniel Morgan Shelley*, Anne Troup*, and Ching Valdes-Aran*
*Appeared courtesy of Actor's Equity Association
In a small village between a river, a forest, and the cursed Shaitan Lake, a mother, Latifa, is visited by her youngest—and only living—son, Marat. Marat, recently returned after two years in prison, has buried a stack of money outside of their small home, and insists on seeing Rimma, the woman Latifa blames for the death of her fourth son. In this town where even the water is cursed, Latifa and Marat find themselves threatened by their own choices as much as the supernatural.
Rinat Tashimov was born in 1989 in the Tatar village of Incess in Sibera. Before attending school, he did not speak the Russian language. At age 15, he began acting on the professional stage. In 2013, he joined the Kolyada Theater in Yekaterinburg, where he studied under Russian playwright Nikolai Kolyada and wrote his first play. In 2014, he began working at the Center of Contemporary Drama, where he created over ten performances of modern and classical plays. He currently directs the film school Masterskaya Kinolook, where he teaches the film and documentary production.
About the International Play Reading Festival
Organized by Dean Carol Becker and David Henry Hwang, the Inaugural Columbia University School of the Arts International Play Reading Festival presented readings of three plays by living international playwrights that were not originally written in English:
Time Bomb, N. Riantiarno (Indonesia)
Shaitan Lake, Rinat Tashminov (Russia)
Where Can I Find Someone Like You, Ali?, Raeda Taha (Palestine)
The goal of the festival is to expand contemporary American understanding of theatre beyond that of English-speaking countries, and to present new theatrical voices to US audiences.
Playwright Rinat Tashimov
Photos by Michael DiVito