Our Life in Art

Richard Nelson

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PERFORMANCE RIGHTS

Description

Inspired by the Moscow Art Theatre’s historic tour of America in 1923–1924, where Konstantin Stanislavski’s company was awaited with feverish anticipation, OUR LIFE IN ART presents the Russian actors over the course of one day while they are far from home, and political and financial dangers press upon them from all sides.

Production Info

Cast: 11 total (5 female, 6 male)
Full Length Drama (about 115 minutes)
Single Set
Period Costumes
Categories: , Tags: ,
Reviews

Press Quotes

“[Set] around the 1923 Chicago tour of the Moscow Art Theatre. At the time, Stanislavski was directing Russian actors in plays by the recently deceased Anton Chekhov. They all gather around a festive meal, remaking the world, while their return to Moscow is dreaded. A show of luminous humanity and quivering anxiety.” —Artistkrezo

“It is the best American play I’ve seen in many seasons.” —John Lahr, Air Mail

“An astonishing show that resonates and reveals itself even beyond performance time, vigorously asserting the resilient vitality of art despite its modest appearance.” —La Terrasse

“OUR LIFE IN ART is an antidote to gloom.” —Le Monde

“Sometimes, very rarely, magic comes to the stage. It is a special kind of magic, an enchantment, a vibration … The author, American Richard Nelson, feels the same compassion and affection for his characters … as Chekhov did for even the least of his own, and he shares it with us.” —Le Canard Enchaine

“We find ourselves touching the sublime in this most mundane everyday life.” —Figaro

About the Author

Author

  • Richard Nelson

    Richard Nelson's plays include the four-play series, THE APPLE FAMILY (THAT HOPEY CHANGEY THING, SWEET AND SAD, SORRY, REGULAR SINGING (Nominated for Outstanding Play in Drama Desk Awards 2014; Public Theater, 2010 – 2013), NIKOLAI AND THE OTHERS (Lincoln Center Theater, 2013), FAREWELL TO THE THEATRE (Hampstead Theatre, 2012), HOW SHAKESPEARE WON THE WEST, (Huntington Theater, 2008), CONVERSATIONS AT TUSCULUM (Public Theater, 2008), FRANK'S HOME (Goodman Chicago, Playwrights Horizons, 2007), RODNEY'S WIFE (Playwrights Horizons, 2004), WHERE I COME FROM (National Theatre Connections), MADAME MELVILLE (which ran in the West End starring Macaulay Culkin and Irene Jacob and opened in May 2001 Off-Broadway); GOODNIGHT CHILDREN EVERYWHERE (winner of Olivier Award for Best New Play, 2000), KENNETH'S FIRST PLAY (with Colin Chambers, RSC), THE GENERAL FROM AMERICA (at the RSC and the Lucille Lortel Theatre, New York), NEW ENGLAND (RSC and Manhattan Theater Club), MISHA'S PARTY (with Alexander Gelman, RSC and Williamstown Theater Festival), TWO SHAKESPEAREAN ACTORS (Tony nomination for Best Play, RSC and Broadway), COLUMBUS AND THE DISCOVERY OF JAPAN (RSC Barbican), SOME AMERICANS ABROAD (Olivier nomination, Best Comedy; RSC, Lincoln Center and Broadway), LEFT, BETWEEN EAST AND WEST (Hampstead), PRINCIPIA SCRIPTORAE (winner of Time Out Award, RSC and Manhattan Theater Club), THE RETURN OF PINOCCHIO, AN AMERICAN COMEDY, BAL, CONJURING AN EVENT, RIP VAN WINKLE, JUNGLE COUP, THE KILLING OF YABLONSKI, THE VIENNA NOTES (Obie Award). His musicals include JAMES JOYCE'S THE DEAD (starring Christopher Walken and Blair Brown; Playwrights Horizons, Belasco Theatre, Broadway, Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, Kennedy Center, Washington; for which he received a Tony Award in 2000 for Best Musical Book), CHESS (the book for the Broadway musical), PARADISE FOUND (dir: Harold Prince and Susan Strohman), MY LIFE WITH ALBERTINE (with Ricky Ian Gordon; Playwrights Horizons), UNFINISHED PIECE FOR A PLAYER PIANO (with Peter Golub). His translations and adaptations include TYNAN starring Corin Redgrave (with Colin Chambers, RSC and West End), LOLITA with Brian Cox (National), Molnar's THE GUARDSMAN (Kennedy Center), Carriere's THE CONTROVERSY (Public Theater), Fo's ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF AN ANARCHIST (Broadway), Strindberg's THE FATHER with Frank Langella (Broadway) and MISS JULIE (Yale Rep), Beaumarchais' THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO (the Guthrie and Broadway); Molière's DON JUAN, Ibsen's WILD DUCK and ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE, Pirandello's ENRICO IV, Goldoni's IL CAMPIELLO, Erdmann's THE SUICIDE. With the esteemed translators Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, he was co-translated Chekhov's THE CHERRY ORCHARD, Gogol's THE INSPECTOR, Turgenev's A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY and Bulgakov's DON QUIXOTE. Films: Hyde Park on Hudson, staring Bill Murray and Laura Linney (Dir: Roger Michell), Ethan Frome, starring Liam Neeson (Dir: John Madden); Sensibility and Sense, staring Elaine Stritch and Jean Simmons (Dir: David Jones). Television: The End of a Sentence with Edward Herrmann (Dir: David Jones). Radio Plays include: HYDE PARK ON HUDSON, LANGUAGES SPOKEN HERE (Giles Cooper Award), EATING WORDS (Giles Cooper Award), ADVICE TO EASTERN EUROPE, AN AMERICAN WIFE (all BBC).

About the Book

Book Information

Publisher BPPI
Publication Date 8/21/2025
Pages 98
ISBN 9798888560594

Special Notes

Special Notes

Licensees are required to include the original stage producers credits in the following form on the title page in all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play and in all advertising in which the full cast appears in size of type not less than ten percent (10%) of the size of the title of the Play:

OUR LIFE IN ART was commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM).

Premiered as Notre vie dans l’art
at the Théâtre du Soleil (Festival d’Automne, Co-Producer)
in Paris on 6 December 2023,
in a translation by Ariane Mnouchkine.

The following must appear within all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play:
Our Life in Art is produced
by special arrangement with Broadway Play Publishing Inc, NYC
www.broadwayplaypublishing.com