Intractable Woman

September 13–October 14, 2018

Italy — U.S. Premiere

A riveting theatrical portrait of the journalist and activist Anna Politkovskaya, this powerful play, by one of Italy’s most celebrated writers, takes us behind the headlines she generated while exposing details of Russia’s war in Chechnya.

Meet the Artists

Stefano Massini is a multiple award-winning writer and director, and the artistic director of the Piccolo Teatro di Milano. His plays have been translated and published in many languages. Intractable Woman premiered in the 2007-08 season and has been performed throughout Europe and internationally. Massini’s play the The Lehman Trilogy, inspired by the 2008 banking crisis, premiered at the Piccolo is 2015 directed by Luca Ronconi. Translated into 14 languages and performed at many major European theatres, the trilogy will be staged in a new production directed by Sam Mendes at London’s National Theater in July, 2018. Massini’s book The Lehman Trilogy, based on the play and published in 2017, received many awards including the Mondello – Super Mondello award, the Campiello Jury of Literary Experts Award, the Giusti Award, the Fiesole Award and the De Sica award. His second novel, The Interpreter of Dreams, was adapted into a play and premiered at the Piccolo in 2018.

Lee Sunday Evans (Director) Lee Sunday Evans is a two-time Obie Award-winning Director + Choreographer and the Artistic Director of Waterwell. She most recently directed the acclaimed production of Heather Christian’s Oratorio for Living Things and was just announced as the director of a Broadway-bound musical adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time. She is developing a TV project for A24. Notable credits include Dance Nation by Clare Barron, Detroit Red by Will Power, Sunday by Jack Thorne, In the Green by Grace McLean, Miller, Mississippi by Boo Killebrew, Home by Geoff Sobelle, and Sobelle’s Food, which she co-directed. She also directed The Courtroom by Arian Moayed (NY Times Best Theater of 2019) which she just directed as a feature-length film that premiered in the 2022 Tribeca Festival.

Paula Wing is a playwright, actor and translator. Her translation of Stefano Massini’s Intractable Woman, premiered in Montréal, Québec at Imago Theatre in 2017. This year, her original play Risky Phil premiered at Young Peoples Theatre in Toronto and her musical adaptation of Margaret Mahy's The Man Whose Mother Was A Pirate toured Eastern Ontario with Thousand Islands Playhouse. Paula’s stage adaptation of Ben Rice’s novella Pobby and Dingan was published in 2016 through the Kennedy Centre. She is a Resident Artist at Soulpepper Theatre Company in Toronto, where she is active in their youth and community programming. Paula is a sessional professor at the University of Windsor in the Acting and the Education and Community programs. Paula originated the role of Karole in the world premiere of The Canadian at the Thousand Islands Playhouse this past summer.

Nadine Malouf (Actor) most recently played the lead role of Laila, in the world
premiere adaptation of Khalid Hosseini’s best-selling novel,

A Thousand Splendid Suns, at American Conservatory Theatre, that then went on to Theatre Calgary, in Canada. She also played the title role in the world premiere of Salomé, written and directed by Yaël Farber, at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in DC [winner of seven Helen Hayes Awards in 2016]. Off-Broadway, Malouf most recently appeared in the world premiere of Ultimate Beauty Bible Page73), This is How it Ends (59E59), The School for Scandal (Redbull Theatre), The Who & The What (LCT3), and Exile (Cherry Lane). Other theatre includes Scorched (Syracuse Stage) and Macbeth (GBS Theatre, RADA). Malouf has developed new work at Sundance Theatre Lab, The Public, Lincoln Center, New York Theatre Workshop, and most recently with Simon McBurney. TV credits include Mysteries of Laura and Odd Mom Out. In the film, Malouf recently played the lead role in the short film Resolutions, which premiered this year at the LA Indie Film Festival; other films include May in the Summer, Shame, and Static Shock. Malouf received her training at Syracuse University and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Nicole Shalhoub (Actress) Broadway: China Doll Off-Broadway: The Fifth Column (The Mint), Intractable Woman (PlayCo) Select Regional: Failure: A Love Story (Center Theater Group); American Night (Yale Rep); Arabian Nights (Berkeley Rep); Icarus (Lookingglass) TV/Film: Tulsa King, EVIL, Girls5Eva, Bull, The Good Fight, Madam Secretary, Legends, The Good Wife, Scandal, The New Girl, Criminal Minds, L&O, Wetware, SATC 2, The International. Education: BA Columbia University; MFA A.R.T./MXAT Institute at Harvard.

Stacey Yen (Actress) NY Theatre: Ars Nova, Bushwick Starr, PlayCo, Playwrights Horizons, The Public Theater, Under the Radar Festival, among others. Regional Theatre: ACT, Arena Stage, Berkeley Rep, Goodman Theatre, Hartford Stage, Hudson Valley Shakespeare, Huntington Theatre Company, Lookingglass, Williamstown Theater Festival, among others. International Theatre: Kings Theater, Scotland and The Esplanade, Singapore. TV Credits: Elementary, Madame Secretary, Treme, The Blacklist, High Maintenance, Gossip Girl, The Good Wife, among others. Education: Brown University (BA), NYU Graduate Acting (MFA).

Marsha Ginsberg (Set Design, Costume Design) is an Obie Award-winning scenic and costume designer working in theater, environmental performance and opera throughout the U.S. and Europe. Previously with Knud Adams: Every Angel is Brutal, Clubbed Thumb; Everybody at Hunter College. With PlayCo she
designed Stefano Massini’s Intractable Woman, directed by Lee Sunday Evans.
Upcoming: Britten’s Midsummer Night’s Dream at Deutsche Oper Berlin; St.
Giovanni Battista, Opera Omaha; Otello at Dutch National Opera, Amsterdam.
As a recipient of a Rome Prize, she will be in residence at American Academy in
Rome in 2020. She is an Associate Arts Professor at NYU Abu Dhabi.

Junghyun Georgia Lee (Costume Designer) is a Korean born NYC based designer. She designed for Audible Theatre, the Atlantic Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, Ma-Yi, Public, Soho Rep, The Play Co., Alley Theatre, Hartford Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, Guthrie Theater, Huntington Theatre Company, Indiana Repertory Theater, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Alliance and Syracuse Stage. She was nominated for Outstanding Set Design for Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord. MFA, Yale School of Drama. junghyungeorgialeedesign.com

Masha Tsimring (Lighting Designer) Masha is a NYC based lighting designer for performance. Recently: Noura (STC/NYUAD); The Wolves (Marin Theatre Co); Electric Lucifer (The Kitchen); Sarabande (LA Dance Project); Heart of Darkness (BAC); Ultimate Beauty Bible (Page73); Destiny Estimate (MJ Kaufman); Minor Character (New Saloon); As You Like It (CalShakes); Frontieres Sans Frontieres (Bushwick Starr); MFA - Yale School of Drama. www.mashald.com

Stowe Nelson (Sound Designer) Off-Broadway: Queens, The Wolves (Lincoln Center Theater); Miles for Mary, Samuel & Alasdair (Drama Desk Nom, The Mad Ones); Small Mouth Sounds (Lortel Nom, Ars Nova); Animal Wisdom (Bushwick Starr). Regional Theatre: Artney Jackson (Williamstown); Peter Pan (Bard Summerscape); Evocation to Visible Appearance, Marginal Loss (Humana Festival). More info: www.wingspace.com/stowe

Joan Sergay (Director) is a Brooklyn-based director. She has directed and developed work at Clubbed Thumb, Ensemble Studio Theater, Colt Coeur, Penguin Random House, Geffen Playhouse, Westport Country Playhouse, and Actors Theatre of Louisville. She has assisted directors at The Play Company, Playwrights Horizons, Vineyard Theatre, and The New Group. Joan is a New Georges Affiliated Artist and a former Directing Fellow at Clubbed Thumb, Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, and Actors Theatre of Louisville. BA: Northwestern University

Politkovskaya was assassinated in her Moscow apartment building in 2006. As journalists continue to put their lives on the line around the world, and efforts to undermine a free press escalate here in the U.S., her dispatches speak directly to us today.

REVIEWS OF INTRACTABLE WOMAN:

A NEW YORK TIMES CRITIC’S PICK

“A Slain Journalist’s Voice Resounds. Directed with an uncompromisingly clear eye and steady hand by the gifted Lee Sunday Evans. A vivid portrait of a woman as well as of her times.”
–The New York Times

“Nadine Malouf, Nicole Shalhoub, and Stacey Yen could pass as easily for “nasty” women as “intractable” ones and wear both badges proudly.”
–Theater Mania

“May Massini’s evocation of the memory of Anna Politkovskaya help to remind us all of the vital importance of a free, functioning press to our democracy.”
–Exeunt NYC