by Ksenia Dragunskaya
Marina Derbarendicker, a young liteary scholar from Moscow, travels to the provincial town of V. Dvorki, to meet her friend Nikita U., a Moscow artist. While there, she meets the Cowboy, a shepherd with literary aspirations. After being encouraged by Marina to leave the country and travel to Moscow, the Cowboy’s request is denied by the head of the village Agricultural Council. Enraged, the Cowboy stabs the man twenty-six times and departs for Moscow. Called in by the government to quell the riots that began with the murder, Special Forces arrive in the village, only to be destroyed by a mythical creature that lives in the river.
Ksenia Dragunskaya is a playwright, prose writer. She graduated from the USSR State Cinematography Institute (Script Department). She has worked as an author and the host of various radio programs for children, as editor-in-chief of the fairy-tale newspaper “Once upon a time”. She has written three radio plays for children, a script for the film “I don’t believe you any more” and three books of stories for children. Her stories have been included into the schoolchildren reading-book on literature. She has written more than 10 plays for adults, six children's plays and two stage versions, all published by the most distinguished magazines and staged in many theatres in Moscow, Russia and all over the former Soviet Union. Her plays "Forever and Ever" and "The Red-Haired Play" were both short listed for the Anti-Booker prize, the latter forming the basis for a TV film. The plays were translated into English, French, German, Serbian and Japanese.
Her latest premieres are “Edith Piaff. My legionary”(staged by Roman Viktyuk), “The Feeling of the Beard” (Centre of Playwrighting and Directing, director Olga Subbotina). “Мy Fair Lady” after the famous musical with events transferred into the Russian reality (director Dmitry Bertman, “Et Cetera” theatre company). “The Apple Thief” (Saint-Petersburg Academical Comedy Theatre, director Tatyaana Kozakova and Moscow Academical Satire Theatre, director Olga Subbotina). “The Red-Haired Play” was named the best play for teenagers at the All-Russia competition and was short listed for the Anti-Booker prize, the latter forming the basis for a TV film. The plays “All the boys are fools”, “Big Fur Papa”, “Upside Down”, “The Secret of the Disappearing Snow” are running in many cities of Russia and former USSR. She is a member of the Russian Writers Association and of the Russian Theatre Association.
