Theater As Life: Five Modern Plays

He founded theaters, directed plays and opera, was a theater historian, and wrote some thirty plays. as a playwright he explored the dichotomy of reality and illusion, employing the full range of theatrical resources including music, dance, color, plays-within-plays, disguises, complex plots, and surprise endings. Long unavailable, this essential anthology contains translations of five plays; Evreinov's best known, The Main Thing, which in its time was produced by Pirandello's theater and then on Broadway starring Edward G. Robinson and Lee Strasberg, as well as A Merry Death, The Ship of the Righteous, The Theater of the Soul, and The Theater of the Eternal War. Rounding out the volume is an extensive introduction by Christopher Collins, written in consultation with Evreinov's widow, and many rare illustrations and photographs, including portraits of Evreinov, sketches of sets by the playwright, and photographs from productions in NYC, Paris, Milan, and Warsaw.

Nikolai Evreinov (1879-1953) was a Russian playwright, director, and producer associated with the Russian symbolists. Christopher Collins studied Evreinov’s work as a Fulbright fellow in Paris. His translations and articles have appeared in the ＂Russian Literature Triquarterly＂ and ＂Slavic and East European Journal.＂