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On February 25—26, 2012, the scholarly conference Dialogues and Meetings: Russian and American Theater in the 20th Century took place at the American Corner of the Vologda Academic Library. It was the initiative of Fulbright alumni from Vologda.

Scholars from Yaroslavl, St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Vologda met to discuss some trends of theater development in the two countries. Conference papers were devoted to American and Russian theater as well as the dialogue on theatrical traditions in the 20th and 21st centuries.

In the framework of the conference there were readings of new plays by contemporary American playwrights. The readings are part of the project New American Plays for Russia (author and curator John Freedman, Moscow). The plays were translated by the Center for International Theatre Development and supported by the U.S. Embassy in Moscow under the aegis of the U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission.

Vologda theater actors presented two famous contemporary plays; «End Days» by Deborah Zoe Laufer, translated by Nina and Alexandra Belenitskaya, and «Book of Grace» by Susan Lori Park, translated by famous Russian playwright Yury Klavdiev from the word-for-word translation by Mariya Nikolaeva.

Maxim Gudkov, actor and teacher from St. Petersburg, presented the paper on Sanford Meisner’s teaching technique. After the conference he conducted a training session for Vologda theater actors, based on Meisner’s approach.

The conference in Vologda was supported by the Fulbright program in Russia, the Consulate General of the United States in St. Petersburg, the Vologda State Pedagogic University, PH-International-Russia, and John Freedman who kindly provided the event with the plays of contemporary American playwrights.

At the opening of the conference, the consul from the Consulate General of the United States in St. Petersburg, John Etcheverry, and the professor, honored worker of culture of the Russian Federation Tatyana Zlotnikova (Yaroslavl) greeted the audience.

This book is a collection of conference papers grouped into five sections according to their themes. The first section, «In Captivity of Time,» is comprised of papers that discuss historical figures of American and Russian theater tradition – Isadora Duncan and Anatoly Efros and also the phenomenon of Silver Age mask. The second section, «Teachers and Students,» includes papers that assess Russian and American theater teaching tradition and mutual relations between them. The third section, «The Footlights,» contains studies of stage design in the USA, analysis of American plays in contemporary Russian theaters, and reviews of performances based on the prose of the Russian immigrant writer Sasha Sokolov who lives in the USA. The fourth section, «To the Music Sounds,» introduces contemporary musical genres on stage and reflects their innovative traits. The fifth section, «Outside the Stage», presents some contemporary works which are relatively, but nevertheless tightly connected with the theater. The organizers emphasize interdisciplinary and comparative approach of this book.

Therefore, this collection brings together a variety of papers that reflect on contemporary and historical issues of American and Russian theater studies as well as mutual influence of two theatrical traditions.

The editors thank the authors for their contributions and hope for future collaboration.

The publication became possible thanks to the support of the US Consulate General in St-Petersburg.

Elena Yushkova, Lyudmila Yakusheva