Krymov Continues at La Mama

There is new a theater in town, have you noticed?

Krymov Lab NYC was started in 2022 by the prominent Russian director in exile Dmitry Krymov, with a residency in LaMama Experimental Theatre Club in East Village.

What makes Krymov's theater special? 

The thing is - it's not so much HIS theater, it's just as much YOUR theater! See, we usually go TO theater, but in Krymov's case, you go INTO theater. When you enter, you become part of it. How?

The actors are going to talk to you. Yes, directly. They may touch you, comment on your dress. They climb the amphitheater, stepping over your shoulder. They may ask you to come on the stage and help them out a little during the performance. 

There is a DYI ambiance, and your own imagination plays a very important role. The level of involvement is such that you start feeling it's you imagining the act. You are not just a viewer, you are a co-creator of this theater.

As an example, let me recount one of my personal experiences. 

Krymov's "Three Love Stories..." is based on three separate pieces from American literature. When I read Hemingway's short story "Hills Like White Elephants"(two pages of prose laced with suggestive omissions and underhanded meanings) I experience suspense, excellent suspense, the "Old Hem" signature style.

With Krymov I BECOME that suspense! I am playfully put into the story, not knowing the end. The gaps in the story (purposefully left there by the author) are filled with something even more mysterious: snippets of new (possible) stories created by imagination. When the lead character (facing an extremely important decision she needs to make) is left alone by her partner, for just couple of minutes, suddenly her "alter ego" emerges. It's a half-naked male dancer - sensual, warm, supportive, - everything her partner is not. 

Did Hemingway allude to something like that in his story? Maybe not. But my reader's intuition could. And Krymov made it real. He made me believe in my imagination. 

That's what makes his theater very special.