 Hi, hello, hello. Welcome to ATAP Online, a virtual reading series presented by Asian-American theater artists of Boston. My name is Sarah Shin. My pronouns are she, her, hers, and I am the lead producer of ATAP Online. ATAP is a social collective that seeks to empower and connect Asian-American, Pacific Islander American, MENA American, and Kanaka Maoli theater artists in the greater Boston area. We've gathered theater artists from the ATAP community, the Boston theater community, and friends across the country to explore plays by Boston-based Asian-American playwrights to present here on Zoom, Facebook Live, and HowlRound TV. Today, you are seeing a reading of Women Behind the Curtain by Michael Lin, directed by Michelle Aguillon. Runtime is approximately 60 minutes, and there will be a five-minute intermission. For this reading, we would like to amplify the official Navajo Nation COVID-19 Relief Fund and Navajo and Hopi Families COVID-19 Relief Fund. Depending on where you are watching us from, there are links to donate to those organizations on the page or in the comments. We encourage you to engage with us through the chat in the Zoom room, and you can also submit questions into the Q&A, as we will have a brief Q&A after the reading with the cast and creative team. And if you want to know more about ATAP, we're on Facebook and Instagram at a-a-t-a-boston. And now, enjoy the show. Women Behind the Curtain, an original play by Michael Lin. Characters, Alexandra Kuznetsova, a loyal Soviet citizen working as a secretary to a high-ranking bureaucrat, Rani Demilod, a daring French covert operative. Desmond Cleese, a charming British spy. Grigory Leonov, a dangerously intelligent yet bloodthirsty philogen with the KGB. Yvonne Mishkin, corrupt official of the Communist Party, snobbish and distasteful, but amiable in his way. The ensemble played by three actors who portray the various other characters that populate the play. Four writers are arrested today following a political demonstration turned violent in which several storefronts and Soviet-made motor vehicles were damaged. For the instigation of this bloodshed, the dissidents face exile to Siberia. Earlier this afternoon, Minister of Agitation and Propaganda Yvonne Mishkin assured that wrong outside Moscow, Sintra. I hate giving speeches in wintertime. Alexandra. Yes, Minister Mishkin. Alexandra, would you be so kind as to fetch me drink from sideboard? Minister, I'm your secretary. I'm not your wife, your mistress, or your maid. Sink as I have none above. I thought you might take pity. No matter. I feature myself. If I may speak freely, Minister. If you must. Assisting you in your home like this is highly irregular. But, are you concerned that people will talk? They've been talking in rather shameful terms. They're calling thongs, nothing more. You've been coming to my home every week for almost four months. Often twice a week. And our interactions have always been entirely professional. Weren't that lesson from Beria? I have no intention of making any enemies within secretarial ministry. One of deadliest of all. In Stalin's day, the lead memorandum would land me in front of firing squad. Proof of leaking intelligence, treason towards party. Now you simply have state secrets proofed by your eyes and passing through your hands day after day. My dear, if you absolutely cannot abide implications of our working arrangement, then write manifesto. Zet is our way now. And I hope that ensuing revolution will be less bloody than last. Otherwise, I'm afraid that my reliance on you outweighs your concerns over Ministry gossip. Need so many. Surely you understand. Was there anything official business you wanted to see me about? Ah, yes. My pass is to Bolshoi Ballet. Kindly have some courier to Chairman Andropov's office as soon as possible. Andropov, I didn't realize head of KGB enjoyed ballet so much. He doesn't. But his mystery does. He may be spy master, but I also have my uses for Ministry gossip. I see. Should I set them over after tonight's performance? I said as soon as possible, and I meant it. You're not attending ballet tonight? But you attend every Friday. Like clockwork, yes. But I have too much work to do, dealing with these damn rioters. You mean the demonstrators? I mean subversives. I will not waste my synthesis on them if I were you. In any case, I'm afraid it's to be a long weekend for both of us. I'll get some files from my office. And then we can get to... Don't scream. Come inside. Shut the door. You shouldn't be here. Did Andropov send you to kill me? Perhaps I should have sent those tickets sooner. You were supposed to be on your way to the ballet by now. State meters took precedence. You should have been listening to radio. You might have guessed it. No matter. Since you're here, I'll ask you directly. Minister Mishkin, you have in your records a dossier containing the code names of Soviet intelligence assets operating in Western Europe. Ah, not assassin. Foreign spy. Cesar Alif. Tell me where the dossier is. And my sidearm and I will be out of your way. I'll even put it down. There's a time for you to catch most of Vermeer and Juliet. Your office was ransacked while you were out. Nothing was your fault. Don't be ridiculous. I would be punished severely for misplacing such document, whether it was my fault or not. My political career would be ruined. My ministry said I worked years to build snitch for my grasp. There's simply no way I could possibly take such a risk. 10,000 rubles. On shelf. Behind Kalina Panova's portrait. Thank you. And your generous donation to Communist Party. As agreed. Excellent. Now, you have what you want. I would ask you to leave. If I'm to attend performance tonight after all, I should change. You're welcome to join me, of course. Enjoy the ballet, Mishkin. Honestly, I prefer Tchaikovsky. Such a mess on my desk. Don't let your strike you as you exit. That hardly seems likely, as I'm leaving out the window. Your ballet tickets are on their way, minister. They should arrive on Andropov's desk within the hour. Minister, who is this? Oh, Ivan, how embarrassing, letting your assistant walk in as your lover is on her way out. A charming effort, but I'm afraid that with my alibi imploded, I will have to present a presidium with you instead. There's no convincing you otherwise. I'd get a medal and promotion for apprehending you. And you're offering pride for me to be reprimanded instead? Not even we do the capitalism that badly. It was worth asking. For your sake. Drop that gun. Drop it. Not on my life. Don't you sense that? Do something useful. Oh, God! What? This is more horrible than I feared. You needed to have interceded. I had the situation under control. I was trying to help him. An operative of the C-D-E-C-E. That is all you need to know. What? French cantor of Spanoche. Yeah, spy. What's your name? Svetlana. Svetlana. Where did your family live? I don't have a family. I see. Miss Alexandre Kutnetsova. If you wish to see your parents in Odessa again, I have a simple request for you. I... Nothing of what happened tonight. Please do follow Minister Mishkin onto the pavement. Don't test me. Wait! Was that unclear? I can't stay here. I have to leave. My employer just fell out of office window. The police are surely on their way. They'll think I've killed him. You did kill him? Not on purpose. I'll be first ones they question. How can I possibly keep your secret without being executed? I suppose you can't. Wait, wait. Yes, I can. Let me come with you. If you shoot me here, they'll be looking for an assassin or foreign spy. With only Mishkin, they'll be looking for me. There's no reason not to take you with me. But they'll look for me here in Moscow, in my flat, visiting my friends. That buys you time. If they find my body within the city, they'll be on your track that much sooner. Fine. But I expect you to pull your weight. I've no news for a lost puppy. An asset that I can use. Fine. Starting now. What should I do? We can't leave through the window anymore. We need to find Mishkin's coat closet and his deco cabinet. I am not cleaning it up. But a tragic waste. Such fancy sleepers. Good evening, officers. Who are you? Grigory Leonov, Committee for State Security. Here are my credentials. Of course, Comrade Leonov. Anything for KGB? May I ask what you're doing here? Andropos sent me on personal errand. Some sort of parcel he was supposed to receive is late. Ruined his evening is impression I had. But your assignment seems much more interesting. A bit of boredom would be nice for a change. This colorful jumped out of his window. Jumped? I would wager this man was thrown. There's broken glass all around body. Why would he jump out window first without opening it? What? Well, haven't you ever wondered what would happen if you ran out of window as hard as you could? If you were curious whether you were strong enough to break through and this was your last chance, you might give it a shot. I suppose I could see that. Wait. One moment. Mishkin? Oh, no, no. Pavlenko, hey. And this, this is Officer Rostov. Bode, you imbecile. This is propaganda minister Mishkin. Those files. What? Officers. I believe this man was murdered, assassinated by a foreign agent. If he was thrown from window, then killer might still be in his flat. There is no time to lose. Where are you two going? Elevator, Comrade. Oh, all the lazy. Fine. Take elevator. Make sure assassin does not leave that way. I will take stairs. Sevens four. Somebody is having a party. What do you mean? I could scarcely tell under all those furs. Hey. Wake up. Huh? What? You can't sleep in here. You have to go home. Whether that's here or elsewhere. Yes, yes. Ilana. What? We're at the floor. Let's go. All right. All right. Quickly, quickly. All right. All right. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Can I hear you, Comrade? It's about time. Apologies, Comrade Lionel. We are ready to investigate the flat when you are. No need. I've already seen all that I need to. There is no one here. Mishkin's office was ransacked. There is evidence of struggle and there are two bullet holes involved. There is little doubt that this was work of foreign operative and no sign of them of where they've gone. There will be great deal of paperwork to do when I get back to headquarters. Photon Earth took two of you so long. Oh, when elevator arrived, there were two women drunk and sleeping inside. We had to route them and get them out before we could come up. You... What? You let them leave? No sign of them out the window. Damn! I expressly told you not to let assassins escape. Wait, wait, wait. You don't think those two women could have killed Minister Mishkin? They were half asleep. And snagged. Of course they killed Mishkin and they both passed you with a child's trick. You are the most incompetent performance I have ever met. And Soviet Union is greater without you. Now, little spies, where have you run off to? You did well back there, Aleksandr. Thank you for not betraying me to those officers. I could scarcely do otherwise since you kept your pistol trained on me under your coat. Yes. Well, even so, three months of reconnaissance and Mishkin take tonight to stay home from the ballet. I should have waited until I saw him leave. Elementary mistake? Overconfidence? Something like that. I suppose I should count myself lucky is that it didn't cost me more dearly. It cost Mishkin. He'd be alive if I hadn't tried to intervene. No, not true. Isn't it? I was gaining the upper hand and it was going to be me or him. Even if I let him alive, he'd be hunted down and executed for letting me get away. He'd never talk his way out of that, no matter how charismatic he thought he was. No, you needed to blame yourself. Mishkin was doomed, regardless of what you did. You could have been killed instead. I suppose. That's true. Obviously, I'm glad that's not the case. I understand if you disagree. Were you close? Affectionate, perhaps? No, nothing like that. Strictly professional. But he treated me reasonably well, respected my skills at face value, that counted for a great deal. Hmm, where to find such a working situation? In Soviet Union, you mean. I mean anywhere. What's your name? Why? If my life is to be in your hands, I want to know. It's not that simple. I'm a French spy. You're a Soviet citizen. There's only so far we can trust each other. I'm also a person. One that you seem to know everything about, and one who is, for the moment, your traveling companion behind the Iron Curtain. Trust has to start somewhere if we are to rely on one another. And my flag does not overrule my humanity. Renee. My name is Renee. It's not even your real name, is it? My arm! What are you? Are you behind us? Don't look! It's been following us for the past five minutes. I believe it may be a Soviet intelligence. How can you know? The registration plate is a diplomatic vehicle, and an ambassador would be far less likely to find an interest in us than an operative. If they are indeed KGB, then our escape may not have been as clean as we thought. Keep to my left between me and the road, and stay calm, Alexander. I can't risk being recognized. Alex is sufficient. I don't think I can just pretend. Remember your cover. Help me here, and you're free to go. All right. All right! You raised your eyes around the land. Good evening, comrades. Where are such charming ladies as yourself going on such bitter evening? Nowhere that concerns such an intrusive one as you. Calm now. I promise I mean you no harm. Perhaps I could drive you to your destination. Yes, it could be called a stolen grave tonight. We'd still know better than to climb into cars with strange men. We were not born yesterday. And if you could not tell by looking at us, you really should not be driving. Now go away. Such lush coats you are wearing. You could forstank warm and stank away from prying guys. Where did you find them? If we tell you, will you leave us alone? You have my word. They were gifts from our sons, serving in the army. As may they return home safely. Ah, I see. I had no idea Minister Mishkin had two mothers. My condolences for your loss. This is where we part ways, Alex. You've been very brave on my signal. Run as fast as you can. What? Now, run! Naster, promise. For our freedom and yours! For our freedom and yours! For our freedom and yours! Comrade, our soldiers are marching across border to stamp out the growing ember of freedom. Won't you stand with us in protest? I'm sorry, I cannot. Be strong. Don't give up. Was that, Alex? Oh no. Comrade, please stay calm. I'm trying. You should not have run. I'm sorry, I was afraid. Relax. Just tell me what you know about woman you were with and you are free to go. She is French, but I only met her tonight. She forced me to help her escape. I see. What was she after? I was too frightened to ask. What about her name? She never told me. She said I did not need to know. And that's everything? Everything. Very good. KGB thanks you for your assistance. As promised, I leave you in peace. Be at peace. So you remember, it's still a trap. We had better get going. Yes, we had better. He's not cold, but probably for no more than an hour or so. Excuse me. Renee, it's just me. This more? Oh, so now you recognize me? Catch a glimpse of my face while you were flinging me over your shoulder, did you? I'm sorry for that. Alito, I don't know what you expected sneaking on up, on us the way you did. What are you doing here? Finished a debris fin at HQ. Back out into the field, you know how it is. Word came down with a western operative and reconnaissance in Moscow so they sent me to see if I could lend a hand. Thankfully, it appears you have the situation under control. Is that? Shall I dispatch him for you? No need. We're lucky, he'll need enough medical attention to delay the authorities further. Enough? Who might you be? A civilian, no one. Please, everyone's someone, it's alright. I'm a friend of Renee's. A colleague. It's fine, go ahead. Aleksandra Koznesova. Desmond Cleese. At Her Majesty's service. Yes, well, Renee's more the sort to keep her cards close to the vest. We all have our operational preferences. Speaking of which, Renee, how goes the mission? A few complications, present company included, but nothing I get done till. Don't suppose you'll tell me what it is you're after. You know better than to ask me that. Alright, alright. In that case, I won't tell you about the vacant MI6 safe house three kilometers west of Moscow city limits. I won't tell you about the car parked there under the snow camouflage or the can of petrol under the sink or the car keys in the rafters. I could have outwired it. I won't tell you any of that because you were so awfully rude to me just now. And so many things you aren't telling me. And I thought I was tight lipped. Hmm, my advice to you both. Go get some rest out of the cold. I do like the sound of that. God, I hate accepting your help. Yes, I know. Godspeed, Renee. Did he just say? Yes. He's very English. I must say, I'm surprised you didn't kill that KGB agent earlier. But go early enough. We've tangled in the past. And it was practicality, not mercy. I'm not convinced. Killing him or sparing him both paths add practical elements and you chose one set of complications over another. I thought spies were supposed to be called like the killers. I was prepared to kill you, Elia. What did you do? You made a compelling argument in your favor. And you listened? Spies who listen live longer. You really want to know about how I conduct my work, do you? I admit a certain morbid fascination. And it would be helpful distraction. Very well. At his core, covert intelligence is about exactly that. Intelligence. Information. Anything that does not obtain us more and better intelligence is a waste of resources. Some of us may use more distasteful means to that end, but ours tends to be a result-oriented profession. And if the results require bloodshed, including that of innocence? It has been my experience that that happens less often than you might imagine. If one is resourceful enough. Oh, good. We're finally here. And to think, you didn't want to steal these bicycles. I'm still not happy about it. Do you realize how hard bicycles are to come by? We may as well have stones or livelihoods. I'm sure the rightful owners will find them eventually. Russia is only so big. All right. Send back. The door may be trapped. Seems clear. You go first. Very funny. All right. We have the long night. I don't know about you, but I could do with some food. Of grace, yes. I'll have a look around. Make sure the rest of the cabin is clear. See if you can find where the provisions are kept. Gladly. What is it? Come, come, come. Your colleague said this was British safe house, yes? That's right, but I... All of this nonsense. How many cabinets is that? Three filled with nothing but tea. Would you care for a cup? Oh, God, no. I wouldn't sleep to wink. Oh, thank you for sharing these. I needed that. So did I. Apart from that as a story, it appears we have mostly tinned meat and beans. Some hot bread, but no potatoes. Shane, still better than eating twigs and snow. At least for twigs and snow, there's no line. But true. Well, first things first, lightings the stove. Some of everything. Please. Renee, may I ask you something? Go right ahead. I should warn you, I'm trained to resist interrogation. Why did you become a spy? Well, I spent my childhood in the French resistance. I was a goer delivering commuter case across the countryside. If I was accosted, I charmed my way out. If they didn't believe me, I fought or fled. My country was in shambles after the occupation that ended. Most of our food marched away with the Germans. As a teenager, I became increasingly outspoken about ensuring that the hungry and lost weren't forgotten in the rebuilding. I was recruited not long after. There's much that is wrong with the world. This was the best way I could find to do something about it. I see. But you go where a government tells you to. Do you fully believe that they're only sending you to do what is good and what is right? I wouldn't be serving them this way if I didn't. Just because something makes you feel good to believe does not make it true. That is so. But just because something feels good to doubt does not make it false. As you said, trust has to start somewhere. And if they go wrong, it's better to correct them than a spy. And you, do you trust your leaders? No more so than whoever led previous regime, or is the one before that. But I don't have to trust them to see some semblance of our ideals at work. My life may not be the smoothest, but it's reasonably comfortable. I may never accumulate the obscene displays of wealth we hear of in the West, but that's hardly a steep price to pay to ensure that all can live with dignity. An oboe go was a fair price, but is it reasonable for you to be the one to pay it? You can't have missed a luxury that surrounds the eye-wrenching party members. Not obscene, but hardly fair either. Find the food, lodge your homes, a lifestyle filled with the trappings of Western living as they claim to be above. I suppose. Is there any point to government then? Yours or mine? Government can be flawed, yes. They can be greedy and corrupt. Not because they are government, but because they are made up of the wrong people. When the wrong people lead, you replace them with better people. And who removes them from power? People like you? Sometimes, often, ideally, people like you. When someone speaks against your government, what happens to them? There was a demonstration in the Red Square tonight. You worked for the propaganda minister. You must have some inkling. You don't have to answer that now. Just something to consider. He's getting late. You should get some rest. I'll take the first watch. Wait, one last question. Last one. What makes a good spy? Someone who can think quickly, who is used to dealing with all types of people, often one after another, and who can be liked or hated or completely ignored by them as the situation requires. Pragmatism. A strong will, intention to detail. A tolerance for discomfort and an intolerance for undoing. So, like a secretary? Yes, exactly like a secretary. Good night, Alex. Good night, Rene. Finally, they turned lights out. Typical woman, staying up late talking about who knows what. Triviality is no doubt. I thought I heard a noise outside. Jilly night for a walk, isn't it? Agent A and A. Agent Rene Vremiard. For your information, I drove here. I had to come and they're associates' cars since you so rudely disabled mine. Well, goodness. If I'd known we were coming to the same place, I might have accepted you off where we lived. If you had, I would have only taken you far out of your way. So it was you who killed Minister Mishkin? You may well not believe me, but that was an accident. So you're not a murderer, only a bumbler? What a comfort that must be to Mishkin? Is that why you're here? To avenge your fellow bureaucrat? Please. There's only one reason that Mishkin would be targeted by foreign operatives. Won't look at me. I couldn't find his ballet tickets anywhere. The dossier. What have you done with it? I don't know what you're talking about. Hmm. It must still be on your person. Far too risky to cash it somewhere and try to send someone for it later. That young woman with you. Who is she? No one, of consequence. Mishkin's lackey is hardly no one. Perhaps. If anything, she was a nuisance. Ah, yes. I do recall that things tend to go badly for you when you attempt to recruit assets in the field. Like, visit boy. 1966. October, wasn't it? Caught in the wrong part of Berlin. He forgot your stretch so quickly. We gave him hot meal and curl for a night. He would have stolen his own master's pearls for us after that. Perhaps if you'd taken him into your own bed, you could have better ensured his loyalty. And then after you were done with him, you liquidated him, didn't you? Why ask questions you already know answers to? Typically to answer the question I didn't ask. A bit more subtle than your preferred methods, I'm sure. Oh, I don't know about that. How much do you really know about your companion? Plenty. Enough to keep her quiet without having to shoot her. Or push her out window. Don't tempt me to itch you a third time. They say the violence gets easier. Is that right? But what you should be concerned with is how easy it was to learn so much about her. Her name, her parents, her childhood home, without corroborating any of it. What? Such hubris. Trusting without verifying. Without considering, Kuzeta, we wanted you comfortable in your knowledge and your certainties that she could be trusted. So you'd believe yourself to be in power and position of power over her. Exactly where she wanted you. Why telling me this? Because in a moment, it won't matter. Desmond, what in God's name did you do that for? I was tired of hearing him prattling on. I'm serious. He was drawing on you. I had me pistol on him. But you weren't going to shoot him first, we both knew it. I beg to differ. Not that it matters now. What are you doing here this time? I did some digging. Grigori's right. Komrad Kuznetsova is not as she appears. She's a KGB agent. No, she isn't. She can't be. I've vetted her myself. Don't be so dense. The party planted her in Mishkin's office to report on him and guarantee his loyalty. They arranged forcified records so neither Mishkin nor anyone else would suspect. I suppose that's possible. You don't have to take my word for it. Just consider why else she would come all this way without attempting to flee. You didn't even have to ask her, did you? Keep an eye on her. You can't let her come back to France with you. She'll only compromise us all. And if you're right, then I must eliminate the threat. It's not pretty, but it must be done. Afterwards, take the car and meet up with me on the road near Redchenko. I'll take Grigori's car and get some forged travel papers for the both of us. We can escape to the USSR. Together. Take care, Renee. You know what you have to do? Trust has to start somewhere. Renee, what are you doing up? I thought I was going to take a second watch. I could not sleep. And I did not dare to wake you up. You can't very well go on road again when you're short on rest. We both need to be on our toes. At least come here and lie down. Rest your eyes for a bit. Why is there ear, Alex? What do you mean? Soviet intelligence knows by now that I was involved in Mishkin's death. And about the dust you have stolen. Even after you had threatened, you had every opportunity to go home. Be free of this. You came with me. Instead, why? I can't very well go back to my old life after everything that's happened. After associating with you. They might not think me as writer, but they'd never trust me again. It would only be matter of time before I was swept up like so much debris and never heard from again. And I thought about what you said last night and I think I'd like to become spy. Is that so? For the KGB? What? No. For the West. For France, if it means I get to learn from you. If we escape the Soviet Union alive, I'm defecting. You're right. There is much wrong with the world. I saw many lies and injustices firsthand while working with Mishkin. I neither know, I know that neither of our nations is perfect, but by staying here with guarantee, I'd never get chance to change mine, was better. Sharing the knowledge and skills I have as only guiding hand I can build, I have to try. Alex, how do I know you're not already a Soviet spy? What? I've thought about it. A high-ranking bureaucrat like Mishkin might well have a covert intelligence operative in his employ. This would result to his knowledge. After Mishkin died attempting to apprehend a foreign spy, such an operative might well beg to accompany that spy for purposes of sabotage, betrayal. They might stage the imminent execution with a colleague to play with her compassion. They might perhaps even seek recruitment into a foreign intelligence organization. Well, what do you have to say? You're wrong. I am a spy for the Americans. What? Yes, I joined Mishkin's employ in order to spy on him. I wanted to accompany you in order to ensure that you safely escaped. Why else would I not have tried to betray you since we met? To try to collaborate with you, to remind you what you're fighting for? Renee, Renee, please. You saved my life once when you could have walked away, and I know you don't want to do this, but you have to believe me. No, I don't believe you. And the devil is that woman? Desma! Get in! What? What's the rush? No time to explain. I think I may be followed by the KGB agents. Coming after Gargoyle. What? That doesn't seem right. Are you getting in or not? Alright, alright, fine. Hang on. Alright, I think we're safe. Do you have the travel papers? Let me see. Yes, yes, yes. Right here. Are they to your satisfaction? Good. Very legitimate slogan. I should have hoped you trusted me more than that. You gave me a fright the way you creamed up here. I take it that's her body under the blankets in the back seat. I'm going to bring myself to leave her there. Besides, the trunk is full of Gargoyle. So you went through with it after all? I'm glad to see that. I was worried you wouldn't have it in you. It wasn't easy. Still ever the squeamish one? Tell me, in all your time in espionage, have you ever actually shot someone before? I've come close. And I've always been prepared to. You don't believe me? In all the time I've ever known you, you always found someone else to do your dirty work for you. You play people against their rivals or you abandon them to their vengeful superiors. And you'd rather simply shoot them in the head at will. The trials of chaos you've left in your wake. I thought your approach makes your job any easier than my approach does for mine. All I'm saying is that a body count is by proxy still a body count. Ours is a dirty business and the less complacent you get, the longer you'll live. That we can agree. I will admit it got very close to that point on this mission. Too close. I am extraordinarily reluctant to say it, but thank you for showing me the truth. You're very welcome. No, I mean it. I could have been returning back to headquarters with the infiltrator and saboteur in tow. I owe you a drink. Please, no vodka. Not too worry. A goblet of red wine for me? No, a bottle. And for you? I'm sure you've taught me before. What is your drinker choice again? Dirty martini, really. How could you forget? Of course, silly me. So, how did you find out the truth about Alexandra? I confronted her in the morning point blank. Point blank? That must have made a mess. I asked her this morning. Good God, you remind me of Agent Lee enough. I spoke to her directly about it. I wanted to see what she would do in response. Typical Renee, always looking to extract more intelligence without, instead of getting on with it. Well, are you going to tell me what she said or not? If you're going to look down your nose at my tactics, I don't see why I should. No, that's just not fair. Fine. I admit it. I want to know. It was the most absurd thing. Alex tried to tell me a story about being not a Soviet spy, but an American one. You can't be serious. I wouldn't have believed that for a second. That was my response as well. Neither you nor I would have tried something so grossly amateur. It's basic spycraft. You can't abandon your cover at the first sign of doubt. When someone confronts you, you play the role harder. A facade tested is a facade doubly convincing. Exactly. But instead, she thought she had first into trying to convince me of that outlandish story. Complete with a simply awful accent. Incredible. Indeed. I will give her credit. It was precisely how I would imagine a civilian with ambitions of becoming a spy would react. Tell me, did Kragoy ever tell you what I stole? What? Kragoy Lenov, the man you wrote last night, do you remember? He was your aunt, though, was he not? I suppose since you liquidated him, you probably meant to be reporting directly to Andropov now. A highly asset like you. Did he ever tell you what was in those files? You're talking madness, Renee. No, I suppose he didn't. Typical Soviet compartmentalization. Well, just between you and me, and soon our respective intelligence communities, that's the dossier I stole contained the code names and operation details of Soviet assets active in the West. Well, after this morning debatical, just for fun, I thought I'd look through it and see if I saw any familiar faces. Imagine my surprise. Angela, Kragoy Lenov, status, active, base, London, his inner code name, Dirty Martini. Very clever. What happened to planes of Rolada? Not much of a point since you've gotten it straight from the horse's mouth. And if people like us to live the truth so rarely, we ought to savor it when we can. So I'm right. You're a Soviet negligent. I've been for years. Kragoy had no idea you were going to kill him last night, did he? None whatsoever. As far as he knew, I was there in support capacity, in case he was too slow on the draw. He plans to see the doubt in my mind regarding Alex to be cultivated by you. And then you kill him, building your credibility back with me and back in London. And disposing of one of the more inconveniently bloodthirsty agents of the KGB, he was getting rather out of hand. I never cared too much for office politics. Neither do I, but orders are orders. And you get me to dispose of Alex for you before I'm killed in our escape attempt. A double-murder would be suspicious. A failed alliance and a failed extraction are nearly another Saturday. However, little I thought of your intestinal fortitude in the field, I always knew you were smart. I must say, I'm surprised at you, portraying your country to the vultures in the Kremlin. Oh, please. The vultures will always be circling where the coffers are largest and lakeiest. Here, they're in the bureaucracy. Back home, they're in the bold rooms. In America, they're in both. True. There's no sense in following a flag that tells you you're the vanguard when in reality you're the decoy. Now, pull over. If you insist. Well, it's been a pleasure stringing you along, Renee, but I'm afraid it's time for me to shoot you. Take the dossier back to Moscow and report back to MI6, tearfully, carrying your corpse in my arms. Let's see that brave face one last time. Toodaloo, Renee. I do. One of me. Only prevent, comrades. Your sense of dramatic timing is impeccable. You make a fine spy yet. I was just sick of hiding under that blanket and listening to you make fun of me. I was only saying what I needed to straw his eagle out. I assume he's the first man you've shot. Are you alright? I tried to track you on the killing me. I'll live. I can't believe you still threw your pistol on me. In my defense, I was short on sleep and it's difficult to trust easily in my...our line of work. Honestly, it's a bit dizzying sometimes. I'm Russian. This trust is my second language. So how are we going to get to France from here? You're the one who wants to be a spy. How would you do it? Welcome to Leningrad Sochenaya International Airport. Please follow all signs and use caution when exiting terminal onto runway. Long live communist revolution. Welcome to L... Would all Kirov-Delay dancers and staff please report to end of terminal? Your plane is waiting. Kirov-Delay, end of terminal. Long live communist revolution. Keep a close eye on these bellow e-mails. Oh, I most certainly will. Thank you. Please enjoy your flight. Next. Peepers. Please remove your hat. I am serious. Since nearly have defeated, who knows who could be next. Any one of them could be traitor or spy. Yes, yes. I heard you. Stop worrying. We have photographs of all the ballet people and we are checking their papers. No one's getting through here that isn't supposed to. Peepers, please. Ah, comrade Nikiforova, please remove your hat. Thank you. And now your coat. Boris! Yes. Thank you. Enjoy your flight. Ah, thank you. Enjoy your flight. That's everyone on the passengers list. See? Nothing to worry about. There you are. You are late. The best apologies. Special flight crew for the Kirov-Delay flight to Paris reporting in. Peepers, thank you. What took you so long? 10 bicycle officials. No second identity. Ah, of course. The price we pay for security. Comrade, there is something wrong with this photo of yours. What seems to be the problem? Your hair is much prettier the way it is now. You're too kind. Excited to visit Paris, are we? Not too excited, I hope. All right. All right. You're both cleared. Bon voyage. Merci. Your French is very good. Young lady. Stop. One moment. Yes? It is very dangerous traveling to the west. This exposure to their propaganda. You seem a thruster, this sort. I would ask you to keep an ear open for treasonous talk among the dancers and to report anything you hear to your captain at once. It would be my pleasure. Here's a good girl. Off you go. We've got Vivienne, Lou Summers, we've got Lisa Nguyen, we've got Jude Torres, Angkor Singh, Quentin Nduy and Christina May Chen. And we've got our director, Michelle, and we've got our playwright, Michael, who I believe is here with us too. We also shout out to Bram Zoo for doing all that sound design and Foley sounds. And thank you to Anna Levin for staging with me, Jude. I also want to give a quick thank you to Mavis Menelotto, Michaela Witt who've been helping me out with ATAP stuff, Chuang Stage and also Havi Players for your support tonight. Also HowlRoundTV for you guys to support tonight. Thank you guys so much. We are going to be hanging around kind of celebrating that we did that just now, but if you guys have any questions, please ask us in the Q&A on the Zoom chat or in the chat box. We will be hanging around and would love to hear what you thought. I have a question for Michael. Yeah. Michael, what was your inspiration? I know you do a lot of radio plays, but how did that come about? Well, I had never done an espionage story before and there were a couple of opportunities coming up that I wanted to take a crack at. So I kind of wanted to just see how I did at like plotting together an espionage story and like designing where to set it and see what, see what ended up coming out because I enjoy espionage stories like in the vein of sort of like Burn Notice was a show that I liked for a long time and that was really caught my attention. And I read some John Le Carré in preparation for this. So yeah, that was, and also there was a lot of ongoing political conversation right around 2016, 2017. They wanted to try and capture my reaction to. Well, how did it feel also to, since this was originally a radio play, how like seeing it like with faces, what was that experience for you? And also like Michelle, I'm also curious how that experience directing that was. I can go first or unless Michelle you want to go first. I really enjoyed it. So I'm used to, I'm used to a lot of live radio performance. So like there's still a certain element of physicality and facial acting and all that stuff to go with the scripts that I, that I've done before. But this I really, really enjoyed it. It was nice to see like the added production value and, you know, watch everyone go through the emotional process because of all the various characters. No, it was lovely. Thank you all for doing such a wonderful job. Thank you for writing it. It was super fun. Can you hear me okay? Okay, good. I wanted the challenge of incorporating fully. I've done a few of these already. So we had a few intense rehearsals trying to work in all the sound, which was a great new challenge. And for actors, what was it? What was it like to kind of go with the flow with all of this? I'll speak of it. I think Zoom is always a challenge, like regardless of if it's acting or just having a conversation. So I think the cool part about this was really, you don't really get to look at your scene partner because your scene partners are down here and your camera's up here. And then with the added sound effects, like timing or acting with this, it's a really cool challenge. You get a chance to work both sides of your brain, so it was really fun. And bouncing off of that, one of the challenges for this radio drama in particular was the fact that we were playing Russian or French or English-speaking characters, but it's almost layered in the sense that you have to, like in my case, I was playing two native Russian speakers speaking English. So then I had to filter myself being a native English speaker to say, okay, well, I have to break down Russian phonetics and then apply it to English and then figuring out how well my characters would have spoken English and then figuring out all the little nuances of, like especially with the radio dramas, you don't get the added benefit of being like, oh, that person's a different character. You have to convince the audience that your voice is different or just like inflections. So balancing multiple characters is always a challenge, especially when it comes with a different accent, you know? Yeah, bouncing off what Jude said, my character, she's very intelligent, probably speaks multiple languages and I have to bounce between my French and Russian and then also adding on to Quentin's character who speaks in a British dialect. I'm like, ooh, I got to make sure I don't get lost in it. It's more of a lot of off rehearsal, like dialect lessons to just make sure that the sounds sound consistent and I don't get lost with, you know, the Russian, a lot of the Russian accents are characters that were in this play. Got a shout out to Jude, he was our Russian, our in-house Russian dialect coach. Yeah, it was tricky to, especially scenes with Lisa when she was using her French and I was using my Russian. I'm sure she wanted to do the same, I wanted to speak how she was speaking. I would be the first to admit that it's kind of easy as a playwright sometimes to lose track of how much you're asking of your actors because it's so cheap to put it on the page but then when it comes to putting in actual people's mouths and you don't really realize how much you're asking, I'm so grateful to all of you for being so game and approaching the challenges so willingly. Michael, I actually had a question for you in regards to the use of language. So balancing French, Russian, just British, English, were there certain words or phrases that you thought of and been like, I want to hear a Russian person say that? Or did you just kind of approach the perspective of an English speaker just being like, I'm just going to write it in plain English and then we'll layer on the accents over that? I'm going to noncommittally say somewhere in the middle. I did try to make sure that I could hear it reasonably in that accent in my head and have it sound reasonable and not have it sound like completely out of place. I didn't really try to, I didn't want to lean too, too hard into like, this is like a quintessentially like Russianized English kind of phrase or that kind of thing. So like, with the, so like, Renee never says like u-la-la for any reason whatsoever. These exception being Desmond's extreme Britishness. I have to say something else I wanted, I wanted to challenge for the actors to, these actors of color to try accents that is not expected of them in the real world. I wanted to show that, you know, we can do different accents. Not just Asian ones. I was, when Michelle asked me to be part of this play because I've always wanted to work with accents and I never had the chance to. So, I mean, so it was nice to work with the French accents, the most hardest ones for me. But just to like kind of bounce off that idea, Michael, I wanted to know when you wrote this play, did you have Asian-American actors in mind? Was this an opportunity for Asian-American actors to be involved in a very versatile play and to show their versatility? Not specifically, to be perfectly honest. In this particular instance, I was writing for sort of a general audience, but I was aware that it being a radio play, like the roles would be open to anyone who could tackle these roles because so there's no really specific axis of privilege at work in terms of these characters. So if there were characters that it was important to me that they'd be played by actors of color, then those would be reserved for actors of color. In this case, that level of sort of privilege dynamic didn't exist in my mind. So I figured that this would be open to anyone, whatever axis of marginalization they experienced. But in terms of holding it specifically for actors of Asian ascent, that wasn't something that I was thinking about at the time. I want to say one thing that's really cool is that it's, I know you said that it wasn't intended, but in your play you have Alexandra and Renee talking about the West as if they're not, well Renee is from the West, but so it's very clear like the other characters are from the East and I think that's cool. It's like you don't have to explicitly say it, but it's definitely there, right? And of course you have a array of different color of people in Asia, so it's cool to see and like we have a different, we have all different ethnicities here, like within the Asian American community or just Asian community as well and I think that's awesome that this cast kind of reflects that too. Just like a random comment that I shared with the cast a couple last week, I worked for a boss who was, who's Korean, she looks Korean, but she was actually her first native language was Russian and she was from Russia. She was Korean or well, she looks Korean. She finds herself to be Russian and speaks effluently, which was really interesting. That's really cool. Yeah, like I'm definitely more so now than necessarily when I was originally writing the play, which was some time ago, about how varied the like Russian, like Russian people, how many native ethnic groups and indigenous peoples are sort of encapsulated in that nationality and that includes a lot of sort of people that I think we would encompass within the East Asian diaspora. Because I know that I have a friend who was born in Paris in France and she's Vietnamese and there's a lot of Vietnamese groups that live in France because after the Vietnam War, I mean they're dispersed, I mean everyone is dispersed everywhere, but it was really, but it just shows the audience that I know they are the minority in that country same as America. There are people of Asian descent out there that can that speak these languages, that it's just not for white roles, for white people who look white. There's, you know, black people who can speak French, Creole, you know what I mean? Like all these like multitude, like multitudes of assets. Yeah, exactly. It's undeniably true and that's something I think that people tend, like, based on the way that we experience Mita that tends to get glossed over and a lot of people's minds just sort of subconsciously is like, you know, I think we've seen a lot of arguments that like, well, like say, Tolkien-esque fantasy is based on medieval Europe. Clearly everyone should be white because all the works that take place in medieval Europe are all white people, people of color have have existed everywhere throughout time regardless of how of how popular popular works of media whitewash them. We have a question from the audience from Kimberley Klassner. Hi Kim. Hi Kim. The question I'll read it is the how did the production handle the choreography? Did the cast find it difficult to do slash capture via zoom? I guess I can speak to that. That was really fun. Trying to figure out stuff because when we first rehearsed it we were doing things that you you know, like running in place and then we realized we needed to really utilize what we have, you know, like some props to each other. We learned to we hand it to the camera and then the other person they're supposed to be handing it to they take it back like this instead of falling back at it, you know when they're shot they fall forward it's much more effective and then they cover the camera. A little thing that we discovered is instead of doing the video on and off for example it was just faster just put a post-it a little tiny things like that. I think we live in a new world and we're going to be in this situation for a while so we have to be resourceful and figure out different ways of telling stories so that's been a lot of fun. I'm curious off of that too, like there was a lot of I noticed throughout the process that there was choreography adjusting according to whether we had a sound cue for it or not or like how to balance the sound versus like seeing that physically and I'm curious how that was how the process was why don't you take that one? It was definitely an interesting process especially learning a little bit of the capabilities of zoom and what you can do especially when you have multiple sources of people or sound effects going off at the same time and that was certainly a learning experience and it was also definitely interesting to see how far we can push it and how far we can't but then know okay if we can't go at it this way what other direction can we take it from just an interesting thing to note was that even just during testing when we first put it on the sound effects from my computer we discovered that for some reason it was a lot clearer and more understandable to play it off of my laptop left my computer speakers to be then captured off of my microphone that's next to it instead of going straight from my computer to everybody else which was an interesting okay that's an interesting thing to learn with my current setup because every one setup is going to be different and then adjusting sound effects adjusting content creation to okay well what I'm hearing is not exactly what's going to be heard but knowing then and therefore what level of granularity or just the kind of textures that work well and what don't exactly transly and working between the timings and also working timings between what's actors and what's happening here because there is invariably a little bit of a delay with any online media so a little bit working with that just just collaborating with one another about that and certainly learning little things and trying to make adjustments and little compromises of in those little technical things to trying to help zoom don't you hate it when the electrons have finite speed yeah I mean if only they could just latency and all that why do we even need that why do we need physics I don't understand it I don't think we need that how would you say because it felt like there was just sound throughout the whole thing like one continuous cue it felt like it was so seamless how much of it was live and how much of it was a pre-recorded sound how would you say that balance was I mean I think it would be close to it feels like very close to a 50-50 probably closer to maybe a 40-60 in favor of 60 in favor of recorded sound of a playback probably like mostly in terms of there's a lot of guns and I don't have a gun yes yes but I think yeah it felt like a good 40-60 certainly a lot of running around in my middle space and what time is it there again oh so for me it is currently 7.23 in the morning oh my god it's a bit of a it's a bit of a morning my god I'm sorry can I just jump in and say one thing so one thing I've noticed kind of going back to questions is that there's I've only done a few of these like zoom readings during quarantine but there's a certain privilege that comes with being able to pull off like a high quality production because like you're really at the mercy of like whatever your weakest link is technologically and like we've all had problems with like microphones we've had problems with like bandwidth and like I know that theater is slowly switching on to like this online platform but it's just amazing the resilience from like the side of like actors and the people behind the actors to put on a production that like I don't know there's so many things that could go wrong and the fact that you can like pull it off in one collective take in front of an audience like that's something to be proud of so I'm just really stoked about that all right I cannot hear you did I cut off again? oh no oh thanks Viv I'm just kidding and another thing we did I mean we had several rehearsals for this that way we could really figure out what was we wanted to iron out all the issues there were a lot of sound issues for sure but we also gosh we made sure to set up a messenger from Facebook to talk to each other behind the scenes just in case there were any technical issues so those of you that were online saying telling us that there was a problem with Viv's microphone we did know that but we were talking on messenger about that because we wanted to keep make sure that the conversation was completely separate from this platform because you never know sometimes you don't have the right mode on and then everybody can see what you're talking about but that was the way we tried to resolve it as quickly as we could it was like Viv Viv, Mike but little things like that I think that's going to happen and you just learn as you go still it's still even though it's digital still the show must go on yeah same I think if there's any more questions maybe we answer one more but if not that can also be it one for everyone if there's no audience questions let's go it's you it's all you so when I originally wrote this I classified it in my brain as a cold war spy thriller the more I look at it the more I realize just how funny it is how much of it is lean's comedic I'm not going to say it's funny it's eco-centric it definitely leans totally towards the comedic how would you classify it because I'm sort of at a loss I think you have a bunch of goofy actors here in the room and I think we would read any play and really just have fun with it I think I really followed Jude's lead to be honest he has the star of the characters after Viv I think it's I think it can be a dramedy I mean all if you think about Russian if you think about Chekhov's work all of his work is technically they're really sad but they're also hilarious because they're so sad because if you can't laugh at something what are you going to do so I think it's porcain almost does why not both I was thinking the ensemble were kind of like like dog barrier or something very rose and crescent yeah much of it much of it just kind of this or bottom certainly a mix and it was I mean when we were trying out sound effects going with blocking it was hard not to make it comedic but Bram and I want to do a hardcore comedy next so that we can really play with that yeah it was certainly moments where just I just remember moments there was like that's just comedy that doesn't work with the play yeah I just remember there were a lot of moments and it was just a fun discovery also just along with the limitations of zoom and I think Michael going off of what you said how you wrote this is almost a reflection of a lot of things that were happening in the world at the time and so I feel like at the heart of it the play does have a lot of those serious realistic elements but then I guess the magic of theater is that you can just hand script a bunch of actors and somehow for lack of a better word like humanizer find ways to balance out that shift of ying ying of sadness and happiness and so I think that just speaks towards the process of what we do collectively you know I think in general it's just when gathering this fun group of people it's just going to be a fun experience and a fun play and I hope that it was fun for the audience too I think we should wrap it up I think we should all stop looking at a screen for a little bit now but thank you all to the audience that has stuck around to listen in yes please donate if you can I can the links are out there the links are out there we'll share them on the facebook page and on howl round and stuff like that it is the Navajo official Navajo COVID-19 relief fund and the Navajo and Hopi families COVID-19 relief fund thank you guys so so much thank you everybody what a time thank you thanks everyone