Three Poets

Three women who were astonishing poets are the subjects of this trio of linked short plays. Ono no Komachi (Japan, 9th century), Hrosvitha (Gandersheim, Saxony, 10th century), and Anna Akhmatova (USSR, 20th century) fight for their lives and their work

KOMACHI duels with the Prince Shoso, making her verses out of their conflict, until she meets a brutal end. HROSVITHA has her play acted before Mother Superior and a censoring monk, who have a furious battle over her work and leave her to decide how dedicated a poet she is

AKHMATOVA is summoned to the Kremlin upon the death of Stalin and must resist the ruthless Commissar's search for the words of her masterpiece, which has been committed to her memory and to the memories of her trusted friends

First presented by the Theater for the New City in New York, these three swift dramas are lyrical, literate and exciting, together making an evening as enchanting as it is unusual

" ripples with poetic intensity in a time of repression, each artist survived as a secret genius " ~ NY Times