2026 CDTPS Mainstage Show: Kostroma

Join us for the 2026 Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies Mainstage Show Kostroma, a gripping new play by acclaimed playwright and CDTPS alum Polly Phokeev, directed by the award-winning Beatriz Pizano and performed by our DRM403 students. This world premiere promises intensity, beauty, bold vision, and unforgettable theatre.

Synopsis:
A post-communist fever dream about a woman trying to wrangle together a fair election in an autocratic regime run by clown bureaucrats, about a family trying to reconcile at the end of the world, about a community trying to find its footing in the aftermath of a failed revolution. There are ghosts, chickens, executioners, ballrooms filled with shards of glass. Absurd, playful, queer in every sense, Kostroma, like politics, like family, is an Escher staircase, winding through a shifting landscape like dictators and children reinventing the rules of a game in play.

Cast:

The family
Masha: Andrea Perez
Stepan: Malcolm Crysler-Howard
Kaja: Ella Annis
Artur: Lev Tokol

The officers
Muzzle: Grace Huestis
Buckle: Grace Keeping
Grim: Artemis Riedmueller
Whip: Hannah Jamal

The city
Ina: Anya Ivantchenko
Old man: Samuel Barnes
Simon: Japneet Kaur
Chicken: Ella Annis
Mayor: Kennedy McCarthy

Others
Lepidopterist: Adelaine Aniag
Pacifist: Japneet Kaur
Opportunist: Kennedy McCarthy
The Local: Dalila Bejar-Ali

Creative Team:
Playwright: Polly Phokeev
Director and DRM403 instructor: Beatriz Pizano
Costume Designer: Andrew Nasturzio
Lighting Designer: Trevor Schwellnus
Sound & Projection Designer and DRM354 instructor: Daniel Tessy
Stage Manager: Sichun Xia
DRM403 TA: Yizhou Zhang
CDTPS Manager of Theatre Operations: Ariel Martin-Smith
CDTPS Technical Director: Adrien Whan
Intern Technical Director: Cici Nie
Assistant Set: Mahi Chowdhury, Isla Munnik, Adele Thomson
Assistant Props: Chloe Kim, Jessica Lee, Vivian Nguyen
Assistant Costume Designers: Sabrina Kousaian, Annie Tang, Sophist Yang, Sherly Xie
Assistant Lighting: Yifei Fan
Assistant Sound: Jia Yun
Assistant Projection: Alice Zhao, Angelina Zhou

Performance dates:
Thursday, March 5 at 7:30PM
Friday, March 6 at 7:30PM
Saturday, March 7 at 2:00PM
Saturday, March 7 at 7:30PM
Sunday, March 8 at 2:00PM

General admission: $20
Students: $10
Alumni: $10
Run time: Approx. 1.5 hours with no intermission
Visit uoft.me/kostroma for more information

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, University of Toronto