The annual SummerScape and Bard Music Festival runs from July 5 through August 18, and includes a seven-week schedule of theater, film, opera, dance, classical music, discussions, and Spiegeltent cabaret.
One highly anticipated event for the 2013 season is a stage adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita. The book, which was written (and suppressed) in Stalinist Russia over the course of Bulgakov's life, wasn't published until the late 1970s. In the novel—part political satire, part magical fantasy, part love story—the devil comes to Moscow and wreaks havoc on the nascent Soviet state.
Gideon Lester, director of Bard’s Theater and Performance Program, cowrote the stage adaptation with the celebrated Hungarian director János Szász, who directs the Bard production. This is the first US stage adaptation of the novel in more than 20 years.
Listen in as Gideon Lester discusses the process of adapting Bulgakov's sprawling masterpiece, as well as upcoming plans for the Live Arts Bard program, which he founded and runs. Jay Blotcher, who wrote a preview of Bard SummerScape 2013 for the July issue of Chronogram, also joins the podcast.
Podcast Episode 17: Gideon Lester
"The Master and Margarita" runs from July 11-21 at Bard's Fisher Center. For ticket information, and details about other shows planned for the 2013 SummerScape season, click here.
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