Machine Gunner History

May 2009: Rehearsals begin in Towson, Maryland for the June Workshop production.

April 2009: The Center for International Theatre Development, under Philip Arnoult, invited and provided funding for David White and James Knight to travel to Russia. White and Knight will join a larger CITD team, including Kate Moira Ryan and Noah Birksted-
Breen, to attend the Golden Mask drama festival and continue work and research on Machine Gunner.

In addition to visiting the Playwright and Director Center (the theatre where I Am the Machine Gunner premiered in 2007), Knight and White met with Yury Klavdiev and John Freedman in Moscow to discuss the upcoming production.



In this photo (l to r): John Freedman, Yury Klavdiev, James Knight and David White




January 2009: Rehearsal retreat at Towson University and at Generous Company in Baltimore.
Rebecca Eastman (costume designer) and Iaeden Hovorka (sound designer) join the team.

October 2008: White and Freedman meet at Towson University and finalize details on the working translation.

August 2008: Rehearsal retreat at Yale University and 78th Street Theatre Lab (NY).
Mike Vandercook (technical director) and P. J. Escobio (producer) join the team.
White and Freedman meet in Baltimore for initial talks on translation revisions.

In this photo: James Knight reading I Am the Machine Gunner, WordBRIDGE 2008.

June 2008: James Knight (actor) is featured in the first reading of John Freedman’s translation of I Am the Machine Gunner at WordBRIDGE Playwrights Laboratory.

May 2008: David M. White (director) attends a production of Yury Klavdiev’s I Am the Machine Gunner at the Nova Drama festival in Bratislava, Slovakia with Philip Arnoult and the Center for International Theatre Development.







In this photo (l to r): Lydia Nagel, Yury Klavdiev, Rebecca Eastman, David White


White meets with Yury Klavdiev and commissions a translation of the script from Russian translator and theatre critic for the Moscow Times, John Freedman.