Andrei Malaev-Babel never knew his grandfather, the great Russian Jewish writer Isaac Babel (1894-1940), who was shot by Stalin's secret police long before his grandson was born. Even so, the producing artistic director of Stanislavsky Theater Studio says of his upcoming solo turn performing several of Babel's short stories, "Whether I want it or not, it is a personal production" for him.
"Babel: How It Was Done in Odessa" will run from Thursday through Feb. 22 at STS's 1742 Church St. NW space.
Three of the stories Malaev-Babel has chosen are from "Odessa Stories," written between 1921 and the 1930s and set in that cosmopolitan city by the Black Sea. In Babel's stories, Jewish gangsters in flashy orange suits and raspberry red boots roam the Moldavanka district of Odessa.
"The world [of Babel's stories] itself is so colorful, so romantic and full of life," says Malaev-Babel, that performing his grandfather's stories "will be a way of bringing him to life."
The actor also will do a short elegy from Babel's "Red Cavalry" stories, published between 1923 and 1926, and two pieces from 1925-1938.
Malaev-Babel rehearsed one of the later stories, "Di Grasso," on STS's stage last week as STS's Sarah Kane, who is directing him in the show, watched and suggested blocking. The narrator, a young Odessan ticket-scalper, describes how a Sicilian tragedian comes to town and turns a flop into a hit.
Odessans, says the actor, "have an incredible sense of humor, incredible wit." The gangster hero of the "Odessa Stories" is Benya Krik, who Malaev-Babel describes as a sort of Robin Hood with a "very peculiar sense of honor and justice and incredible courage and wit and ingenuity."
Most of the tales are very short stories. Malaev-Babel says the writer was "famous for his conciseness." Kane describes his style as "reduction, reduction, as to intensify . . . every word counts."
Malaev-Babel says he translated the stories himself, then had scholar-adapter Roland Reed shape them into a vernacular that was a "sharp American equivalent" to the speech of the gangsters and other characters Babel invented.
Each story he's selected has a unique style, says Malaev-Babel. One reminds him of Italian neorealist cinema, another of a romantic memoir and a third of a Spanish-style "rococo picaresque novel."
The Babel stories are so popular, Malaev-Babel says, that lines from them have become popular Russian sayings. Though the show's in English, he says, Russian speakers will no doubt have "Russian rolling around in their heads" as they watch it.
About Stanislavsky Theater Studio
A professional theater company Performs in the 125-seat Church Street Theater
Steeped in the traditions of classical theater Maintains a repertoire of productions
and a core artistic staff Four play regular season
Contact information:
Artistic Director: Andrei Malaev-Babel
Stanislavsky Theater Studio
1742 Church Street NW
Washington DC 20036
202-265-3767
www.sts-online.org
The Complete Works of Isaac Babel
Isaak Babel (1894-1941)
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