The American Dream

Zero Theatre is pleased to present the lyrical comedy The American Dream, based on Bernard Slade’s famous Broadway play Same Time, Next Year. The leading roles will be performed by Marina Belyavtseva and Oleg Rodovilskiy. The costumes for the production were designed by Lea Schatz.

The performance makes extensive use of American music and photographs from the 1950s–1970s.

Here is what Bernard Slade himself said about his work:

“If you, dear reader, are looking for deep psychological analysis in drama, this text is not for you. I am not a researcher, but rather a dreamer. Some people can live in an imaginary world, while I can only create and describe one. My plays are exercises in the imagination that do not claim to represent absolute truth. My goal is to reach the hearts of audiences by relying on feelings rather than reason.

Same Time, Next Year was my Broadway debut, and I was so nervous that I did not attend the premiere, spending the entire time in my hotel room clutching an accordion. My wife Jill went to the premiere, saying that she dreamed not only of reading my play but also of seeing it, and also because not every wife gets the chance to attend the premiere of her own husband’s play.

The reviews varied widely, the theater was packed, and the next morning a photograph of the line for tickets appeared in newspapers everywhere. One of the most interesting things for me was that the reactions of young and elderly people were similar. Once, I overheard two distinguished ladies in their seventies discussing it:

‘Could you imagine yourself in the heroine’s place?’

And one replied: ‘Why not? I think we could allow ourselves that once a year.’”