After nearly two years of development, Akropolis Performance Lab's (APL) new adaptation of Dostoevksy's most timeless and influential novel is ready to premiere! As a lean, independent company, we rely on outside funding and partnerships to make new work possible. This campaign aims to raise $6,000 of our $36,500 budget to spread the word about our work; create Raskolnikov's nightmarish world through set, costume, and light design; and put this production in front of audiences in two cities half a country apart! We are deeply grateful to our family of supporters who make the it possible for us to sustain our uncompromising vision of ensemble-generated art and invite you to join their ranks.

It begins with a theory that goes something like this:

 

 

Crime + Punishment follows the fortunes of Raskolnikov, a debt-ridden and disillusioned university drop-out who devises this theory … then acts upon it. After dehumanizing, robbing, and murdering a pawnbroker, Raskolnikov descends into a guilt-ridden fever dream where he is plagued by the ghosts of his crime and conscience. In the lower depths of 19th-century St. Petersburg, the mysteries of the Russian soul and intellect, crime and love are deeply, irrevocably entwined as APL reveals the mind of a killer in his search for meaning and redemption. 

 

At 150 years since the novel’s publication, Crime + Punishment challenges our collective complacency to today’s ubiquity of violence and pushes back at notions that historical progress must necessarily derive from violence or that ends justify means. 

 

Minimalist and low-tech, yet full of the inventive stagecraft and theatrical magic that are hallmarks of APL’s craft, Crime + Punishment combines bold dramaturgy with dynamic physicality and a rich musical soundscape of Russian folk song and sacred chant. The production features the distinct sound of a hurdy-gurdy and the ensemble's unforgettable, tight a cappella harmonies.

Since its founding in 2000, APL has thrilled Pacific Northwest audiences with work that defies the pressures and glibness of today's commercial culture to realize performance experiences that are simultaneously ancient and new, beautiful and essential. One of Seattle’s longest-standing devising ensembles, APL favors a minimalist aesthetic, subtly nuanced for small audiences, questioning intellects, and individual experience. Founders and Co-Artistic Directors Joseph and Zhenya Lavy trace their artistic lineage directly through the Central and Eastern European heritage of Grotowski to Meyerhold and Vakhtangov. Through their mature artisanal approach, the ensemble crafts deeply layered performances at the intersection of source material, cultural heritage, physical action, music, dance, and personal memory.

APL has been honored with a Footlight Award (The Glas Nocturne) and two Gypsy Rose Lee Award nominations (Uncle Vanya, The Glas Nocturne). 

Here is a sample of what Seattle's theatre critics have had to say about our work:

Learn more about Akropolis Performance Lab on our website.

After nearly two years of development—including 553 hours of in-studio rehearsal with the ensemble and a full-rendering presentation of work-to-date in July, Crime + Punishment is hitting the road for its world premiere and then returning to Seattle for a hometown run. We have made it this far thanks to the sustaining support from 4Culture, two previous phases of fundraising, and rehearsal studio support from an anonymous donor. Now we are setting out to complete our final fundraising phase to bring our Ohio-based designer to Seattle; pay team stipends; and furnish, light, and populate our theatrical homes: Akron's Balch Street Theatre and Seattle's West of Lenin.

Production Team:
Director/Playwright - Joseph Lavy

Music Director - Zhenya Lavy 

Set/Lighting Designer - Kix

Costume Designer - Fantasia Rose 

Tour Manager - Margaretta Campagna

Ensemble:

Tyler J. Polumsky - Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov

Emily Jo Testa - Alyona Ivanovna, Pulkheria Raskolnikova

Annie Paladino - Lizaveta, Avdotya Romanovna Raskolnikova

Sara Kaus - Sonya Marmeladova

Joseph Lavy - Marmeladov, Svidrigailov

Zhenya Lavy - Katerina Ivanovna Marmeladova, Hurdy Gurdist

Matt Sherrill - Dmitri Prokofych Razumikhin

Jennifer Crooks - Porfiry Petrovich

Full director and ensemble bios here.

Your contributions make all the difference for Crime + Punishment, supporting everything from the talented people to the screws in the set.
$150 prints our marketing materials
$360 gets our posters seen
$500 scratches at advertising
$1,100 covers travel and hospitality for our set/light designer's stay in Seattle
$2,300 pays for our set, props, lights, and costumes
$3,800 puts our show in a theatre
$4,500 gets our nine-person ensemble to the world premiere and home again
$8,000 pays the creative brains and bodies involved in this project
... we could go on!

Crime + Punishment is funded, in part, by a grant from 4Culture.

We are ever grateful for donations from our longtime audience and friends, including sustaining support from individuals such as Rachel Rutherford and Bill & Sharon Waltermire, all of whom have helped us in our journey since we began 17 years ago.

We appreciate that your support takes many forms! In addition to making a donation to this campaign, one of the most important ways you can lend us a hand now is by spreading word about this production to other theatre-lovers. Invite them to join you for a night out and get food or drinks in the neighborhood before the show! Thank you in advance for everything you do to create community around our work!

Akropolis Performance Lab is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the charitable purposes of Akropolis Performance Lab must be made payable to “Fractured Atlas” only and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Want to buy tickets now? Follow these links for tickets to the Akron OH World Premiere Nov 30 - Dec 2 or to the Seattle WA run Jan 5-13.

Have a question? Ask us! ensemble@akropolisperformancelab.com

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