Staging Contemporary Russian Teenage Femininity in Yaroslava Pulinovich's Natasha Plays

Abstract

For this project, I analyze two of twenty-two-year-old Russian playwright Yaroslava Pulinovich's works, Natasha's Dream and I Won, to examine how she explores the tensions present in contemporary Russian youth culture. In addition to my literary analysis of her plays in relation to contemporary Russian youth culture, I also consider how Pulinovich innovates contemporary performance for audiences between ages sixteen and twenty-five via her work in the Russian New Drama movement. As Pulinovich negotiates the competing forces of progress and tradition within the liminal space of contemporary Russian adolescence, the stories of her Natasha characters emerge as microcosmic examples of sociopolitical and cultural trends that shape the lives of young people, particularly young women, in contemporary Russia. Pulinovich's Natasha plays offer an important new perspective on young adults' lives from the field of Russian theatre for youth.