La MaMa in association with Krymov Lab NYC presents

Metamorphoses

or A Few Ways of Keeping a Child from Running Around at His Great Uncle's Funeral

Written and directed by Dmitry Krymov

March 7 to 23, 2025
La MaMa, 66 East 4th Street, New York

The performance runs 90 minutes with no intermission.

From the dramaturg

This world in itself is not reasonable, that is all that can be said. But what is absurd is the confrontation of this irrational and the wild longing for clarity whose call echoes in the human heart.

Albert Camus in The Myth of Sisyphus

Chaplin’s final tragedy became somehow our tragedy …We felt then all he felt, and the pity in us was no longer pity for a thing apart, because that comes out [as] laughter; it was pity for a thing that great art had made a part of ourselves, and we were all embarrassed—each for the others as well as himself—when the lights went on.

Al Capp on City Lights

It is a challenge to accept the human condition as it is, in all its mystery and absurdity, and to bear it with dignity, nobly, responsibly … The shedding of easy solutions, of comforting illusions, may be painful, but it leaves behind it a sense of freedom and relief. And that is why, in the last resort, the Theatre of the Absurd does not provoke tears of despair but the laughter of liberation.

Martin Esslin’s introduction to Ionesco’s Absurd Drama

There are certain characters you just don't hit with a pie.

Buster Keaton

Cast

Shelby Flannery
Since graduating from The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 2018, Shelby has worked in TV with roles including Hope in CW's The 100, and appearances in Law and Order: SVU (NBC) and FBI Most Wanted (CBS). She's thrilled to return to her theatrical roots, collaborating with this talented ensemble to create innovative and captivating stage work.
Amen Igbinosun
Amen Igbinosun is a Nigerian-born, US-raised actor, educator, and multidisciplinary artist whose work spans theater, television, film, and digital media. A Harvard-trained performer, his credits include productions at A.R.T., The Movement Theatre Company, TNT's "The Last Ship," and History Channel's "Texas Rising." He is honored to make his La MaMa debut collaborating with Dmitry Krymov.
Natalie Battistone
Actor, Puppeteer
Natalie is an actress based in NYC. She is an original member of Krymov Lab NYC (Eugene Onegin, Love Stories) and a member of Riot Act Theatre in LA. Most recently, she received a Best Performer nomination from Broadway World LA for her role as Sonya ("Sophie") in the new site-responsive Uncle Vanya adaptation Gross Old Man. Natalie holds an MFA in Acting from American Repertory Theatre/Harvard and the Moscow Art Theatre School.
Erich Rausch
Erich is an actor, musician and director whose career spans from Harlem's music scene to international film and theater. His work includes roles at Cannes 2016, Lincoln Center's "The Cathedral," Belarus Theater's "Secondhand Time," and HungaryLive!'s "A Market Day." He performs regularly as a pianist and singer for Concerts in Motion.
Grace Bernardo
Musician and Actor
Grace is an actor and classically trained mezzo-soprano whose work includes productions with Bedlam, Metropolitan Playhouse, and the O'Neill Theater Center. She studied at the Moscow Art Theatre School and holds a voice degree from Furman University.
John Coyne
Musician and Actor
John is a performer, multi-instrumentalist, music director, and songwriter whose work has been featured at venues across New York. His Off-Broadway credits include BEDLAM's "Uncle Romeo Vanya Juliet," and he is currently developing a musical adaptation of "Mrs. Dalloway."
Tim Eliot
Puppeteer, Producer
Tim is a founding company member and the Managing Director of Krymov Lab NYC. He originated man/Husband/Eben in Krymov’s Three Love Stories Near the Railroad at La MaMa.
Nick Lehane
Actor, Lead Puppeteer
Nick Lehane is a Brooklyn based theater maker and puppet artist. His works include Chimpanzee (HERE Arts Center, The Barbican Centre) and Fly Away with Derek Fordjour (named among "The 10 Best Theater Moments of 2020" by New York Magazine). Nick studied at the Moscow Art Theatre School and Carnegie Mellon.
Zach Fike Hodges
Puppeteer
Zach Fike Hodges is a NYC-based actor, theatre maker, and teaching artist whose work spans BEDLAM's "Angels in America" (Elliot Norton Award nomination), the Kennedy Center, Hudson Valley Shakespeare, and films produced by Scarlett Johansson and Cate Blanchett. He teaches at New York Theatre Workshop and the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities.
Sean Devare
Puppeteer, Puppet Wrangler, and Fabricator
Sean is a New York-based multidisciplinary theatre artist and designer exploring intercultural relationships to narratives both modern and ancient.

Creative team

Dmitry Krymov
Writer & Director
Dmitry Krymov is “one of the world’s finest theatermakers,” says The New York Times. His “Theatre of the Artist” weaves together visual art, stagecraft, and storytelling into what Vulture calls “some of the most imaginative, aesthetically liberated theater in the world.” Krymov currently lives and works in New York.
Tatyana Khaikin
Producer, Interpreter and Casting Director
Tatyana Khaikin is a lead producer of Krymov Lab NYC and has worked with Krymov since 2013. She has also worked as an interpreter/translator for almost 30 years.
Emona Stoykova
Production Design
Emona Stoykova is a founding member of Krymov Lab NYC, where she previously designed Big Trip, Onegin. In Our Own Words and Americans: 2 Hems & 1/8 Eugene O’Neill. Between Europe and the U.S.A., she’s also collaborated with dir. Alexander Morfov, Robert Wilson, James Bundy, Galin Stoev, among others.
Shari Perkins
Dramaturg
Shari Perkins is a freelance dramaturg and editor with an MFA from Harvard/Moscow Art Theatre, worked on Kirill Serebrennikov's US premieres of Playing the Victim and Zoya's Apartment and his film Limonov. She was also dramaturg for Krymov Lab's debut season Big Trip (two parts).
Leah Ogawa
Puppet Design
Leah is a mixed race artist, puppeteer, dramatist, self-detective, and model based in New York City. Raised in Yamanashi, Japan, Leah has worked with puppeteers, artists, and companies including The Metropolitan Opera, Phantom Limb, Dan Hurlin, Tom Lee, Nami Yamamoto, Loco 7, and others.
Patrick Dunning
Production Stage Manager
Patrick is an actor, sound designer, teaching artist, and stage manager based in Brooklyn, NY. Pat has performed at La MaMa, BAM, Wild Project, The Tank, The Brick, Columbia School of the Arts, NYTW and more.
Luna Gomberg
Costume Design
Luna is a multimedia artist and costume designer, who has participated in productions all around the world, including several large-scale costumed performances and installations in the Berkshires and in New York City
Krista Smith
Lighting Design
Krista is a Philly based Lighting Designer and Interdisciplinary Artist with an enthusiasm for new work, adaptations, and storytelling interwoven with music. Krista has designed lighting for more than 40 shows.
Denis Zabiyaka
Sound Design
For 15 years, Denis worked at the Pyotr Fomenko Workshop Theatre, designing sound for over 100 productions. He composed the anthem for the 2014 Sochi Paralympic Games and served as the official DJ and sound designer at the main Olympic Stadium.