This tool is unavailable at the moment. Please try again later.
Start planning your production with a cost estimate you can save and share with your team. Just answer a few questions.
This estimator is only for amateur productions. Professional customers should contact the Licensing department directly to enquire about a title's availability: [email protected]
Important: The cost quoted is an estimate only and may differ when you apply for a licence.
A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE
Full-Length Play, Comedy / 2w, 2m
Lauren Yee
Two average guys dream of joining the KGB, but as the Soviet Union’s fall puts hiring on hold, they find jobs surveilling a former pop star instead. This quirky and provocative comedy expertly balances farcical humor and bleak political commentary as spy work and life under capitalism collide.
Nominee: Two 2026 Lucille Lortel Awards, including Outstanding Play
Evgeny and Dmitri are just two average guys who dream of joining the KGB, but when the fall of the Soviet Union puts hiring on hold, they find jobs surveilling a former pop star instead. As they bumble their way through the assignment, both spy work and life under capitalism prove harder than they thought. This quirky and provocative comedy reveals what happens when old systems and strongmen fall away, and we let the free market decide – but freedom doesn’t taste as good as we thought it would.
Mother Russia first premiered in Seattle, WA with Seattle Rep on 6 March 2025. It later premiered off-Broadway with Signature Theatre on 3 February 2026. Directed by Teddy Bergman, the off-Broadway production featured Steven Boyer, Adam Chanler-Berat, Rebecca Naomi Jones and David Turner.
EVGENY – Russian, male, 25.DMITRI – Russian, male, 25.KATYA – Russian, woman, a singer, in her 30s.MOTHER RUSSIA – The embodiment of the soul of Russia.
NOTE: The characters in this play are Russian people of specific ages. The actors portraying these characters may not be. Feel free to embrace the heightened spirit of the show. For instance, in the New York premiere production, the role of Mother Russia was played by a male-identifying actor.
Mother Russia speaks with a Russian accent. Our other characters speak in standard American accents, though the vocabulary and grammar may dip into something more Chekhovian-feeling at times.
Various locations in St. Petersburg, Russia, now Leningrad. Fall of 1992.
Critic’s Pick! “As funny as it is smart!” – The New York Times
“[A] delightfully silly buddy comedy.” – TheaterMania
“Gleefully cheeky! Yee, Bergman and their actors pirouette in and out of the shadows, tinging our laughter with a brand of sorrowful yearning that Chekhov would surely recognize.” – Vulture
“[Lauren Yee] displays a distinctive, keen-edged wit, a quirky and capacious imagination… Bitter comfort – our nostalgia for old, known ways, even though they were terrible – gets underlined throughout the play… Yee leads us along parallel tracks from communist oppression into capitalist class warfare, with winners and losers, unsurprising reveals, various manifestations of selling out and the anxieties of the free market.” – The Seattle Times
“Lands at a stirring conclusion that hits uncomfortably close to home.” – Theatrely
“If you’re at all familiar with the plays of Lauren Yee, then you know of her delightfully odd situations, rich characters and scintillating dialog. Her work brings out the good and the bad in relationships and leaves you smiling or even giggling while tragedy strikes. And her latest, Mother Russia, falls right in line with those other gems… Yee does it again: Brings the humor from the tragic, without ever lessening the tragedy. And so, with my three-letter rating system, I give Mother Russia a still giggling YAY. We may remember the events of the Russian people in that era, but I doubt many of us had this perspective.” – BroadwayWorld
Mother Russia – Signature Theatre Trailer
Mother Russia – Origins of the Play with Lauren Yee
Mother Russia – Seattle Rep Sizzle Reel
Mother Russia – Audience Reactions, Seattle Rep
Mother Russia – On Power & Identity with Lauren Yee
Mother Russia – Director’s Perspective with Teddy Bergman
Lauren Yee was the second most produced playwright in America for the 2019/20 theatrical season (as per American Theatre Magazine). Her plays include Cambodian Rock Band (South Coast Rep, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, City Theatre, Merrimack Rep) and The Gr ...
by Lauren Yee