Mother Russia
by Lauren Yee
Directed by Josh Hecht
The latest play from one of the most produced playwrights in the U.S.
In association with Desert Island Studios
This production performs at the ART Performance Space, 1515 SW Morrison St. Portland, OR
If you’d like to purchase tickets over the phone, please call 503-242-0080.
Members: check your email for info on reserving your preferred seating, or contact boxoffice@profiletheatre.org with questions!
Evgeny and Dmitri are just two average guys who dream of cushy government jobs—but when the fall of the Soviet Union puts hiring on hold, they find work surveilling a former pop star instead. As they bumble their way through the assignment, both spying and life under capitalism prove harder than they thought. This prescient and thought-provoking world-premiere comedy by Lauren Yee (The Great Leap, Cambodian Rock Band) 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.
Profile Theatre is producing Mother Russia in association with Desert Island Studios, founded and run by Ashley Song and Joe Bowden, who will be creating pre-recorded and live-stream video featured within the production. Mother Russia, a riotous new comedy about the curse of freedom and having to choose between the Filet-o-fish and the Big Mac, will have its second ever production at Profile Theatre June 5th – 22nd 2025!
Dates
Thursday, June 5th @ 7:30pm | First Preview, Pride Affinity Night
Friday, June 6th @ 7:30pm | Second Preview, Pre-show Screening
Saturday, June 7th @ 7:30pm | Opening Night!
Sunday, June 8th @ 2pm | Mat Chat
Thursday, June 12th @7:30pm | BIPOC Affinity Night!
Friday, June 13th @ 7:30pm | Pre-show Screening, AANHPI Affinity Night!
Saturday, June 14th @ 7:30pm
Sunday, June 15th @ 2pm | Mat Chat
Thursday, June 19th @ 7:30pm
Friday, June 20th @ 7:30pm | Pre-show Screening
Saturday, June 21st @ 7:30pm
Sunday, June 22nd @ 2pm
Meet the Team!
Lauren Yee | Playwright
About Lauren Yee
Lauren Yee is a playwright, screenwriter, and TV writer born and raised in San Francisco. She currently lives in New York City.
Her CAMBODIAN ROCK BAND, with music by Dengue Fever and others, premiered at South Coast Rep, with subsequent productions at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, Victory Gardens, City Theatre, Merrimack Rep, and Signature Theatre. Her play THE GREAT LEAP has been produced at Denver Center, Seattle Rep, Atlantic Theatre, Guthrie Theatre, American Conservatory Theatre, Arts Club, InterAct Theatre, Steppenwolf, Pasadena Playhouse/East West Players, and Cygnet Theatre.
Lauren Yee’s play KING OF THE YEES premiered at The Goodman Theatre and Center Theatre Group, followed by productions at ACT Theatre, Canada’s National Arts Centre, and Baltimore Center Stage. Other plays include CHING CHONG CHINAMAN (Pan Asian Rep, Mu Performing Arts), THE HATMAKER’S WIFE (Playwrights Realm, Moxie, PlayPenn), HOOKMAN (Encore, Company One), IN A WORD (Young Vic, SF Playhouse, Cleveland Public, Strawdog), SAMSARA (Victory Gardens), THE SONG OF SUMMER (Trinity Rep, Mixed Blood), and THE TIGER AMONG US (Mu).
She is the winner of the Doris Duke Artist Award, the Steinberg Playwright Award, the Horton Foote Prize, the Kesselring Prize, the ATCA/Steinberg Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters literature award, and the Francesca Primus Prize. She has been a finalist for the Edward M. Kennedy Prize and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Her plays were the #1 and #2 plays on the 2017 Kilroys List.
Lauren is a Residency 5 playwright at Signature Theatre, New Dramatists member (class of 2025), Ma-Yi Writers’ Lab member, former Princeton University Hodder fellow, and Playwrights Realm alumni playwright. Current commissions include Arena Stage, Geffen Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse, Portland Center Stage, Second Stage, South Coast Rep.
Josh Hecht | Director
About Josh Hecht
Josh is the Artistic Director of Profile Theatre where he recently directed christopher oscar peña’s awe/struck, Kristoffer Diaz’s The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Gloria, the virtual production of Paula Vogel’s The Mineola Twins (Willamette Week Top Ten Theatre of 2021) and the in-person productions of The Baltimore Waltz and Indecent (co-production with Artists Repertory Theatre), the rotating repertory productions of Lisa Kron’s Well and Anna Deavere Smith’s Let Me Down Easy, Lisa Kron’s In The Wake, the concert staging of Anna Deavere Smith’s Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 and the rotating repertory productions of Quiara Alegría Hudes’ Water by the Spoonful and The Happiest Song Plays Last.
Other Portland productions include Teenage Dick at Artists Repertory Theatre. He is a Drama Desk Award-winning director whose productions have been seen in New York at MCC Theater, The Cherry Lane, The Duke on 42nd Street, New World Stages, The Daryl Roth Theatre, Culture Project, regionally at The Guthrie Theater, the Berkshire Theatre Group, the Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Signature Theatre (DC), Theatre Squared and internationally at the Dublin Arts Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and elsewhere. His collaboration with Ping Chong + Company was commissioned by and premiered at The Kennedy Center before touring the northeast.
His writing has received the support of the Jerome Foundation. He’s developed new plays at The O’Neill, NYSAF, The Playwrights Center, The New Harmony Project, JAW/PCS, GPTC, and at theaters around the country. He is formerly the Director of Playwright Development at MCC Theater and the Director of New Play Development at WET. He’s served on the faculty of the New School for Drama M.F.A. Directing program, the Fordham University MFA Playwriting program, Purchase College SUNY’s BFA Dramatic Writing program and has been a guest artist at The Juilliard School, NYU’s Dramatic Writing MFA, Carnegie Mellon’s M.F.A. Playwriting, University of Minnesota’s B.F.A. Acting program and others.
Cast & Stage Management
Click on the headshot to read full bios!
Design Team
Supplemental Events
Affinity Nights!
Pride Affinity Night invites LGBTQIA+ community members to enjoy discounted $5 tickets (use promo code MRPRIDE at checkout) and a pre-show reception with complimentary wine and door prizes.
BIPOC Affinity Night invites members of the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color community to enjoy discounted $5 tickets (use promo code MRBIPOC at checkout) and a pre-show reception with complimentary wine and door prizes.
At the theater, check in at the box office and let staff know you’re attending Affinity Night so that we can welcome you to the party!
Read more about Affinity Nights at Profile Theatre here.
Pre-show Screenings!
Join us every Friday of our run for a pre-show film screening curated by our friends at Desert Island Studios!
June 6th @ 6:30 PM: Baby Tooth and Two Detectives
Two short films supported by Desert Island Studios, the production company that partnered with Profile Theatre to create the original video content for the show! Baby Tooth will be screening at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, and Two Detectives is a Desert Island original shot entirely on a set build.
Baby Tooth, written and directed by Olivia Accardo
Marina has enlisted the help of a stranger to get rid of either her baby tooth, or her boat, whichever he prefers.
Runtime – 6 minutes
Two Detectives, written and directed by Joe Bowden
A string of disappearances has two detectives lost in a sea of “mystery” as they investigate a lead in an east side apartment complex.
Runtime – 16 minutes
June 13th @ 6:30 PM: Pig Tale and There Will Come Soft Rains
Two animated shorts by Russian filmmakers, including an alumni of the sound design program at Portland Community College! Pig Tale recently screened at the Portland Panorama Film Festival and There Will Come Soft Rains is a haunting short film made in 1984 and based on a Ray Bradbury short story.
Pig Tale, written and directed by Jenny Parubaev
Pig tale is about a piggy bank who goes on a date with a rabbit while battling dysmorphia and trauma.
Runtime – 6 minutes
There Will Come Soft Rains, directed by Nozim To’laho’jayev and adapted from the short story by Rad Bradbury
Robotic servants continue doing their chores after a nuclear war destroys humanity.
Runtime – 10 minutes
June 20th @ 6:30 PM: I Felt Like Magic and Bury Your Fish
Two animated shorts by PNW filmmaker Emma Josephson, an alumni of Portland State University’s film program! I Felt Like Magic recently screened at the Portland Panorama Film Festival, and Bury Your Fish has played at multiple festivals and was featured on Short of the Week.
I Felt Like Magic, written and directed by Emma Josephson
Two childhood best friends fail at getting into a bar and spend the rest of the night grappling with what it really means to grow up.
Runtime – 5 minutes
Bury Your Fish, written and directed by Emma Josephson
A dark psychological drama that follows an isolated young woman looking for direction in life. In desperation, she turns to a window light communicating with her via Morse code.
Runtime – 15 minutes
Mat Chats!
Mat Chats are post-show opportunities for the audience to take a deeper dive into the world and themes of the play with artists, experts, and educators. They take place on the stage five minutes after the Sunday matinees.
June 15th Post-Show: A Conversation with Kamilah Bush and Josh Hecht!
Stick around after the 2 PM performance on Sunday June 15th for a conversation with Playwright, Dramaturg, and Educator Kamilah Bush, and Mother Russia director Josh Hecht! The pair will be having a conversation about Lauren Yee, where Mother Russia sits in her body of work, and what distinguishes Lauren Yee from other writers of our generation!
Kamilah Bush is a playwright, dramaturg and educator originally from North Carolina. She holds a BFA in Theater Education from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro and was a NC Teaching Fellow. Kamilah has spent several years working in celebrated regional theaters across the country, including Triad Stage in North Carolina, Asolo Repertory Theater in Florida and Two River Theater in New Jersey. She currently holds the position of Literary Manager at Portland Center Stage in Portland, OR. Her plays have garnered several accolades including naming her a semifinalist in the 2021 Bay Area Playwright’s Festival, the 2022 L. Arnold Weissberger Award and the 2023 Princess Grace Award. She won the 2021 Urbanite Theater Modern Works Festival. She was a Playwright in Residence at Williamstown Theater Festival in 2024 and was featured as part of their Fridays @ 3 Reading Series in 2023. In 2024, her short play MAMAS & PAPAS was part of the Fire This Time Festival and a new work will be featured in the flagship Say Gay Plays Festival. Her adaptation of THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST is currently running at PCS.
