Displaced by the Russian invasion, Vira, carrying little but her precious viola da gamba, is a refugee in the Uniting for Ukraine program.

When she is physically attacked soon after her arrival in the United States, the terrifying experience prompts her to hide in plain sight by passing as her twin, Sevastyan, until he is able to join her.

Orson has been commissioned to write an opera for The Twelfth Night Festival, but he is suffering from composer’s block. Not only that, his muse, Isabella, has inexplicably withdrawn from all performing. During a chance meeting, Orson discovers the extraordinary musical talent of Vira, now passing as Sevastyan, and it gives him the jolt of inspiration he needs. Hoping that Isabella will be as intrigued as he is, Orson sends “Sevastyan” as his emissary to persuade Isabella to sing in his opera.

Vira’s deception incites a hilarious myriad of misconceptions, resulting in a tangled love quadrangle which becomes even more convoluted when the real Sevastyan comes looking for his sister.

About the Author: 

Judith Krummeck is the author of a memoir in essays, Beyond the Baobab, about her immigration from Africa to America, and the biographical memoir, Old New Worlds, a finalist in the 2020 Next Generation Indie Book Awards and the 14th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards. She hold an MFA in Creative Writing & Publishing Arts from the Univeristy of Baltimore, and she is the evening drive-time host for Maryland’s classical music station, WBJC.

About the Moderator: 

Lesley Malin is a founder of The Chesapeake Shakespeare Company and has served as its chief executive since 2003. She managed CSC’s building renovation of an 1886 bank into its award-winning modern Shakespeare playhouse as well as the associated $6.7 million capital campaign. She served for two decades as board vice president at The Lark, a new play development center in New York City, where she was once Managing Director. She was on the Executive Committee of the international Shakespeare Theatre Association for five years and organized its 2017 conference that was held in Baltimore.

Her thirty acting credits at CSC include Queen Gertrude (Hamlet), The Chorus (Henry V), The Oresteia chorus, Lady Macbeth (2006, 2007, 2016), Paulina in The Winter’s Tale, Lady Bracknell, Mrs. Fezziwig, Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, Mrs. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, Anne Frank’s mother, the Queens in Richard III and Cymbeline, Titania, and Mrs. Hardcastle in She Stoops To Conquer; previously, she performed in New York.