Gus Birney Will Lead Seagull: True Story at Off-Broadway's Public

Gus Birney Will Lead Seagull: True Story at Off-Broadway's Public

A comedic recounting of an attempted production of the Chekhov classic, the work is created and directed by Alexander Molochnikov.

February 20, 2026 By Logan Culwell-Block

Full casting has been found for the upcoming Off-Broadway bow of Alexander Molochnikov and Eli Rarey's Seagull: True Story, set to begin at the Public Theater's LuEsther Hall March 22 ahead of a March 30 opening night. The limited run will continue through April 26.

The cast will feature Gus Birney (Black Rabbit) as Nico, Andrey Burkovskiy as MC, Ohad Mazor as Dmitry, Myles McCabe as Sasha, Quentin Lee Moore as Ivan, Keshet Pratt as Pickle, Zuzanna Szadkowski as Olga, Eric Tabach as Kon, and Elan Zafir as Anton.

Created and directed by Molochnikov and written by Rarey, the semi-autobiographical piece is inspired by an experience Molochnikov had staging a production of Chekhov's The Seagull that involves, according to press notes, "comedic mayhem, artistic rebellion, and deeply personal reflection[s] on displacement, censorship, and the pursuit of creative freedom." A production of the MART Foundation, the play previously bowed at NYC's La MaMa and London's Marylebone Theatre.

“Since the beginning of the war, four years have passed—exactly as long as the First and Second World Wars lasted,” says Molochnikov in a statement. “One hundred years ago, the poet Mandelstam, who tragically perished under the wheels of the Soviet system, wrote: 'We live, not feeling the country beneath our feet.' I think that many people lived that way then—and live that way today—those who neither speak nor think about the war. That is also a path, but it was not one we could take.

“Our producer Sofia, actor Andrey, and I were not engaged in political theatre before 2022. But when such a catastrophe happens—when it pulls all your friends, your relatives, and you yourself into its millstones—you have to save yourself.

“We saved ourselves through art and tried to tell the story that happened to us, to Russian culture, to the people who were creating freely in Russia before the war. About our decision to leave, impossibility of returning, life in New York.

“I hope this performance feels two countries beneath its feet and, in a vivid, humorous, lyrical, and artistic way, responds to what has been happening to all of us over the past four years.”

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