Photos: See Steven Boyer, Rebecca Naomi Jones, More in Mother Russia at Off-Broadway's Signature

Teddy Bergman is directing Lauren Yee's post-Soviet dark comedy.

February 11, 2026 By Meg Masseron

David Turner in *Mother Russia* (HanJie Chow)

Get a first look at new production photos from the Signature Theatre production of Mother Russia, playing the Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center Off-Broadway February 3–March 15. See the photos in the gallery below.

Teddy Bergman is directing Lauren Yee's post-Soviet dark comedy about a generation grasping for identity in the aftermath of collapse. In it, young man Evgeny stumbles into a job working surveillance with his old friend Dmitri. Their target: Katya, a former pop singer with questionable allegiances and a mysterious past. As their lives chaotically intertwine, Evgeny finds himself falling in love and losing his bearings, all while grappling with the taste of freedom (and fast food) along the way.

The cast features Steven Boyer (Kimberly Akimbo) as Dmitri, Adam Chanler-Berat (Next to Normal) as Evgeny, Rebecca Naomi Jones (Hadestown) as Katya, and David Turner (Into the Woods) as Mother Russia.

Said Yee in a statement: “I love the movie The Lives of Others [set in East Berlin in 1984], and wondered what that surveillance culture looks like in a period of time when the Soviet machine has collapsed. You can change a system, but the people still are habituated to the old structures: because of the environment these characters grew up in and the world they inherited, they're unable to connect without layers of suspicion and espionage, and there’s something incredibly funny and incredibly heartbreaking about that.”

The playwright adds, “The play is not a photorealistic historical drama—there’s a theatrical, heightened quality that allows the feel of the piece to rhyme with our experiences as Americans. I write a lot about Americana and American culture, and the way that I'm able to do it that’s interesting to me is by seeing it from other perspectives. As American culture starts spilling into these characters’ experiences, you're able to understand how weird our lives are as Americans. What happens in this play can apply to many different periods of time, including ours, now—it’s a cautionary tale about how a window of opportunity for democracy and openness can suddenly shut.”

The production includes scenic design by dots, costume design by Sophia Choi, lighting design by Stacey Derosier, sound design by Mikhail Fiksel, casting by Caparelliotis Casting, fight direction by UnkleDave's Fight-House, and dialect coaching by Deborah Hecht. Katie Ailinger will serve as production stage manager.

For tickets and more information, visit here.