Dreaming on Stage
Margarita Titarenko ’27 brings The Mirror Lies Too Honestly to life.
Margarita Titarenko ’27 shared the evolution of her new play and the evolution of its production at Bennington College. It opens on November 7 at Bennington College’s Down Caf. She and the team she has gathered will take it to New York City directly after graduation.
Tell me about your advanced work. What are you doing?
For my advanced work I wrote, directed, and led the production The Mirror Lies Too Honestly. I have worked before in faculty productions but always wanted to make something personal, in a unique style.
The work is an experimental piece, which will be a dream-like experience for the audience. It's like looking at the impressionistic paintings of Sorolla or Monet, like watching a memory that doesn't necessarily belong to you. Seeing someone's past in their present.
It's a story of two strangers who meet in a place that they don't know but feel familiar with. The one they fear but feel safe. It's a story where love is a challenge. People usually talk about the moments of happiness that love brings. Yes, I have them in my work too, but also here love is a challenge with hints of these great moments of happiness, but mainly is a challenge for both of these characters.
My main goal was to create the opposite of ‘’theater of explanation’’ and move to something like magical realism. I wanted to work on a dream. When you wake up from an intense dream, the plot of it is gone in seconds and easily forgotten, but we remember a few elements and that is it. The feeling of this dream doesn't leave that quickly, even after years you can remember exactly what you have felt there.
I want the audience to fill in the gaps with their imagination and for each one to leave the show with their own meaning and end. In our program the first thing you read is, “This play does not tell a story. There is no traditional plot to follow and no answer waiting at the end. It is not meant to explain itself.”
What inspired this project? How long have you been working on it?
I have always been inspired by surrealism and impressionism. I love avant-garde romantic drama movies. And just dreams, their feelings, emotions, importance.
From my first term at Bennington, I started taking playwriting classes: first it happened by mistake, but then I fell in love with the idea of writing. I continued taking more classes. Around a year ago, I wrote my play for the Offstage class led by Abe Koogler and wrote this piece: The Mirror Lies Too Honestly. When writing it, I have already envisioned all the elements that I wanted to have. I knew every moment of it and why they were there.
After that, I wrote other works, but this one was meant to be my advanced work here. I think we need more experimental pieces at Bennington.
It's a perfect place where I could work on something new and weird.
I planned my work for a few months before rehearsals. This was the time to find the team, to talk, think, and reserve space. I have explained my work many times before even starting, everyone was so fascinated about the idea and happy to join and work together.
How have you discovered your own voice or style throughout the process?
I'm a huge fan of magical realism, avant-garde, and theater of the absurd. In playwriting classes, I have heard many times over comments like, ‘’it's so in your style.’’ I can't surely describe it. It's a dream and a joke at the same time, a tragedy but with passion and love in there. Faculty member Abe Koogler said this about my style: ‘’Margarita’s playwriting voice is expressionistic with elements of dance and visual art and strong theatrical gestures. She has a unique voice and demonstrates strong commitment to her craft, the two essential playwriting skills.’’
For me, the feeling of love is the main topic and motivation. I got so tired of these stories where love is easy and always happy. I wanted to see and show how love is hard work. It's a choice made for the sake of someone else; it's actually not that easy to be with someone and to choose love. I like to write about this: having magic in life or having life in magic.
Who else is involved? What collaborations have been necessary?
I have found an amazing group of young specialists who were working with me all this time. It is so inspiring to see so many people with fire in their eyes who are there to make my ideas happen; they motivate me to do more, to give more.
For this project, our team has 15 people working on it. With invited videographers and photographers, we have 19. An audience of 100 people will see it on November 7–8. I have four great actors—Polina Stolar '27, Thelonious Shores '27, Anna Egovkina '27, and Landon Jacobson-Theriault '29—without whom none of this would be possible. Light designer Xander Miller Castles '29 has spectacular ideas and visions. The sound designer Samuel DuPont '26 created the sounds to make people dream while conscious. Animator Madina Taktalieva '29 added a whole new character, the subconsciousness of the protagonist. And stage manager Reggie Lapointe '29 had everything organized and planned to make the work easier.
This is an ambitious endeavor! How did you acquire the skills and confidence to take this work on?
I have always loved to direct people, work with others, and observe their emotions on stage. I started contacting people with a thought that everything will turn out perfectly, and it has.
My faculty members said that, based on how I work, they believe in me. One of them even mentioned that I will be able to do everything myself: that's how theater is made, by talking to people who you know, dealing with problems.
What have been the major challenges? What have been the major accomplishments?
The big challenge is the deadline, but I think that's true in every production. The end date is the biggest fear, but we are making this happen.
As a director, I made it a priority to sit with the lead actors for 3 hours to talk through the script, which I think is the main necessity to be fully on the same page. We need for everyone to know exactly what is the idea, what is the plot, give our own meaning to the story and its end, and to explain each element. That's why it's important to talk about it, to generate a story behind each feeling.
Another thing is the past of the characters. At some point we came up with the question: how do you build a unique character without having an historical or social context, and no time or date? We built their thoughts, memories, and past based on the existing text. That gave us a solid base to work with to justify their actions, thoughts, ideas.
How does it feel to present your work on campus November 7–8?
This work is insane. Completing it is such a unique experience. After many months of work, stress, excitement, and routine, it feels weird that it's ending here and now with such a fascinating result.
Letting people see the work, it's like letting everyone into your room and letting them explore all your personal belongings. I know I'm not performing on stage, but I feel every moment of the show with the actors. I know every line. I hope people will come and feel, reflect, and leave with a unique feeling after it.
What's next for the play?
After Bennington and the presentation we have here, this work won’t end for us. After graduation, the next day, we are moving this production to New York City. It is happening in an official theater. There are so many things and logistics to think about that the stage manager Reggie Lapointe and I will be discussing during the rest of this term and the next one. But the team is ready, we are discussing the details with the theater now, and in June 2027, we will be ready to repeat everything again.