On December 17, 1999, the "Osobnyak" Theater's production of "Laughter in the Dark" ("Smekh v temnote"), directed by Alexander Alexeyev, will premiere at the Nabokov Museum in St. Petersburg. Some of the cast are amateurs, including the famous St. Petersburg cultural guru "Dr. Scheglov." The action will take place in several rooms of the Nabokov house, including the Central Hall, the Library, and the Green Sitting Room. The audience will be able to follow the actors around the house, participating in the performance. The Osobnyak's production of "Laughter in the Dark" is part of the "Christmas Parade" (Rozhdestvensi Parad) theater festival, which is taking place in St. Petersburg on December 14-26.

On January 13, 2000, the Nabokov Museum will celebrate the 100th birthday of Sebastian Knight with a poetry reading and a reception for the city's literary community. This "literary mystification" event will include the recital of several poems that have been "recently discovered" by Alexei Purin, poetry editor at Zvezda magazine, as well as a number of poetic "dedications" to Sebastian Knight. According to Nabokov's novel, Sebastian Knight was born on December 31, 1899, but as the New Year is the biggest winter holiday in Russia, the museum decided to move the birthday party up 13 days, a time lag that matches the difference between the "old style" and "new style" Russian calendars.

For more information on these and other events at the Nabokov Museum, contact:

Olga Voronina
Deputy Director
The Nabokov Museum
47 Bolshaya Morskaya Street
St. Petersburg 190000
Russia
Tel./Fax 7(812)315-47-13
E-mail: olvor@spb.cityline.ru or olvor@mail.ru