Echo Lubimovka

Independent festival of Russian-language drama Six plays. Two full festival days. November 21–22, 2026 Los Angeles Doors open at 3:00 PM, welcome drink! Highways Performance Space and Gallery For over 35 years, the Lubimovka Festival has been introducing the world to emerging playwrights who write in Russian, regardless of their background or culture. Through staged readings, the festival explores urgent and relevant themes, drawing attention to what truly matters today. After each reading, there will be a Q&A session with the authors and directors. Our goal is to bring together local theater and film enthusiasts, and the professional community interested in contemporary issues and art. We are eager to collaborate with local directors, playwrights, actors, and producers to foster creative exchange and dialogue between cultures — to share experience, perspectives, and artistic approaches, building a bridge between the Russian-speaking and international theater scenes. NOVEMBER 21–22 · HIGHWAYS Six plays. Two full festival days. Denis comes to psychotherapist Marta looking for help, but as their conversations unfold, it becomes increasingly difficult to tell who is the patient and who is doing the healing. Funny, vulnerable, and full of unexpected turns, Confusion is a story about two people trying to make sense of their fears, relationships, and themselves — and perhaps finding each other in the process. Aliaksei Makeichik was born in 1985 in Logoysk, Belarus. He graduated from Belarusian National Technical University, completed a screenwriting course at the Minsk Film School-Studio, and earned a master’s degree in playwriting and screenwriting from the Boris Shchukin Theatre Institute. His plays have been shortlisted for the Lubimovka, Remarka, Eurasia, and WriteBox contemporary playwriting competitions. Dmitry Zimin is a theater director with over eighteen years of professional experience. He graduated from the Yekaterinburg State Theatre Institute in 2012, where he studied in the studio of A. V. Neustroev. His work spans classical drama, prose adaptations, and contemporary and experimental plays. An active participant in inclusive and socially engaged theater, he has directed more than 40 productions at over ten theaters across Russia and Belarus. Sabrona Hojiboboeva is from Tajikistan and also holds Russian citizenship. Having lived between two cultures, she is passionate about languages, literature, and cross-cultural connections. She studied Business Chinese at Xinjiang Normal University in Ürümqi and speaks Tajik, Russian, English, Turkish, and Chinese. She is now exploring playwriting and her own work in drama. For this production, she translated Confusion into English. A woman in her forties is starting over in a new country, struggling with money, work, loneliness, and the nagging fear that leaving home may have been a terrible mistake. Through it all, her young daughter remains fearless, curious, and determined to see the good in people. A tender and unexpectedly funny story about immigration, resilience, and the part of ourselves that keeps believing everything will be okay. Anna Vlasiuk was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, where she lived until the age of 35. Trained as a philologist, she spent many years working on international projects ranging from equipment and textile distribution to theatrical productions. In 2022, she moved to London, where she earned a master’s degree in Film and Television Producing. She now works in the international film industry while also writing, translating books, and contributing to theater projects. Singer, songwriter, actress, comedian, and multidisciplinary storyteller Jenna-Rose Hannah began performing in musical theater at age six. A graduate of the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, she has performed jazz and R&B across Los Angeles, New York City, San Diego, and Baltimore, and has worked in radio and on-camera hosting. Her original music includes “Daddy’s Little Girl” and “Out Of My Head,” and her one-woman musical 5150… A Musical was featured in the United Solo Festival and Hollywood Fringe Festival. This production marks her debut as a director. What begins as a simple conversation with ChatGPT turns into something far more complicated. Darkly funny and increasingly unsettling, Moron explores love, loneliness, trust, and the dangerous question of who bears responsibility when artificial intelligence becomes part of our most intimate decisions. Vasily Sigarev is a Russian playwright, screenwriter, and film director. He studied under playwright Nikolay Kolyada at the Yekaterinburg Theatre Institute. His plays Plasticine, Black Milk, and Ladybird were staged at London’s Royal Court Theatre. In 2002, Plasticine earned him the Evening Standard’s Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright. His films include Wolfy (2009), Living (2012), and The Land of Oz (2015). Artem Nasybulin is a Russian film and television director and a