Registration REQUIRED by 4pm on April 28, 2026 in order to attend this event.
Please join the Harriman Institute for a performance of the play “Lost Stories” by Mikhail Zygar. Mikhail Zygar will be joined in this performance by director and actor Whitney White. Mark Lipovetsky will moderate the post-performance Q&A session.
The play “Lost Stories” by Mikhail Zygar explores how ordinary people can change the course of history, and how decisions made by ordinary individuals ultimately led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. The play is based on the book “The Dark Side of the Earth,” published last November by Scribner, which examines the final 30 years of the Soviet Union—how Soviet society evolved and how the Soviet people ultimately defeated the Soviet system.
Mikhail Zygar is a journalist, historian, and bestselling author, known for his work on Russian politics, propaganda, and authoritarianism. He was the founding editor-in-chief of TV Rain (Dozhd), Russia’s only independent news television channel, which became a critical voice against state censorship before he was forced into exile. Zygar is the author of several internationally acclaimed books, including All the Kremlin’s Men, a bestseller that provides an insider’s account of Vladimir Putin’s inner circle; The Empire Must Die, a deeply researched narrative on the fall of the Russian Empire and the revolutionary forces of the early 20th century; and War and Punishment, which was named one of The New Yorker’s best nonfiction books of 2023. His books have been translated into multiple languages and are widely used in academic and journalistic discussions on Russia.
Whitney White is an Obie and Lilly Award winning director, actor, and musician based in Brooklyn, New York. She is a Tony Award nominee, a recipient of the Susan Stroman Directing award, an Artistic Associate at the Roundabout and part of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. Her original musical Definition was part of the 2019 Sundance Theatre Lab, and her four-part musical exploration of Shakespeare’s Women and ambition is currently under commission with the Royal Shakespeare Company (UK). She has developed work with: Manhattan Theatre Club, The Public Theatre, Ars Nova, The Drama League, Roundabout, New York Theatre Workshop, The Lark, The Movement, Jack, Bard College, NYU Tisch, Juilliard, Princeton, SUNY Purchase, South Oxford, Luna Stage and more.
