Vladimir Krainyk (left) gets a finger from Sergei
Bryantsev in the American play "Blissful."An American playwright is bringing his tale of religious persecution and enlightenment to the Russian stage just in time for Thanksgiving.
Thomas Rogers, who taught Russian language and literature at the American Christian University in Provo City, Utah, is now the head of the Mormon Church office in St Petersburg.
He has written a play, "Blazh-enniye" (Blissful), the premier performance of which will be dedicated to all the victims of religious persecution in Russia.
Mr Rogers studied Russian at Moscow State University in the late 1970s and played Uncle Vanya in the well-known Chekhov play.
In 1979, Mr Rogers became acquainted with Vladimir Malishchitsky, the director of Leningrad's popular Molodyozhny Theater.
"Blissful" was staged in America 16 years ago by Mr Rogers' students and now will be seen for the first time by a Russian audience.
The play is based on the history of Dmitry Kurdakov, a Soviet immigrant to the United States and prominent Christian convert, allegedly killed by KGB agents.
When Kurdakov lived in the Soviet Union in the 1930s, he fervently followed the state's atheist policy and did much to further its cause.
Mr Rogers explains Kurdakov's conversion as God's will, and Kurdakov, as a Christian, decided to escape the heathen policies of the Soviet state.
He defected to America by jumping into the sea off the Canadian coast when his naval ship happened to be passing by.
The play is set in the 1970s and shows Dmitry's difficult path to God, the treacherous and dangerous path to religion in an atheist state.
On November 23, Mr Rogers himself will play the KGB agent pretending to be a foreigner and provoking Dmitry.
As the chamber theater has only 80 seats, tickets for the first performance have been sold old.
The next performance will be November 25 at the Theater of Vladimir Milshchitsky.