Allie Avital and Alia Azamat Ashkenazi’s The Naked Woman Is a Gripping Tale of Devotion and Deception

As New Year’s approaches, a family of Russian immigrants has come together at their house in the idyllic upstate New York countryside to celebrate patriarch Misha (Roman Freud at this performance, sharing the role with Ilia Volok). Graduate School Architecture student Dasha (MaryKate Glenn) is at the party with her partner Dan 2 (Max Samuels)—so named because Dasha’s previous (and still amorous) paramour Dan 1 (Oleg Blinov) is also in attendance. Dasha is pregnant but is reluctant to tell Misha or his devoted wife Rina (Natasha Goubskaya).

“What if they like the baby more than me?” she worries.

But before getting to that, she must let Misha know that the tuition check he provided her has bounced. Misha reveals that his architecture business, and therefore the family’s livelihood, is in danger, following the departure of his biggest client. Misha is also haunted by the horrors experienced by his ancestors during the atrocities of the Stalin era. “I still feel that any day I could come home and my whole family will have disappeared,” he admits. “At any time, they can take away everything.”

The already uneasy celebration is interrupted by the tragic lady of the title, who runs through the woods screaming for help, observed—and ultimately ignored—by Misha. When Dasha learns of this her image of her father begins to crumble, only to be completely destroyed soon after when she learns he is an adulterer as well. But Rina is so desperate to keep the status quo that she dismisses the notion of compassion outright.

“This American obsession with caring about strangers,” she scoffs. “…It’s theater.” Even the suffering of the past and the revelation of her husband’s infidelity are met with what amounts to a sigh and a shrug.

And as a reminder that everyone is drawn in shades of gray, Dasha is observed making choices that might not be best for herself or the baby, and wavering between Dans 1 and 2. She continuously mentions her age of 35 to convince herself that she is an adult ready to leave the nest and start her own family, but Dan 2 dismisses this: “You just want to keep being the baby.”

The Naked Woman is based on co-writer Allie Avital’s 2017 short film of the same name, and it is a fascinating look at family dynamics, morality, and the impulse to “look the other way” to maintain the illusions that we desperately cling to. It’s a true intersecting of the traditional Chekhovian melodrama and the concerns of the 21^st century. Dasha yearns for self-actualization as the members of her family cling to old ways, and remain willfully blind and inert. But in a testament to the writing and performances, every character remains sympathetic even as their faults are revealed, and the audience is left pondering the question of what they themselves would do if they found themselves in these circumstances.

Glenn, Freud and Goubskaya feel astonishingly real as we spend this family celebration with them, and we cross our fingers that the holiday will end as happily as it began, despite the turbulence and tragedy along the way.

As the drama unfolds Dima Koan provides terrific comic relief as Misha’s eccentric brother Grisha—jovial, colorfully dressed, and always with a glass of red wine, even in the sauna. The play is peppered with witty observations that add some light to the shade and provide the balance to the strife, making the story feel all the more genuine.

The cast is collectively lovable and believable as a close-knit but troubled family, and their heritage clashing with the ways of modern America creates a compelling narrative.

The gorgeous-voiced Maria Atlas is Zoya, who enhances the atmosphere by leading singalongs in Russian while accompanying herself and the family on her own mint green acoustic guitar. The leads are deftly supported by Matt DeTitta as the police officer investigating both the appearance and disappearance of the mysterious Marie (Audrey Arnold), and Tatyana Kot as Misha’s “special friend” Lilya.

The set design, a bare stage framed by long blocks of wood, complements the piece beautifully, as does the impressive sound design, and the video projections of the innocent past cast onto the planks. As realized by Production Designer Pili Weeber, it wonderfully conveys both the interior of the house and the woods surrounding it, and the secrets they both hold.

Directed with heart and panache by Avital, The Naked Woman runs at Theatre 154 through June 14, 2026. It is produced by PM Theater, Joshua Elias Palmer, and Alia Azamat Ashkenazi.