The Great Impresario Boris Lermontov Would Like to Invite You To Dinner by Tristan B Willis

Two actors meet onstage and flip a coin to decide who plays which character in this performance. One takes on the role of Boris Lermontov, the boisterous and boastful impresario of a popular ballet company, while the other plays his employee Noa, an unappreciated dancer who’s been tasked with serving dinner to Lermontov and his guest (that’s you, the audience).

The façade of the dinner party...
Two actors meet onstage and flip a coin to decide who plays which character in this performance. One takes on the role of Boris Lermontov, the boisterous and boastful impresario of a popular ballet company, while the other plays his employee Noa, an unappreciated dancer who’s been tasked with serving dinner to Lermontov and his guest (that’s you, the audience).

The façade of the dinner party quickly starts to crumble as tensions rise between impresario and dancer, revealing the faulty hierarchical structures inherent to such working relationships. As the actor playing Lermontov tries to show the effects of such power imbalances can be solved with the Right Person in the role of impresario, they fall further and further into a trap they’ve created for themself.
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The Great Impresario Boris Lermontov Would Like to Invite You To Dinner

Recommended by

  • Ryan Rappaport:
    15 Mar. 2023
    “ This is a play of constant creation and art. Willis skillfully portrays the dangers of allowing work to consume a person's life and overshadow the people and relationships that are essential to the creative process. Indeed, this play examines how we as theatre artists value the labor and skills that other artists bring to their work.

    Beyond that, this play evolves and lives like art itself. The actors weave in and out of roles until they are consumed themselves by their art. This is an excellent piece, poignant, technical, and understanding. Willis has created a must-perform work! ”
  • Ky Weeks:
    7 Jan. 2023
    “ Right from the beginning, this play introduces an element of actual chance into the production, a reminder to all involved of the nature of the Thing that they witness as an act continuously in the moment of creation. The two performers make the most out of the space, filling the delicately crafted words with delightful and magical action. Willis' text sharply reminds us of the performers onstage as humans and workers, and, fittingly, gives them a staggering amount of trust and agency in the full piece of physical art. ”
  • Gina Femia:
    2 Jul. 2022
    “ I love every inch of this play and how it moves as a living, breathing thing that will expand and contract with each showing - everything that theater should be, alive, honest, exciting. ”
View all 7 recommendations

Character Information

Both actors will likely play both characters at some point - just be conscious of this and the dynamics of them playing each role. My plays do not live in an unrealistic land of all thin, abled, cis and gender-binary white people. Populate BOTH the stage and production team with people historically excluded from your theatre and/or your region’s theatre at large. I WILL follow up with you about this if you produce my plays. ///

Ballet in this piece is about style and aesthetic, not technical skill. Do not be fooled into thinking “this is a ballet” means you must (or even should!) cast based on technical skill or perceived ability. A good actor can portray this aesthetic regardless of training, familiarity, body type, etc etc.

  • Boris Lermontov/Actor L
    Art above people, craft always.

    Lermontov is a cis white man. The actor who plays Lermontov is NOT.
    Can be played by:
    • Age: 
      Any adult age
    • Race/Ethnicity: 
      Any race/ethnicity
    • Gender: 
      Any gender
  • Noa/Actor N
    There’s got to be a better way, but for now they’re just trying to keep this job. According to Lermontov they “don’t have the right shape” for ballet. Noa/Actor N's pronouns can change to reflect the actor's.

    The actor who plays Noa is likewise not a cis white man.
    Can be played by:
    • Age: 
      Any adult age
    • Race/Ethnicity: 
      Any race/ethnicity
    • Gender: 
      Any gender

Development History