The Caltech Playreaders

2016-2017: The 66th Season

All of our readings will be held at 7:30 pm
at the Caltech Athenaeum in the Hall of Associates.

Please note our earlier start time of 7:30 p.m. The doors will open at 7:15.

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

The Inspector General by Nikolai Gogol

Directed by Mark Kozlowski


The mayor of a small Russian town, who lives a comfortable, corrupt life, receives a tip that an Inspector General is to visit incognito. The mayor despairs, but fortunately he and his cronies see through the Inspector's disguise. Or so they think! Published almost two centuries ago during a flowering of Russian culture, this still widely-performed satire caused an outcry but the conservative Tsar Nicholas I intervened to have it staged. The monarch himself led the applause on opening night, proclaiming, "Everybody gets it, and I most of all!"

Setting: A small Russian town in 1836

Cast of Characters:

Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky The Governor
Anna Andreyevna The Governor's Wife
Marya Antonovna The Governor's Daughter
Luka Lukich Khlopov Inspector of Schools
Ammos Fiodorovich Liapkin-Tiapkin the Judge
Artemy Filippovich Zemlianika Superintendent of Charities
Ivan Kuzmich Shpekin the Postmaster
Piotr Ivanovich Dobchinsky a Country Squire
Piotr Ivanovich Bobchinsky a Country Squire
Ivan Aleksandrovich Khlestankov a Copying Clerk from St Petersburg
Osip Ivan Aleksandrovich Khlestankov's Servant
Stepan Ivanovich Korobkin Esteemed Ex-official of the Town
Stephan Ilyich Ukhovertov the Police Captain
Svistunov Police Sergeant
Abdulin A Merchant
Fevronya Petrova Poshliopkina the Locksmith's Wife
The Widow Widow of a Non-commissioned Officer
Mishka The Governor's Servant
Servant A Servant at the Inn