a theatrical memorandum by Stefano Massini

An investigative journalist puts her life at risk by writing inconvenient truths

The true story of journalist Anna Politkovskaya (1958–2006) as told through her writings, interviews, and conversations. A play by Tony Award–winning playwright Stefano Massini (The Lehman Trilogy, 2022) about democracy and the freedom of the press and expression.

Moscow, 2006. Anna Politkovskaya, investigative journalist for the opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta, fearlessly criticizes the Kremlin and exposes the atrocities against civilians during the second war between Russia and Chechnya. Her writings become inconvenient for those in power in Moscow and Grozny, making her everyone’s target.

“I am a journalist, not a court of law or a magistrate.
I limit myself to reporting the facts.
The facts: as they stand, as they are.
It seems like the easiest thing, but here it’s the most difficult.
And it exacts the highest price.”