Describe the Night by Rajiv Joseph is an Obie Award-winning thriller exploring the intersection of truth, propaganda, and history across 90 years of Russian history (1920–2010).
In 1920, the Russian writer Isaac Babel wanders the countryside with the Red Cavalry. Seventy years later, a mysterious KGB agent spies on a woman in Dresden and falls in love. In 2010, an aircraft carrying most of the Polish government crashes in the Russian city of Smolensk. Set in Russia over the course of ninety years, this thrilling and epic play by Rajiv Joseph traces the stories of seven men and women connected by history, myth and conspiracy theories.
Rajiv Joseph has twice won the Obie for Best New American Play, first in 2016 with Guards at the Taj (also a 2016 Lortel Winner for Best Play) and then for Describe the Night in 2022. Other plays include Archduke, Gruesome Playground Injuries, Animals Out of Paper, The Lake Effect, The North Pool, and Mr. Wolf. Joseph has been awarded artistic grants from the Whiting Foundation, United States Artists, and the Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust.
