Diary of a Madman

Diary of a Madman (Записки сумасшедшего), a 2015 Semi-Finalist for The American Prize in the Opera/Theater/Film Division, is based on the short Russian story of the same name by Nikolai Gogol. Set in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1835, the opera follows the descent of a low-ranking Russian official--Aksentiy Ivanovich Poprischin, the "Madman"--into the insanity and despair Gogol hauntingly depicted in diary format almost two centuries ago.