Akron’s New World Performance Lab (NWPL) presents Seattle’s premiere ensemble-based theatre company, Akropolis Performance Lab (APL), and its production of Crime + Punishment.  Akron audiences can experience the world premiere of this physical and musical version of Dostoevsky’s dark and thrilling opus on November 30, December 1 and 2 at 7:30 pm at The Balch Street Theatre, 220 South Balch Street, Akron, OH 44302. Tickets are $15 general admission and $10 for students/seniors. Seating is very limited. Reservations can be made by calling (330) 867-3299 or online at dostoevsky.brownpapertickets.com.

Crime + Punishment follows the fortunes of Raskolnikov, a debt-ridden and disillusioned university drop-out. After robbing and murdering a pawnbroker, Raskolnikov descends into a guilt-induced fever dream where he is plagued by the ghosts of his crime and conscience.

APL’s version of Dostoevsky’s 19^th century novel combines bold dramaturgy with rigorous physicality and a rich musical soundscape drawn from traditional Russian sacred chant and folk song. The live music includes otherworldly a cappella vocal harmonies — for which APL has twice received Gypsy Award nominations from Seattle’s theatre critics — and the distinctive sound of a hurdy-gurdy. The result is a singularly theatrical translation of Dostoevsky\’s classic psychological novel of alienation, duality, morality, transgression, and justice.

As part of NWPL’s 25^th anniversary celebration, the company welcomes back to Akron APL’s co-directors Zhenya and Joseph Lavy, founding members of NWPL. In Crime + Punishment, APL’s taut, nine-person ensemble ventures to the lower depths of 19th-century St. Petersburg, where the mysteries of the mind of a killer are revealed in his search for meaning and redemption. Crime + Punishment epitomizes the APL aesthetic: minimal and low-tech, yet full of inventive stagecraft and theatrical magic.