TUTA Theatre announced today it will mount the 90-minute, three actor adaptation for the stage of Dostoevsky’s CRIME AND PUNISHMENT by Marilyn Campbell and Curt Columbus. TUTA’s production will be performed on their intimate home stage at 4670 N. Manor, Chicago, from May 7 through June 28. This adaptation, which premiered at Writers Theater in 2003, has enjoyed over 100 productions across the country and internationally from Europe to Australia and Indonesia. It has been produced at such distinguished US theaters as Berkeley Rep, Intiman Theater, 59E59th Street Theater, Cleveland Playhouse, Actors Theater of Louisville, Indiana Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse, Baltimore’s Center Stage, and Trinity Rep in Providence. It compresses all the tension and pathos of the novel into a powerful 90 minutes of theatre that is at once fresh and faithful to the original. Press performances are Sunday, May 10 and Monday, May 11 at 7:30 pm each evening.
Impoverished student Raskolnikov believes himself to be above the law and extraordinary to such an extent that he may decide who is worthy of life and of death. But that all ends when he meets Inspector Porfiry, a master of mind games who is determined to elicit a confession from the ever-more-tortured Raskolnikov. Is Raskolnikov going to crack? This taut, thrilling award-winning adaptation will be directed by TUTA Co-Artistic Director Jacqueline Stone. THE NEW YORK TIMES said, "Who would have thought that the novel no high school student has ever finished reading would make such engrossing theater?"
Stone’s three actor cast will include Clifton Frei as Raskolnikov, Huy Nguyen as Porfiry, and Felix as Sonia, with Nguyen and Felix also playing other characters. Associate Company Member Frei mesmerized audiences last summer with his performance as Tom in TUTA’s production of TOM & ELIZA by Celine Song. Company member Nguyen earned critical raves for his opening night performance in WHITE RABBIT, RED RABBIT, which was performed cold by a different actor each night, including Frei and Felix. Frei and Nguyen returned to TUTA later last year for THE LONG CHRISTMAS DINNER. Associate Company Member Felix was, along with Frei, a member of TUTA’s Jeff Award-winning ensemble of ATTEMPTS ON HER LIFE.
L-R: Clifton Frei, Felix, Huy Nguyen.
The CRIME AND PUNISHMENT production team includes Tony Award nominee Tatiana Kahvegian (for her set design of THE OUTSIDERS) and Obie Award winner Keith Parham (for ADDING MACHINE, A MUSICAL) as Co-Set Designers. Kahvegian and Parham were Jeff Award nominees for their work on TUTA’s TOM AND ELIZA. Parham is also the Lighting Designer for this production. The CRIME AND PUNISHMENT production team also includes Lia Wallfish (Costume Designer), Stefanie Senior (Sound Design), Helen Lattyak (Properties Design, Creative Producer), Becky Warner (Stage Manager), Milan Pribisic (Dramaturg), Letitia Guillaud (Assistant Director), Aileen Wen McGroddy and Jacqueline Stone (Co-Artistic Directors), and Brad Gunter (Managing Director).
Seats for all performances of CRIME AND PUNISHMENT can be reserved by purchasing in advance. Pay-what-you-choose reservations for all performances are $20, $45, $60 and $100. Any seating not reserved in advance will be available the day of the performance for in person, pay-what-you-choose tickets at the door 30 minutes before curtain time. There is no late seating. Additional information on TUTA Theatre’s ticketing is available at www.tutatheatre.org/crime-punishment.
LISTING INFORMATION
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
Adapted from the Fyodor Dostoevsky novel by Marilyn Campbell and Curt Columbus
Directed by Co-Artistic Director Jacqueline Stone
Featuring TUTA company members Huy Nguyen, Clifton Frei, and Felix
May 7 – June 28, 2026
Previews Thursday, May 7, Friday, May 8, and Saturday, May 9 at 7:30 pm
Press Openings Sunday, May 10 and Monday, May 11 at 7:30 pm each evening
Regular run: May 11 – June 28, 2026
Thursdays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm, and Sundays at 3:00 pm
TUTA Theatre - 4670 North Manor, Chicago
Pay-what-you-choose reservations available for $20, $45, $60, $100, available at https://www.tutatheatre.org/crime-punishment-reservations
Dostoyevsky’s epic novel distilled into a 90-minute play for three-actors and performed in TUTA’s hyper-intimate 24-seat theater. CRIME AND PUNISHMENT focuses on the plight of an intellectual young man whose moral struggle with his belief system compels him to commit a horrendous crime. A psychological game of cat and mouse ensues with the investigator who hunts him down. Dreams, waking visions, even ghosts paint this psychological portrait of crime, guilt, and retribution.
BIOS
Jacqueline Stone (Director, Co-Artistic Director) is honored to be Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of TUTA. She recently served as the Artistic Producer of TUTA's hit production WHITE RABBIT RED BABBIT. Her TUTA directing credits include the Chicago premiere of Thornton Wilder's THE LONG CHRISTMAS DINNER, the world premiere of HEDDA GABLER (as well as adaptor), Chicago and New York premieres (59E59 Theaters) of Adam Rapp's THE EDGE OF OUR BODIES, world premiere of THE ANYWAY CABARET (AN ANIMAL CABARET), and U.S. premiere OF THE SILENT LANGUAGE. Her TUTA performance credits include FULTON STREET SESSIONS, BAAL, THE WEDDING (1996, 2010, 2011), UNCLE VANYA (2008, 2009), A STILL LIFE IN COLOR, THE BIRDS, THE SWEET LITTLE PRINCE, ALICE, and THE HOUR.
In addition to TUTA, Stone currently serves as Producing Artistic Director of Breckenridge Backstage Theatre in Breckenridge, CO. BBT directing credits include EVERY BRILLIANT THING, the Colorado premiere of Jim DeVita and Josh Schmidt’s musical adaptation of THE GIFT OF THE MAGI, MT Cozzola’s A LADY’S GUIDE TO MOUNTAINS (Denver Fringe), and A CHRISTMAS STORY. This summer she will direct MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS.
From 2016 - 2020, Stone served as Artistic Director of Emerald City Theatre Company, Chicago's largest professional theatre serving young audiences. ECT directing credits include the Chicago premiere of FANTASTIC MR. FOX, the Chicago premiere of KEN LUDWIG'S TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS (Broadway Playhouse), the Chicago premiere of THE SNOWY DAY & OTHER STORIES, the world premiere of MOTHER GOOSE'S GARDEN, world premiere of PETER RABBIT (also adapter), JUNIE B. JONES, RAMONA QUIMBY, and the world premiere of Mo Willems' DON'T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS.
Select Chicago directing credits include Strawdog Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, Chicago Immersive, Broadway in Chicago, Piven Theatre, The Second City, Mudlark Theater, Akvavit Theatre, Step Up Productions, 20% Theatre Company, You & Me Productions, and DCASE. Jacqueline is co-founder of Sirens, the longest running all-female improv group in the country. She has appeared and created over 200 original shows with them.
Stone taught acting and improvisation at The Second City for ten years and Columbia College Chicago for five years. She spent twelve years as Emerald City Theatre's Education Director, building and fostering new acting programs for young people ages 3.5 - 13 years old. Other select teaching credits include The Faculty of Dramatic Arts (Belgrade, Serbia), Chicago Improv Festival, Miami Improv Festival, Duke University's FUQUA School of Business, UCLA, and University of Chicago.
Curt Columbus (Co-Adapter) Currently the Artistic Director of Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Isalnd, Curt lived and worked as an actor, director, adaptor and playwright in the Chicago theater scene for almost twenty years. He was artistic associate of Victory Gardens Theater from 1989–1994, the director of the University of Chicago’s University Theater from 1994–2000, and the associate artistic director of Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater Company from 2000–2005, where he premiered his translations of Chekhov's UNCLE VANYA and CHERRY ORCHARD. His adaptation of Dostoevsky’s CRIME AND PUNISHMENT with Marilyn Campbell has won awards and accolades at theaters around the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Columbus’s translations/adaptations also include Chekhov’s THREE SISTERS, SEAGULL, IVANOV, and FUENTE OVEJUNA.
Marilyn Campbell (Co-Adapter) is a co-founder of both the Writers Theatre-New York and the Writers Theatre in Glencoe . She is also an Original Core Founder of New Classics Collective, (Paul Oakley Stovall, Artistic Director). Her co-adaptation with Curt Columbus of Dostoyevsky’s CRIME AND PUNISHMENT (Joseph Jefferson Award for New Adaptation) has enjoyed over 100 productions across the country and internationally from London, Greece and Hungary to Australia and Indonesia. It has been produced at such distinguished US theaters as Berkeley Rep, Intiman Theater, 59E59th Street Theater, Cleveland Playhouse, Actors Theater of Louisville, Indiana Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse, Baltimore’s Center Stage, Trinity Rep, and numerous productions on the West Coast , where in 2009 the play won an L.A. Backstage Garland Award and a nomination from the L.A. Drama Critics Circle for Best New Adaptation. Other plays include THE BEATS (based on the writings of the 1950 beat writers) first produced at Writers Theater in 1997, starring David Cromer and named one of the best productions of the 1997 Chicago theater season by the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES. MY OWN STRANGER a co-adaptation with Linda Laundra based on the writings of Pulitzer Prize winning poet Anne Sexton, was first produced off Broadway in 1981 and won a Villager Downtown Theater Award for “Best Production.”
ABOUT TUTA THEATRE
TUTA Theatre was established in 1995 in Washington, DC by co-founders Zeljko and Natasha Djukic, who brought a unique sense of artistic expression from their European homeland. In 2002, they relocated the company to Chicago. In the ensuing 23 years, TUTA has presented numerous US premieres of foreign plays from France, Russia, Austria, and Serbia. TUTA has produced seven world premieres, eight US premieres, four Midwest premieres and many modern re-imaginings of classics. In 2012, longtime company member Jacqueline Stone stepped into the role of Artistic Director, and TUTA added productions for youth with the US premiere of THE SILENT LANGUAGE. TUTA’s productions have been listed on Chicago critics’ ‘best of the year’ list eight times in the past 10 years and have been produced nationally (in NYC and LA) and internationally (in Serbia with the National Theatre in Belgrade). Aileen Wen McGroddy and Jacqueline Stone are Co-Artistic Directors and Brad Gunter is Managing Director.