Vladimir Putin takes the stage in D.C.

Christopher Geary (Vladimir Putin) and Max Woertendyke (Mikhail Khodorkovsky) in the world premiere of “Kleptocracy” at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. Credit: Courtesy C. Stanley Photography

World premiere at Arena Stage looks at the ruthless rise of the Russian president

You can’t get far in Washington, D.C., without someone bringing up Russian President Vladimir Putin and his efforts to interfere in U.S. democracy.

So there’s no more fitting venue than the nation’s capital for a world premiere about the rise of Putin from a KGB grunt to the most powerful man in post-Soviet Russia.

“Kleptocracy,” which opened this month at Arena Stage, charts that course largely through his rivalry with Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who at the time controlled a Russian oil company but wanted to sell it to an American firm such as Exxon or Chevron — a move Putin saw as a threat to the Russian state.

View the complete January 30 article by Niels Lesniewski on The Roll Call website here.