Science might be a high stakes game, but a project's success or failure rarely determines whether the researchers undertaking it will live or die. There are, of course, some exceptions to this; say, for example, your work is funded by Joseph Stalin, and your task is to devise a way to preserve for eternity the body of Stalin's predecessor and the father of Soviet communism, Vladimir Lenin.
Boris Zbarsky examines Lenin's
embalmed body, while Vladimir Vorobiev
and his assistant, Nadia, watch

Photo: Gerry Goodstein
Lenin's Embalmers, a new play that opened this week at Manhattan's linkurl:Ensemble Studio Theatre,;http://www.ensemblestudiotheatre.org/ portrays Boris Zbarsky and Vladimir Vorobiev, the two biochemists whom Stalin recruited to fulfill precisely this duty shortly after Lenin's death in January, 1924. The two scientists understand the rewards that await them should they succeed, but they also know the price of failure. They tousle over whether or not to...
Lenin's EmbalmersEinstein's GiftLenin's Embalmers
Boris and Vlad at work
Photo: Gerry Goodstein
Lenin's Embalmers


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