Rafaela Prifti/
The acclaimed Albanian film director Bujar Alimani decided to go with the stage adaptation of White Nights on a whim though he could well be riding the recent wave of readers’ interest on social media, of all places, for Dostojevksi’s 1848 novelleta. Is Bujar Alimani onto something here?
Through “White Nights”, Alimani is connecting with his own love for theater. He calls “his second stage production” counting his graduation performance of “Rose” by hebrew writer Martin Sherman at the National Theater in Tirana 2009.
The intense few weeks of rehearsals with the cast consisting of two seasoned Albanian actors Yllka Lota (Ana in the play, Nastenka in the story) and Herion Mustafaraj (Narrator/”Dreamer”) included numerous challenges from the translation adaptation to utilizing the stage space, lights and sound, printing posters and more.
Admittedly, the classics are timeless, yet there is a peculiarity about White Nights, that’s appealing to the generation of Tictoc and Instagram users, eager to explore the themes of loneliness and un-relinquished love in the story set in Russia’s St. Petersburg over 170 years ago. The over an hour play is now on the Sunday Program repertoire at the Producers Club.
The show premiered on May 10th. Last night it was its sixth and best performance yet.
“A motivated team of talents like Albulena Beqiri’s Scenography, Production Manager Damian Pervizi, Executive Producer Bob Demce, Producer Alfred Tolja, Assistant Costumography Dea Spiro Mustafaraj, Sound/Lights Tan Kazazi, Ilir Dhamo, is essential to the show’s success.
The cast and crew feel encouraged by the community’s wishes to take the performance on the road to Boston, Toronto etc.,” says Bujar.
The protagonist, at the end of show, poses the question whether a brief moment of happiness is enough to last a lifetime. It is an open invitation to find your connection with “White Nights”.
Photo Credit Erion Halilaj, White Nights sixth show, 2025,
Bujar Alimani, Drita Pelingu in Rose, Albania’s National Theater, 2009