Black Snow by Mikhail Bulgakov

career as a playwright and novelist. But it was not an entirely positive experience, and this novel, written near the end of Bulgakov’s life, skewers the theatrical fraternity he had been a part of for many years, and the Stalinist system of censorship that suppressed his work. Black Snow is the story of Maxudov, a young playwright whose play is chosen, almost at random, to be performed by the legendary Independent Theatre, and the chaos that ensues. The two co-directors of the theater, modeled after Stanislavski and his co-director, battle to control the production, star actresses throw daily fits, and with each rehearsal the chances of the play ever being ready to perform recedes. The ultimate backstage novel and a brilliant satire from one of the greatest modern Russian writers." https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Mikhail-Bulgakov/dp/1612192149