Stella Baker is currently making her Broadway debut in the historical play Patriots by Peter Morgan. In the show, which follows Vladimir Putin's rise to power in the 1990s, Baker plays multiple roles as part of the ensemble. Her biggest role in the show is as Marina Litvinenko, the wife of Alexander Litvinenko, one of Putin's chief critics.
Baker's other credits include the lead role in the TV show The Republic of Sarah on the CW.
Below, photographer Michael Kushner followed Baker around before one performance, as she got ready backstage and on stage. This series is part of Kushner's Dressing Room Project.
Patriots premiered in 2022 with a sold-out run at London's Almeida Theatre, where the show's director, Rupert Goold, serves as artistic director, before transferring to the Noël Coward Theatre for a West End engagement.
Original London cast member Will Keen reprises his Olivier-winning performance as the tyrannical autocrat in question, Vladimir Putin, alongside Michael Stuhlbarg (The Pillowman) as Boris Berezovsky. The Broadway production also features Luke Thallon as Roman Abramovich, Baker as Marina Litvinenko, Ronald Guttman (Coastal Disturbances) as Professor Perelman, and Alex Hurt (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) as Alexander Litvinenko.
READ: Michael Stuhlbarg and Will Keen on Playing Berezovsky and Putin in Patriots
The cast also includes Rosie Benton (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Stick Fly) as Berezovsky’s Mother, Jeff Biehl (Machinal) as Teacher and FSB Boss, Peter Bradbury (The Shark Is Broken, Hangmen) as Voloshin and Nurse, Camila Canó-Flaviá (Network) as Tatiana and Nina Berezovsky, Marianna Gailus as Katya, Paul Kynman as Korzhakov and Yeltsin, Adam Poss as Lawyer and Home Office, and Nick Rehberger (Fiddler on the Roof, The Glass Menagerie) as Assistant and Kahneman.
Understudies for the production include Benjamin Bonenfant, Danielle Chaves, Joe Forbrich, and Tony Ward (The Audience, Twelfth Night/Richard III).
The Patriots creative team also includes set designer Miriam Buether, co-costume designers Deborah Andrews and Miriam Buether, lighting designer Jack Knowles, sound designer and composer Adam Cork, movement director Polly Bennett, and projection designer Ash J Woodward. Casting is by Jim Carnahan. TT Partners is the production's general manager.
The producing team includes Netflix, Sonia Friedman Productions, Nederlander Presentations, Richard Winkler, Stephanie P. McClelland, Ted Snowdon, Jamie deRoy/Ken Greiner, and Richard Batchelder.
Visit PatriotsBroadway.com.