After a long and fruitless day of auditions for the lead role in his new play--an adaptation of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's 1870 novella, Venus in Fur--exhausted and frustrated director Thomas Novacheck is about to call it quits for the day. And then, soaked to the bone, Vanda walks into the dark and eerily vacant Parisian theatre, ready to try her luck and Thomas' patience. However, as the assertive and seemingly unfit for the part young actress takes the stage, a grand miracle occurs, transforming mysterious Vanda into the novel's central female character, Wanda von Dunajew. Now, there is no turning back. And between reality and fiction, the boundaries separating apathy from obsession and master from servant become increasingly difficult to distinguish.—Nick Riganas