The author examines the American premiere of M. Gorky’s play “Enemies,” which took place during the time of “Détente” between the Soviet Union and the United States. Produced by a non-profit organization such as the Repertory Theatre of Lincoln Center, this performance became a keen and thoughtful interpretation of Gorky’s work. The American stage’s treatment of the “Stormy Petrel of the Russian revolution” piece is analyzed in the political and cultural Soviet-American macro-context during the Cold War. The author focuses on the reception of Gorky’s play and its production in the USA on the basis of previously unknown materials from the collections of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. The paper is aimed at expanding the understanding of the Russian writer’s work as well as at specifying certain aspects of cultural contacts between the two superpowers during the time of their global confrontation.