There are several reasons the hit play “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” is playing in regional theaters around the country.
“It’s a comedy, its about Baby Boomers, and it has Baby Boomer roles in it,” Director Marge Uhlarik-Boller said. “It’s a triple threat. Plus its hilarious. Its very funny.”
The Christopher Durang-penned comedy — winner of the 2013 Tony Award for best play — runs May 19-June 11 at Steel Beam Theatre in St. Charles. Performances are at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and at 3 p.m. Sundays.
The play tells the story two middle-aged siblings, Vanya and Sonia, who live in an old farmhouse in Pennsylvania. They’ve fallen into a life of not doing much, and when their older movie-star sister, Masha, comes back to the home with her younger boyfriend, Spike, mayhem ensues.
“What Christopher Durang does in this play is he brings characters that we’ve met in Chekhov and he brings them to light in a modern day age,” said Uhlarik-Boller, who is also the artistic director at Steel Beam. “At the same time he takes a look at that without bowing to Chekhov.”
The characters, she said, are “kind of stock Chekhovian characters, but they’re given a Christopher Durang twist.”
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“And it’s an homage to Chekhov, but he also pokes fun at him,” Uhlarik-Boller said.
While playwright Anton Chekhov’s works are considered comedies, theyre not often viewed as such by contemporary audiences
“When we watch them in our 21st Century viewpoint, we don’t really see the comedic effect of it. We see them as kind of characters who are trapped in lives or lost. They yearn for love,” Uhlarik-Boller said. “And all the characters in ‘Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike’ do too, but we see them through a more modern sensibility.”
Playwright Durang is known for doing absurdist comedy, she said. His earlier plays, including “Sister Mary Ignatius Explains it All For You,” “Beyond Therapy” and “Baby with the Bath Water” all have the heightened sense of absurd. But in “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” he also makes some serious points, she said.
“Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” is the final show of the season at Steel Beam. In July the theater will stage the musical “Fairways,” directed by Steel Beam’s former artistic director and founder Donna Steele. The musical, written by Steele’s sister, Mary Hutchings Reed, with music by Curt Powell, had its world premiere at Steele Beam in 2006. The new production, which runs July 21-30, will feature two original cast members. The theater’s 17th season then kicks off Sept. 8 with “100 Years of Broadway.”
Kathy Cichon is a freelance writer for The Beacon-News.
‘Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike’
When: May 19-June 11
Where: Steel Beam Theatre, 111 W. Main St., St. Charles
Tickets: $28 adults; $$25 seniors 62+; $23 students; $22 groups of 10+
Information: 630-587-8521 or www.steelbeamtheatre.com