Lauren Pritchard And Cast Of SONGBIRD Join Annual Chekhov Celebration

Lauren Pritchard and cast members from the critically-acclaimed off-Broadway musical SONGBIRD (based on Chekhov's "The Seagull") join Sam Underwood, Valorie Curry, and Fundamental Theater Project for Columbia University's Harriman Institute's 7th Annual Chekhov Celebration, April 8th, 8pm, Actors Temple Theater, 339 West 47th Street.

Tickets are $10 and can be reserved through Show-Score, a co-sponsor of the event.

"Wear black if you must. But come, commiserate and celebrate," says Margo Jefferson, the Pulitzer-Prize-winning theater critic, who attended the 6th annual Chekhov Celebration. Produced by Chekhov fanatic Laura Strausfeld, who adapted Chekhov's early, funny stories for the event, the Chekhov Celebration this year is billed as "Chekhov v. Trump" and will celebrate Chekhov's subversive politics.

This year's event will also feature the singular and spectacular Chekhov-Nashville music of Michael Kimmel and Lauren Pritchard's Songbird. Pritchard will perform with cast members Ephie Aardema, Eric William Morris, and Kacie Sheik. Kris Kukul will music direct.

"Hundreds of years later, it is exciting to see Anton Chekhov continue to inspire at the 7th Annual Chekhov Celebration," say the Songbird producers. "Artists of all disciplines have heard his work in the unlikeliest of places. For Songbird, we heard the longing and frustration of the artist in a small honkey tonk right outside Nashville, Tennessee (not exactly where most minds go when thinking about The Seagull). As we continue to move Songbird forward, our company is thrilled to be surrounded by other like-minded creatives still interested in a dialogue with that seminal writer of plays."

The Chekhov Celebration began in 2010 for Chekhov's 150th birthday. Columbia University's Harriman Institute, where Strausfeld is a Visiting Scholar, began sponsoring the event in 2015.

"I always knew the old adage that Chekhov is comedy, but I hadn't realized, until I started doing this event a number of years ago, that Chekhov really wrote comedy-pure comedy," says Underwood (The Following Homeland), who will reprise his role as the Violent-Tempered Man. He'll be joined on stage by Valorie Curry (The Tick, American Pastoral) and the Acting Company of Fundamental Theater Project.

Also featured and not to be missed: Russian protest songs by Russian Music Troupe Bobok and Chekhov-inspired poetry by Alissa Quart (Monetized).

The Chekhov Celebration always includes plenty of vodka and piroshkis. $10 tickets can be reserved through co-sponsor Show-Score, the 'Rotten Tomatoes' for New York Theater.