VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE Added to Center Stage's 2013-14 Season

Center Stage announced today that Christopher Durang's Tony Award-winning comedy, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, will join Center Stage's 2013-14 Season. The production, which will run in place of Naomi Wallace's The Liquid Plain, begins previews on April 16, opens on April 23, and runs through May 25.

Center Stage Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah, who directed the World Premiere of The Liquid Plain at The Oregon Shakespeare Festival in summer 2013, is no longer available to direct the Center Stage production due to an unforeseen family obligation that will take him out of the country.

"The Liquid Plain is a gorgeous and moving piece of theater that I have an enormous love for," says Kwei-Armah. "When I learned that I wouldn't be available to direct, Naomi and I had a conversation and decided that now was just not the time to pursue the Center Stage production."

Slotting into Center Stage's Season 51 is Christopher Durang's acclaimed new comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike-winner of the 2013 Tony Award for Best Play.

In bucolic Bucks County, PA, Vanya and his sister Sonia have frittered their lives away living in the same farmhouse where they were raised. Their quiet existence of unease and regret, however, is rocked by the arrival of their glamorous movie star sister (and landlord) Masha, and her hunky boy toy, Spike. As their visit unfolds, a lifetime of sibling rivalry explodes into a weekend of comedic pyrotechnics. Christopher Durang (The Marriage of Bette and Boo, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains it All For You, Center Stage's My America) weaves Chekhovian themes and modern wit into an unforgettable experience critics have hailed as "a sublime state of hilarity" (New York Magazine).

Center Stage will produce Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike as a co-production with Kansas City Repertory Theatre. KC Rep Artistic Director, Eric Rosen, is set to direct. Additional information, including casting and design team, will be announced shortly.

"I have been a fan of both Christopher Durang and Anton Chekhov since high school, and I am thrilled to be directing this regional premiere in both my new hometown, Kansas City, and my family's hometown, Baltimore," says Rosen. "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is a deeply funny, profoundly smart, and ultimately moving comedy, and I can't wait to share our co-production with the great audiences at Kansas City Rep and Center Stage."

In addition to being the Artistic Director at Kansas City Rep, Rosen is a nationally recognized playwright, director, and producer, and he was the co-founder and former artistic director of Chicago's acclaimed About Face Theatre, where he developed nearly 30 world premieres. His Kansas City Rep credits include direction of Metamorphoses; The Trip to Bountiful; Clay; Winesburg, Ohio (for which he also wrote book and lyrics); the world premiere of A Christmas Story, The Musical!; the world premiere of Venice, a new musical he co-wrote with Matt Sax; and the acclaimed hits Cabaret and August: Osage County. His other writings include Dream Boy, Wedding Play, Dancer from the Dance, Whitman, and Undone. Among his many other regional directing credits are the world premieres of M. Proust by Mary Zimmerman, Theater District, and the Chicago premiere of Take Me Out.

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike by Christopher Durang, directed by Eric Rosen will begin previews at Center Stage on April 16, open on April 23, and run through May 25. Tickets start at $19 and can be purchased by calling 410.332.0033, or visiting www.centerstage.org.

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is sponsored by Legg Mason. Center Stage is supported by a grant from the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC), an agency dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where the arts thrive. An agency of the Department of Business & Economic Development, the MSAC provides financial support and technical assistance to nonprofit organizations, units of government, colleges, and universities for arts activities. Funding for the MSAC is also provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. Center Stage's 2013-14 Season is made possible by Season 51 presenting sponsor M&T Bank. Maryland Public Television is a Media Partner for Center Stage's 2013-14 Season.