CHERRY ORCHARD OF THE LIVING DEAD Runs Now thru 3/9 at Onyx Theatre

Table 8 Productions in association with Off-Strip Productions presents the madcap mashup Anton Chekhov's "Cherry Orchard of the Living Dead, written and directed by Troy Heard. The world premiere comedy's limited run begins tonight, February 21, 2014, at the Onyx Theatre in Commercial Center and plays through March 9. This production is made possible in part by a grant from the Nevada Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The peripatetic Madame Ranevskaya has returned to her ancestral Russian home following yet another farewell tour to find her life turned upside down. Instead of marrying off her nubile daughter Masha to the local scholar, she's boarding up windows and grabbing pistols to ward off the coming onslaught of resurrected zombie serfs. Questions abound: will Gregorovitch Samsonovsky rescue the last two bottles of vodka? Will the elderly servant Anfisa finally be able to pour a decent cup of tea? And what IS that smell emanating from the barn? Only Pepito the chihuahua knows for sure...

"Chekhov's characters are essentially split into two groups: victims and survivors," says writer/director Heard. "They're either at the end of their ropes or trying to escape their circumstances. From The Seagull to Uncle Vanya, all these people with really long Russian names are trying to make it through their own personal hardships. That being said, it wasn't much of a stretch to imagine them existing in the world of The Walking Dead."

"I actually wrote the first draft a few years ago, but got sidetracked with other directing projects. For the hell of it, I pulled it out and applied for a Nevada Arts Council grant for a premiere production, never expecting them to give money to my crazy Russian Lit-slash- George Romero mashup. Well, I was pleasantly surprised when the grant came through."

Performances of Anton Chekhov's "Cherry Orchard of the Living Dead" will be Thursdays through Saturdays, February 21 - March 9 at 8 pm with Sunday matinees at 2 pm. Tickets are $15.00 and are available through the Onyx Box Office or on www.onyxtheatre.com. Performances will be at the Onyx Theatre, located at 953 E. Sahara Ave. #16 in Commercial Center, Las Vegas, NV.

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