Anton Chekhov News

Actors' Shakespeare Project mounts a lighter, accessible version of Anton Chekhov's final play in Founder's Hall at The Dane Estate at Pine Manor College in Brookline. Performing in the round in this stately, dramatic setting, the actors inhabit space and time in a way that allows their characters to emerge naturally, enhanced by the proximity of their audience

The Public Theater announced complete casting today for THE LIBRARY, a new play written by award-winning writer Scott Z. Burns and directed by Academy Award winner Steven Soderbergh. THE LIBRARY will begin previews on Tuesday, March 25 in The Public's Newman Theater and run through Sunday, April 27, with an official press opening on Tuesday, April 15.

Actors' Shakespeare Project presents The Cherry Orchard, Anton Chekhov's absurdist comedy of human frailties in an evolving world, February 12 to March 9, 2014 at The Dane Estate at Pine Manor College, 400 Heath Street, Chestnut Hill, MA. Directed by Obie Award-winner Melia Bensussen. For tickets go online to www.actorsshakespeareproject.org or call OvationTix.com at 866-811-4111. Check out a first look at the cast below!

The Seagull by Anton Chekhov will play in a new version by Anya Reiss, directed by Chris Honer, and running tonight, 21 February - Saturday 8 March 2014 with the Library Theatre Company. The Seagull, one of Anton Chekhov's masterpieces, in a vibrant and critically acclaimed new version by Anya Reiss, is the final production under The Library Theatre Company banner before it becomes HOME, the new organisation created by its merger with Cornerhouse.

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.

With bold, vibrant and hilarious dialogue, Anton Chekhov captures the divine comedy of everyday life, exposing our foibles and self-deceptions in all their glory. Join a cast of manic mothers, desperate daughters, paranoid paramours and hassled husbands for this stunning evening of world theater. 4 by Chekhov brings the master's most beloved one-acts -- THE DANGERS OF TOBACCO, THE PROPOSAL, THE RELUCTANT TRAGIC HERO and THE BEAR - together into a single production.

Tony Award-winning Trinity Repertory Company, under the leadership of The Richard L. Bready Artistic Director Curt Columbus and Executive Director Michael Gennaro has announced their 2014-2015 season line-up of plays.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will host 22 theatrical offerings from 20 different countries during WORLD STAGES: International Theater Festival 2014 that will run for three weeks March 10-30, 2014 throughout the Center. The international festival features contemporary theater works offering 13 fully staged productions, 4 theater-focused installations, 3 readings of new works, and 2 forums. From Olivier and Tony Award-winning puppetry to innovative perspectives on old classics, a diverse showcase of theatrical expression will be represented by countries spanning the globe including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, England, France, Iceland, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Mexico, Pakistan, Palestine, Scotland, South Africa, Sudan, Syria, and the United States.

The Drama League (Gabriel Shanks, Executive Director; Roger T. Danforth, Artistic Director) has announced the ten artists and theater ensembles chosen to develop new plays and musicals as part of the 2014 Artist Residency Program. The development of these works, which include two 2014 Artists In Residence, Rachel Dickstein/Ripe Time and Jeremy Bloom/Rady&Bloom, will be held at The Drama League Theater Center (32 Avenue of the Americas) in Tribeca from March-July 2014.

Uptown Players opens its 2014 season with the zany Broadway comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, winner of the 2013 Tony Award for Best Play. Written by Christopher Durang and directed by B. J. Cleveland, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike runs at the Kalita Humphreys Theater from tonight, February 14 to March 9, 2014.

Arden Theatre Company presents the world premiere of a new translation of Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov, translated by Curt Columbus, directed by Terrence J. Nolen. The production appears on the Arden's F. Otto Haas Stage from March 20 through April 20, 2014 at 40 N. 2nd Street in Philadelphia.

Actors' Shakespeare Project will present The Cherry Orchard, Anton Chekhov's absurdist comedy of human frailties in an evolving world, tonight, February 12 to March 9, 2014 at The Dane Estate at Pine Manor College, 400 Heath Street, Chestnut Hill, MA. The production is directed by Obie Award-winner Melia Bensussen.

Christopher Durang loves to take a somewhat placid environment and turn it upside down, inside out. What doesn't happen matters just has much if not more than what does and the characters let out their feelings at the slightest provocation. Sound like it's right out of Anton Chekhov? When Sonia gives coffee to her brother Vanya and he seems displeased with it, she takes the cup away from him in anger and throws it against the wall. It's not the coffee comment that has upset her, it's the way she feels inside, at the overall way her brother neglects her, takes her kindness for granted. She's sad and is not afraid to tell him so. Vanya, Sonia, Masha and Spike, now onstage at the Mark Taper Forum and last year's Tony winner for Best Play, is one hilarious ride from moment to moment with wonderfully surprising twists and an eclectic mix of characters that would make any world dysfunctional. Dysfunctional is the new normal, and that's what makes Durang's work shine. Akin to drama queens, misery forms their best company. It's as if everyone were totally smashed...they say and do what they feel; they're so brutally honest, you can't stop laughing.

Michael Pennington, two-time Olivier Award nominee, an artist of international stature and one of England's greatest classical actors, will play the title role in William Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear directed by Arin Arbus. For the second production in Theatre for a New Audience's inaugural season at its first permanent home, the new Polonsky Shakespeare Center, 262 Ashland Place in Brooklyn, Mr. Pennington leads a company of 22 actors. King Lear begins previews March 14 for an opening March 27 and a run through May 4.

The Segal Centre for Performing Arts is proud to announce that three performances have been added to its new production of The Seagull, adapted and directed by Peter Hinton.

Kristin Scott Thomas is done with films. After starring in 65 features over the course of 30 years, the actress told the Guardian that she reached her breaking point at some point last September. Nor will she be appearing on television. Off-screen and onstage seems to be the way Thomas is headed. She played the title role in BERENICE in France in 2001 and loved it.

Productions of Translations and Afterplay, produced as part of a season of work dedicated to the Irish playwright Brian Friel, will play Sheffield Theatres this spring.

CHALK REPERTORY THEATRE presents STUDIO CHEKHOV, a one-night only theatrical event on February 16, 2014, featuring excerpts from two of Anton Chekhov's greatest works in new versions by Libby Appel.