Natalia Payne, Wendy Rich Stetson, Heather Wood Lead Yale's THREE SISTERS

Yale Repertory Theatre (James Bundy, Artistic Director; Victoria Nolan, Managing Director) presents two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Sarah Ruhl's new version of Anton Chekhov's THREE SISTERS, based on a literal translation by Elise Thoron with Natalya Paramonova and Kristin Johnsen-Neshati, directed by Les Waters. A co-production with Berkeley Repertory Theatre, where it played earlier this year, THREE SISTERS opens Yale Rep's 2011-2012 season, September 16-October 8 at the University Theatre (222 York Street). Opening Night is Thursday, September 22.

THREE SISTERS features set design by Annie Smart, costumes by Ilona Somogyi, lighting by Alex Nichols, sound by David Budries, musical direction by Julie Wolf, dramaturgy by Rachel Steinberg, and stage management by James Mountcastle.

Natalia Payne (Masha), Wendy Rich Stetson (Olga), and Heather Wood (Irina) play the title roles. The cast also includes Josiah Bania (Rode), James Carpenter (Chebutykin), Richard Farrell (Ferapont), Emily Kitchens (Natasha), Bruce McKenzie (Vershinin), Alex Moggridge (Andrei), Barbara Oliver (Anfisa), Keith Reddin (Kulygin), Thomas Jay Ryan (Tuzenbach), Brian Wiles (Fedotik), and Sam Breslin Wright (Solyony).

ABOUT THREE SISTERS

Discover the humor and heartbreak of one of the world's greatest plays, revealed through the lyricism of two leading voices in Contemporary Theatre: two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Sarah Ruhl and director Les Waters, whose acclaimed collaborations include Eurydice at Yale Rep and the Tony Award-nominated In the Next Room (or the vibrator play) on Broadway.

Transplanted from their beloved Moscow to a provincial Russian town, three sisters-school teacher Olga (Wendy Rich Stetson), unhappily married Masha (Natalia Payne), idealistic Irina (Heather Wood)-yearn for the city of their childhood, where they imagine their lives will be transformed and fulfilled. Three Sisters is the portrait of a family grappling with the bittersweet distance between reality and dreams.

TICKET INFORMATION AND PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

Tickets for THREE SISTERS range from $20-88, are available online at www.yalerep.org, by phone at (203) 432-1234, and in person at the Yale Rep Box Office (1120 Chapel Street, at York Street). Student, senior, and group rates are also available.

Friday, September 16 8PM

Saturday, September 17 8PM Grad Night reception begins at 7PM

Monday, September 19 8PM ALL TICKETS $20

Tuesday, September 20 8PM ALL TICKETS $20

Wednesday, September 21 8PM ALL TICKETS $20

Thursday, September 22 8PM Opening Night

Friday, September 23 8PM

Saturday, September 24 2PM Talk Back

Saturday, September 24 8PM

Tuesday, September 27 8PM

Wednesday, September 28 2PM Senior Reception begins at 1PM

Wednesday, September 28 8PM

Thursday, September 29 8PM Yale Night, Talk Back

Friday, September 30 8PM

Saturday, October 1 2PM Open Captioning, Talk Back

Saturday, October 1 8PM

Tuesday, October 4 8PM

Wednesday, October 5 8PM

Thursday, October 6 8PM

Friday, October 7 8PM

Saturday, October 8 2PM Audio Description

Saturday, October 8 8PM

ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM

Sarah Ruhl (PLAYWRIGHT) is thrilled to be back at Yale Rep for the fourth time. Her plays include The Clean House (Yale Rep, world premiere, 2004; Susan Smith Blackburn Award, Pulitzer Prize finalist, PEN/Pels Foundation Award), Dead Man's Cell Phone, Demeter in the City (NAACP Image Award nomination), Eurydice (Yale Rep, 2006), In the Next Room (or the vibrator play) (Pulitzer Prize finalist; Tony Award nomination, Best Play), Late: a cowboy song, Orlando, Melancholy Play, Passion Play (Yale Rep, 2008; Fourth Forum Freedom Award from The Kennedy Center), and Stage Kiss. Her plays have been performed at Arena Stage, Clubbed Thumb, Cornerstone Theater, Goodman Theatre, Lincoln Center Theater, Madison Repertory Theatre, Piven Theatre Workshop, Playwrights Horizons, Second Stage Theatre, Woolly Mammoth, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and The Wilma Theater, among other theatres across the country. Her plays have produced internationally and translated into Arabic, German, Korean, Norwegian, Russian, and Spanish. Sarah is originally from Chicago and received her MFA from Brown University, where she studied with Paula Vogel. She is the recipient of a Helen Merrill Award, Whiting Writers' Award, PEN/Pels Foundation Award, and a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. She is a proud member of New Dramatists and 13P and is an Associate Artist at Yale Rep.

Les Waters (DIRECTOR) previously directed Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice at Yale Rep. An OBIE Award winner, Les has served as associate artistic director of Berkeley Rep since 2003. In the last six years, his shows have ranked among the year's best in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Time Magazine, Time Out New York, and USA Today. In 2009, he made his Broadway debut with Sarah Ruhl's In the Next Room (or the vibrator play), which began at Berkeley Rep. His other productions at Berkeley Rep include the world premieres of Concerning Strange Devices from the Distant West, Fêtes de la Nuit, Finn in the Underworld, Girlfriend, and To the Lighthouse; the American premiere of TRAGEDY: a tragedy; the West Coast premiere of Eurydice; and extended runs of The Glass Menagerie, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, The Pillowman, and Yellowman. Les has numerous credits in New York, his native England, and at theatres across America. He led the MFA directing program at University of California, San Diego and is an associate artist of The Civilians in New York.

Annie Smart (SCENIC DESIGNER) Design credits at Berkeley Rep include Big Love, Concerning Strange Devices from the Distant West, Fêtes de la Nuit, Heartbreak House, In The Next Room (or the vibrator play) (also on Broadway), The Mystery of Irma Vep, Passing Strange, Suddenly Last Summer, Taking Over (also at The Public Theater), Tiny Kushner (also at the Guthrie Theatre and the Tricycle Theatre), To the Lighthouse, Yellowjackets, and Yellowman. Her other Bay Area work includes Auctioning the Ainsleys, Brooklyn Boy, Theophilus North (TheatreWorks); A Doll's House, Night and Day, The Threepenny Opera (American Conservatory Theater); An Ideal Husband, John Steinbeck's Pastures of Heaven, Man and Superman, Private Lives, and The Tempest (California Shakespeare Theater); A Long Day's Journey Into Night and The Weir (San Jose Rep). Annie is originally from London, where she designed for Joint Stock Group, The National Theatre, and The Royal Court, among many others. She currently teaches costume design at University of California, Berkeley.

Ilona SomogyI (COSTUME DESIGNER) Recent New York area productions include A Small Fire, Clybourne Park (Playwrights Horizons); Jerry Springer: The Opera (Carnegie Hall); Almost an Evening, Scarcity (Atlantic Theater Company); The Piano Teacher (Vineyard Theatre); Fever Chart, Controversy at Vallalodid, f-ing A (The Public Theater); The American Pilot (Manhattan Theatre Club); Hot 'n' Throbbin' (Signature Theatre Company); Savannah Bay (MCC); as well as God of Hell, Wit, Swimming with Watermelons, Unwrap Your Candy, Tabletop, and Hard Times. She also designed Princess Wishes for Disney on Ice, currently on tour. Her many regional credits include We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Battle of Black and Dogs, Passion Play, As You Like It (Yale Rep); The Crucible, Gem of the Ocean, Tom Sawyer, Noises Off, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Hartford Stage); Lil's 90th (Long Wharf Theatre); The Torchbearers, The Autumn Garden, Sweet Bird of Youth, Top Girls, On the Razzle (Williamstown Theatre Festival); Suddenly Last Summer, tick, tick...BOOM!, Scramble, Vigil, and Sedition (Westport Country Playhouse). She was also associate costume designer for Spamalot, The Crucible, and Art on Broadway, and the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Ilona is a proud graduate of Yale School of Drama and is a member of its faculty.

Alexander V. Nichols (LIGHTING DESIGNER) Theatre credits include the Broadway production of Carrie Fisher's Wishful Drinking and the Off-Broadway productions of Danny Hoch's Taking Over, Marga Gomez's Los Big Names, Rinde Eckert's Horizon, and Sarah Jones's Bridge & Tunnel. Alexander has created production designs for American Conservatory Theater, Arena Stage, Berkeley Rep, the Huntington, La Jolla Playhouse, the Mark Taper Forum, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Seattle Rep. His dance credits include several seasons as the resident designer for American Repertory Ballet, Hartford Ballet, and Pennsylvania Ballet. Alexander is the resident visual designer for Margaret Jenkins Dance Company and was the lighting designer for American Ballet Theatre at the Metropolitan Opera and elsewhere. His designs are in the permanent repertory of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Boston Ballet, the Hong Kong Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, ODC/SF, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, and the Singapore Dance Theatre. Recent projects include the museum installation Circle of Memory, in collaboration with Eleanor Coppola, in Salzburg, and video and visual design for Life: A Journey through Time with photographer Frans Lanting and composer Philip Glass.

David Budries (SOUND DESIGNER) is the Sound Design Advisor at Yale Repertory Theatre, where his credits include POP!, Happy Now?, Trouble in Mind, Black Snow, and Safe in Hell, among many others. His New York credits include Souvenir; Ah, Wilderness!; A Long Day's Journey into Night; Our Country's Good; Other People's Money; Measure for Measure; And a Nightingale Sang; From the Mississippi Delta; Search and Destroy; End of the Day; Playland; and Marisol. His regional theatre credits include productions at Long Wharf, Hartford Stage, CENTERSTAGE, McCarter Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, Dallas Theater Center, Berkeley Rep, La Jolla Playhouse, Ford's Theatre, South Coast Repertory, Trinity Repertory Company, and Alliance Theatre. Mr. Budries chairs the Sound Design department at Yale School of Drama and is a freelance producer of music and radio programs.

JULIE WOLF (MUSICAL DIRECTOR) is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, teacher, music director, and touring musician. Her theatre music direction credits include the world premiere of Girlfriend, a musical written by Todd Almond and directed by Les Waters, featuring music by Matthew Sweet (Berkeley Rep) and Pastures of Heaven (California Shakespeare Theater). She has appeared on stages around the world and on numerous critically-acclaimed recordings. She has collaborated with Bruce Cockburn, Ani DiFranco, Indigo Girls, Maceo Parker, Amy Ray, Sia, and Carly Simon, among many others. She lives in Oakland and runs Sonic Wolf Productions, a music house specializing in composing for film and moving images, sound design, music editing, and record producing. Her original music for the 2009 documentary Sweet Crude was nominated for Best Original Score at Maverick Movie Awards and received special mention in Variety.

RACHEL STEINBERG (DRAMATURG) recently was last season's Peter F. Sloss Literary & Dramaturgy Fellow at Berkeley Rep and has served on selection committees for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival and the Playwrights' Center of San Francisco. A native Canadian, Rachel received her BFA from New York University and MA in drama from the University of Toronto.

James Mountcastle (PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER) has been at Yale Rep since 2004. He has stage managed productions of The Master Builder, Passion Play, Richard II, Eurydice, a new adaptation of The Cherry Orchard, and the world premieres of We Have Always Lived in the Castle and The Clean House. A professional stage manager for more than twenty years, he has worked in regional, stock, and Broadway theatre. Broadway credits include Damn Yankees, Jekyll & Hyde, Judgment at Nuremberg, The Boys from Syracuse, The Smell of the Kill, Life x(3), and Wonderful Town. Mr. Mountcastle spent several Christmas seasons in New York City as stage manager for the now legendary production of A Christmas Carol at Madison Square Garden. Broadway national tours include City of Angels, Falsettos, and My Fair Lady. He served as Production Stage Manager for Damn Yankees starring Jerry Lewis for both its national tour and at the Adelphi Theatre in London's West End. In addition, Mr. Mountcastle has worked at The Kennedy Center, CENTERSTAGE in Baltimore, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Brooklyn Academy Of Music, and elsewhere.

ABOUT THE CAST

JOSIAH BANIA (RODE) is making his Yale Rep debut. He is a second-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where he has appeared in Twelfth Night and She Rode Horses Like the Stock Exchange. His other theatre credits include Love's Labour's Lost, Top Secret... (Chautauqua Theatre Company); The Friendship of Her Thighs (The Tank); The History Boys (Artists Repertory Theatre); The Uneasy Chair (CoHo Theatre); JAW: A Playwright's Festival, A Christmas Carol (Portland Center Stage); Hauptmann (Salem Repertory Theatre). Television credits include Leverage and a burger commercial that once aired in southern California.

James Carpenter (CHEBUTYKIN) is making his Yale Rep debut. A San Francisco Bay Area-based actor, James has performed in over thirty productions at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, as well as productions at American Conservatory Theater, Marin Theatre Company, San Jose Repertory Theatre, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, and TheatreWorks. He is an associate artist with California Shakespeare Theater, where he most recently played the title role in Titus Andronicus. Other regional theatre credits include work at Arizona Theatre Company, Huntington Theatre, Intiman Theatre, The Old Globe, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He is the 2007 recipient of BATCC's Barbara Bladen Porter Award for Excellence in the Arts and in 2010 was named a Lunt-Fontanne Fellow. Film and television credits include Metro, The Rainmaker; the independent projects Singing, Presque Isle, and the Sunflower Boy; and Nash Bridges.

Richard Farrell (FERAPONT) is making his Yale Rep debut. His most recent appearances include Tiny Alice, The Seagull (Marin Theatre Company), and A Christmas Memory (TheatreWorks). He has performed on stages throughout the country, including Alliance Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, Center Repertory Company, Cleveland Play House, A Contemporary Theatre, Geva Theatre Center, Intiman Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, San Francisco Opera, Seattle Repertory Theatre, and Shakespeare Santa Cruz, as well as Off-Broadway at The Pearl Theatre Company. He was a company member for five seasons with the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, where he was an associate artist, and a company member with Oregon Shakespeare Festival for twelve seasons.

EMILY KITCHENS (NATASHA) is thrilled to be making her Yale Rep debut. Her regional theatre credits include Betsy/Lindsey in Clybourne Park, Belle in A Christmas Carol (American Conservatory Theater); John Steinbeck's The Pastures of Heaven, Hero in Much Ado about Nothing (California Shakespeare Theater); Calpurnia in Julius Caesar and Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare Santa Cruz). Emily received her BFA from the University of Evansville and her MFA from A.C.T., where she appeared in The Critic, or a Tragedy Rehearsed; The Diviners; The Gnädiges Fraulein; Hamlet; L'hiver sous la table; Macbeth, The Mutilated; and O Lovely Glowworm, or Scenes of Great Beauty.

Bruce McKenzie (VERSHININ) previously appeared in New Haven in 2001's Big Love at Long Wharf Theatre, directed by Les Waters (also Goodman Theatre, Berkeley Rep, the Next Wave Festival at Brooklyn Academy Of Music). Other New York theatre credits include Aaron Sorkin's The Farnsworth Invention (Broadway); Stanley in A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Ivo van Hove (New York Theatre Workshop); and Marlowe's Eye (Theatre at St. Clement's/Tectonic Theatre). Regional credits include the title role in Hamlet, Polaroid Stories, At the Vanishing Point, Othello (Actors Theatre of Louisville); Iago in Othello, Angelo in Measure for Measure (California Shakespeare Theater); Krapp's Last Tape (Dallas Theater Center);The Hopper Collection (Huntington Theatre); Wintertime, Current Nobody, and Paris Commune (La Jolla Playhouse). Bruce was a co-founder of San Diego's Sledgehammer Theatre, where he premiered works by Mac Wellman, Erik Ehn, Chuck Mee, and Naomi Iizuka and staged productions of work by Brecht, Beckett, Shepard, Fassbinder, and Tourneur. Bruce plays music with Maquiladora (sweet, tweaked acid-folk), Buzz or Howl (free-form psychedelic improv), and Peckinpah (ambient-drone-folk-americana), with which he has released records in five countries and completed multiple tours of Europe and Japan.

ALEX MOGGRIDGE (ANDREI) is delighted to be making his Yale Rep debut. He has appeared regionally in The Beard of Avon, A Christmas Carol, The Threepenny Opera (American Conservatory Theater); The Weir, By the Bog of Cats (San Jose Rep); The Entertainer, Betrayed (Aurora Theatre Company); The Pillowman (Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre); as well as productions at San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Artists Repertory Theatre, B Street Theatre, Utah Shakespeare Festival, and MCC Theater in New York. His film and television credits include Trauma, Batman Begins, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Alex is also a playwright. His play The Squirrel appeared Off-Broadway as part of the 2006 Summer Play Festival.

BARBARA OLIVER (ANFISA) is making her Yale Rep debut. A partial list of her favorite roles at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, where she has been acting (off and on) for over 40 years, includes Lady Bracknell
In The Importance of Being Earnest, Miss Helen in The Road to Mecca, Mrs. Malaprop in The Rivals, Lady Markby in An Ideal Husband, the Nurse in The Oresteia, and the Stage Manager in Our Town. She
also appeared in The Voysey Inheritance and Hedda Gabler at American Conservatory Theatre, as well as in Uncle Vanya at California Shakespeare Theater. Barbara co-produced and played George Sand
in Dear Master by Dorothy Bryant in 1991, which led to the founding of the Aurora Theatre, where she served artistic director until 2004. She is a member of the company and on the board of directors for
PlayGround and has directed two productions at University of California, Berkeley's department of theatre, dance, and performance studies.

Natalia Payne (MASHA) previously appeared at Yale Rep in Trouble in Mind. Her other stage credits include the New York premiere of Edward Albee's Me, Myself & I (Playwrights Horizons), New Jerusalem (Classic Stage Company), Memory House opposite Kathy Baker (Vineyard Playhouse), Jailbait (Cherry Lane Theatre), Aliens with Extraordinary Skills (Women's Project), deathvariations (59E59 Theaters), as well as readings and workshops for Manhattan Theatre Club, New York Theatre Workshop, New York Stage & Film, The O'Neill Theater Conference, McCarter Theatre, The New Group, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and Ars Nova. Film and television credits include the feature film The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond and Law & Order: SVU. Originally from Toronto, Natalia received her BA in theatre studies from Yale University.

Keith Reddin (KULYGIN) most recently appeared in Mauritius at the Dorset Theatre Festival. In addition to Sarah Ruhl's adaptation of Three Sisters, he also appeared in Ms. Ruhl's Passion Play at Yale Rep and the Epic Theatre in New York. Other credits include shows on Broadway and Off-Broadway at Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Horizons, Roundabout Theatre, Vineyard Theatre, and Primary Stages. Regional credits include productions at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Goodman Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Cleveland Playhouse, and the Alley Theatre. He has also appeared in a number of television shows and films.

Thomas Jay Ryan (TUZENBACH) previously appeared at Yale Rep in Sarah Ruhl's Passion Play, David Rabe's The Black Monk, and Suzan-Lori Parks's Venus. He appeared on Broadway in Ruhl's In the Next Room (or the vibrator play), also directed by Les Waters. Off-Broadway credits include Ivo van Hove's productions of The Little Foxes and The Misanthrope, Tom Ryan Thinks He's James Mason..., The Temperamentals (Drama Desk Award), Celebration/The Room, Sin, Juno and the Paycock, Venus, and In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer (title role). Film and television credits include Henry Fool (title role), Fay Grim, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Legend of Bagger Vance, Dream Boy, The Attic, The Book of Life, the Dying Gaul, Wonderland, and Degas and the Dancer (Gemini Award nomination).

Wendy Rich Stetson (OLGA) most recently appeared on Broadway in A Free Man of Color and Sarah Ruhl's In the Next Room (or the vibrator play), both at Lincoln Center Theater. Her Off-Broadway credits include Big Bill (also at Lincoln Center); Cymbeline, Hamlet, Tartuffe (The Public Theater); and as Lillian Gish in Anne Bogart's American Silents. Regionally, Wendy has performed at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, Dallas Theater Center, Geva Theatre Center, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, Portland Stage Company, Studio Arena Theatre (Buffalo), and Two River Theater Company. Wendy received her BA in English and theatre from Amherst College and her MFA in acting from Columbia University.

BRIAN WILES (FEDOTIK) is making his Yale Rep debut. Brian is a third-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where his credits include elijah, Miss Heimlich, The Taming of the Shrew, and Arcadia. He also appeared in Our Town and Camp Monster at Williamstown Theatre Festival. His television credits include As the World Turns and Home Court. Brian received his BA in theatre from Amherst College.

Heather Wood (IRINA) is making her Yale Rep debut. Her New York and regional theatre credits include The Seagull, the world premiere of A True History of the Johnstown Flood (Goodman Theatre); Romeo and Juliet, The Merry Wives of Windsor (The Old Globe Theatre); the world premiere of Travels of Angelica (Acclaim Award, Best Supporting Performance; Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park); King Lear (New York Classical Theatre); Othello (Old Vic New Voices); Our Town (Trinity Repertory Company); Two Gentleman of Verona (Guerilla Shakespeare); Agnes of God (Critics Choice Award, Outstanding Supporting Performance; Stray Dog Theatre); and a workshop production of Phaedra (McCarter Theatre). Heather received her MFA from Brown University/Trinity Rep.

Sam Breslin Wright (SOLONY) Selected theatre credits include Macbeth (Broadway); The Temperamentals (Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Ensemble); Paris Commune (The Public Theater); Vendetta Chrome (Clubbed Thumb); 365 Plays/365 Days (The Public Theater/ Clubbed Thumb); Marge (Soho Rep); Orange Alert (Naked Angels); Two Gentlemen of Verona, Measure for Measure, Hamlet, Love's Labour's Lost (The Old Globe); and nine seasons at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Film and television credits include The Beaver, Disposal, Dead Birds, Happy Hour, Harrison's Flowers, Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Third Watch, Rescue Me, Out of Order, and Quarterlife. As director and writer: Uncle Sam I Am (Williamstown Theatre Festival Cabaret). MFA, University of California at San Diego; Certificate, London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. Sam is an Associate Artist of The Civilians.

ABOUT Yale Repertory Theatre

 

Yale Repertory Theatre is dedicated to the production of new plays and bold interpretations of classics and has produced well over 100 premieres-including two Pulitzer Prize winners and four other nominated finalists-by emerging and established playwrights. Eleven Yale Rep productions have advanced to Broadway, garnering more than 40 Tony Award nominations and eight Tony Awards. Yale Rep is also the recipient of the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. Established in 2008, the Yale Center for New Theatre is an integrated, artist-driven initiative that devotes major resources to the commissioning, development, and production of new plays and musicals at Yale Repertory Theatre and across the country. Professional assignments at Yale Repertory Theatre are integral components of the program at Yale School of Drama, the nation's leading graduate theatre training conservatory.