Piven Theatre Extends Season With THREE SISTERS, Previews 10/16

Piven Theatre Workshop extends its 2009-10 season with the Chicago premiere of Sarah Ruhl's adaptation of Chekov's Three Sisters, directed by Artistic Director Emeritus Joyce Piven. The production will run October 16 - November 21, 2010 at Piven Theatre Workshop, 927 Noyes Street.
The Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov depicts an entire village of unlucky lovers struggling with the bittersweet distance between reality and dreams. This classic tale is given another look in a new version adapted by Sarah Ruhl, one of America's most acclaimed young playwrights, and author of In the Next Room (or the vibrator play), Late: a cowboy song and The Clean House. The Chicago Premiere is directed by Chicago theatre veteran Joyce Piven, the co-founder and Artistic Director Emeritus of Piven Theatre Workshop.

The three sisters: schoolmistress Olga, unhappily married Masha and idealistic Irina, are stuck in a backwater town, and long to get to Moscow where they imagine their lives will be transformed. Discover the humor and heartbreak of one of the world's great plays, retold by one of the most original voices in Contemporary Theatre.

Title: Three Sisters
Adapted by: Sarah Ruhl
Directed by: Joyce Piven
Dates: Previews: October 16 & October 17, 2010
Press opening: Monday, October 18, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.
Regular run: October 22 - November 21, 2010
Schedule: Thurs, Fri & Sat: 7:30 p.m.
Sundays: 2:30 p.m.
Location: Piven Theatre Workshop, 927 Noyes Street.
Tickets: $15 preview performances; $25 regular run performances
Box Office: Located at 927 Noyes Street, Evanston; 847-866-8049 or online www.piventheatre.org

About The Piven Theatre
For over 35 years, the Piven Theatre Workshop has remained a nationally respected acting school and professional Equity theatre. Within recent history, Piven Theatre has received a Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Sound Design, and an After Dark Award for Outstanding Ensemble. The theatre has also received several Joseph Jefferson Recommendations, a Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Adaptation, and Jeff nominations for Best Original Score, and Best Ensemble.
Co-Founders Byrne & Joyce Piven have trained countless theatre artists such as John and Joan Cusack, Kate Walsh, Aidan Quinn, Lili Taylor and Jeremy Piven, to name only a few.

Stagebill honored the Pivens with the designation "Chicago's first family of acting." The Pivens have been awarded the Evanston Mayors Award for the Arts, Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Chicago Improv Festival, and the University of Chicago's Glorious Gargoyle Award for lifetime contribution to the theatre. They were named 1996 Artists of the Year by the Chicago Tribune and were recipients of the Chicago Drama League's 1998 Crystal Award. In 2000, they were awarded a Joseph Jefferson Lifetime Achievement Award. For more information, please visit www.piventheatre.org.