Christopher Durang News

Nashville Repertory Theatre began previews tonight for their last production of the 2014-15 season. Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, by Christopher Durang, opens on Saturday night, and I was lucky enough to catch the production's director, Nate Eppler, and ask him some questions about the show.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater presents the Washington, D.C. premiere of Christopher Durang's Tony Award-winning comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike runs now through May 3, 2015 in the Fichandler Stage. Scroll down for a first look at the cast in action!

Nashville Repertory Theatre is proud to present its newest production Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, the delightfully hilarious Tony Award-winning comedy. Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike runs tonight, April 9-25, 2015 at Andrew Johnson Theater at Tennessee Performing Arts Center.

Virginia Repertory Theatre announces the opening of Christopher Durang's award-winning Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike at the Sara Belle and Neil November Theatre, 114 West Broad Street on Friday, April 24 with a preview on Thursday, April 23. The production runs through May 17, 2014. Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike won the 2013 Tony Award for Best Play, an Outer Critics Circle Award, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play, and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play.

Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater welcomes Alan Campbell to Seminar, directed by Christine Toy Johnson, with Satomi Blair, Jacob Heimer, Rachel Casparian and local favorite Ben Berry. Seminar opens with previews May 14, 15, and runs Thursdays to Mondays through June 13.

Classic Stage Company with terraNOVA Collective in association with The Public Theater, will present two-time Obie Award-winning actress Kathryn Grody in Falling Apart….Together for four evenings in April at CSC (136 East 13th Street). In this one-woman show, Grody strives to be the predictable anchor among rambunctious sons, big personalities, and clashes between who you thought you would grow up to be and who you have become. This brilliant and explosively emotional new one-woman show is as brutally funny as it is brutally honest about what it means to be alive and present in the chaos of today's domestic possibilities. Written by Grody and directed by Timothy Near, Falling Apart…Together will be performed April 19, 20, 26 and 27 only.

The Old Globe recently announced that due to ticket demand, the hilarious Buyer & Cellar, which starts previews tonight, April 4, will now play through Sunday, May 10! Broadway veteran David Turner (On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, Arcadia, Sunday in the Park with George) will star in Jonathan Tolins's (The Twilight of the Golds) acclaimed Off Broadway hit, directed by Ron Lagomarsino (The Last Night of Ballyhoo, My Favorite Year, 'Homefront,' 'Ravenswood').

The Old Globe today announced that due to ticket demand, the hilarious Buyer & Cellar, which starts previews this Saturday, April 4, will now play through Sunday, May 10! Broadway veteran David Turner (On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, Arcadia, Sunday in the Park with George) will star in Jonathan Tolins's (The Twilight of the Golds) acclaimed Off Broadway hit, directed by Ron Lagomarsino (The Last Night of Ballyhoo, My Favorite Year, "Homefront," "Ravenswood").

The Sun Valley Center for the Arts has announced their 2015 Summer Concert Series, as part of The Center's 45th Season, and Company of Fools' 20th Season of award-winning theatre.

Although a handful of playwrights have used elements from Anton Chekhov's canon of classics (such as Neil Simon's The Good Doctor), I can't think of any other writer who's displayed such ingenuity in incorporating bits and pieces from his work the way that Christopher Durang has in his play VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE. Referencing Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, The Seagull, and The Cherry Orchard, Durang has put together a show that's so absurdly funny it hurts! It's not a parody of Chekhov, but instead neatly walks a tightrope that utilizes these traces in enjoyable and amusing ways that act to provide an intelligent depth that engages while it entertains. The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis closes their season on a gloriously high note that will make you wish their productions continued year round. Don't miss this hilarious show!

VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE by Christopher Durang will be presented in a co-production with Aurora Theatre, directed by Justin Anderson, May 15 - June 28, 2015 at Horizon Theatre.

The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park's 2014-15 Robert S. Marx Theatre season comes to a riotous close with VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE, Christopher Durang's madcap comedy about melancholy people. A smash hit on Broadway, VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE earned numerous critical accolades, including the 2013 Drama Desk and Tony awards for best play. It runs April 25 through May 23 in the Marx Theatre.

The Ovation Award-winning IAMA THEATRE COMPANY is thrilled to present the World Premiere of A DOG'S HOUSE, written by Micah Schraft and directed by Trip Cullman. A DOG'S HOUSE will preview tonight, March 27 at 8pm and will open on Saturday, March 28 and run through Sunday, April 26 at the Elephant Theatre, 6322 Santa Monica Blvd. (one block west of Vine) in Hollywood.

Cabot Community Theatre's NEW DIRECTIONS SHOWCASE opens this Friday at the Cabot School Performing Arts Center.

The Producer of The Cape Playhouse, Mark Cuddy, today announced the remaining two productions for the historic theater's 89th Season in Dennis, MA. Six professional productions - a mix of comedies, dramas & musicals - and starring Broadway actors, will play from June 16 - September 5, 2015.

I wonder if Jackie Nichols is providing on-site psychiatric help for those involved in the repertory presentations of Anton Chekhov's THE SEAGULL and Christopher Durang's VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE at Playhouse on the Square. Surely the veteran Irene Crist, performing double duty as Director of both the uber-heavy Chekhov piece and the giddy Durang parody, is on a schizoid seesaw as she veers from the serious to the silly - and the same might be said from the cast members who swap costumes and take their characterizations from one play to the next. Having just seen THE SEAGULL last week, I was eager to see how Durang's TONY-winning play would parlay all that Chekhovian talk about artists and pseudo-artists into something more laughter-inducing. However, rest assured that the talents involved in both plays rise (or fall, as it were) without any difficulty.

The first Broadway revival of the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning Wendy Wasserstein play The Heidi Chronicles officially opened last night, March 19, 2015, at the Music Box Theatre (239 West 45th Street). BroadwayWorld was there for all the festivities and you can check out photos from the red carpet arrivals below!

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater presents the Washington, D.C. premiere of Christopher Durang's Tony Award-winning comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike runs April 3-May 3, 2015 in the Fichandler Stage. Click below to watch a fun promo for the show!

Previews begin tomorrow, today, March 20 for the Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) world premiere of IOWA, a new musical play written by Susan Smith Blackburn Prize finalist Jenny Schwartz (God's Ear, Somewhere Fun), music by Todd Almond (Stage Kiss at PH, Kansas City Choir Boy, The Tempest, On the Levee) and lyrics by Mr. Almond and Ms. Schwartz. Directed by two-time Obie Award winner Ken Rus Schmoll (Red Dog Howls, Middletown, What Once We Felt; next season's Antlia Pneumatica at PH), the musical play will be the fifth production of the theater company's 2014/2015 Season.

Christopher Durang's Tony Award winning play, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, opened last night at the Panasonic Theatre. The play's premise is reminiscent of a sitcom: Masha, a famous actress past her prime (and the most successful sibling) returns home for a weekend to visit her siblings Sonia and Vanya. Sonia and Vanya have spent the last 15 years caring for their aging parents who have since passed away. Sonia is especially jealous of the success Masha has had.