Chekhov Makes Me Laugh! Yay!

This past week was insane!  I had two Openings: Proof on Wednesday and A Christmas Carol on Thursday.  As Director of the first and Marketing Administrator for the second I was very busy!  Fortunately both went very well.  I have been very pleased with Proof and it was great to share it with an audience.  Although the weather kept the turn-out smaller than I would have liked, they were extremely appreciative and I received glowing reviews from audience members at the reception following the show.  I hope that you all can take the time to see it.  I guarantee a great night of theatre worth braving the cold for. It runs until December 14th and the tickets range from $12-$16 so it's really an affordable theatre opportunity.

A Christmas Carol also went well.  It is so cool to see the people coming to Opening Night for this show.  Many of them have seen it before and they all look so excited to be back for it.  For many of them it is the kick-off of their Christmas season.  I also liked meeting the parents of the kids in the show. The pride and expectation is visceral.  If you haven't seen it before it is definitely worth checking out.  If you have, you know it's worth a return visit.  There's a very good reason why so many people have made this part of their holiday tradition!

Today, I saw the penultimate performance of Broken Toys Theatre production of The Three Sisters at the Varscona.  IT WAS SO GOOD!  I really wish I could have seen it earlier so I could have told you all how good sooner (but this literally was the first chance I had to get to it...).  The last show is currently underway so if you missed it you are out of luck. Clinton Carew did a fantastic job as both translator and director.  It's the same play by Chekhov, but he made it accessible and engaging. I'm really hoping this qualifies for Sterling 'new work', I am not sure how the category works for adaptations/translations.  He really tapped into how funny Chekhov should be.  The direction is also very elegant.  His use of the space is brilliant and often there are three clusters of action onstage, but never are you focused on the wrong grouping.  It moves briskly so that the 3 hour running time flies by.  Great performances from all involved.  Indeed the cast list is amazing.  It's so cool to see so many bodies onstage in an indie theatre production.  Everyone is in the same world.  Hard to pick a favorite when everyone is so strong.  Well done!  This is their second production and they are certainly proving themselves to be a company to watch!

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