The Bear - The Proposal - The Wedding - Chekhov on Ice
Adapted from the works and life of Anton Chekhov by Robert Brustein - directed by Yuri Yeremin.

Performed at the Loeb Drama Center
December 8, 2000 - January 14, 2001

Cast - Synopsis - Photos - Links - Poster

Set Design by Riccardo Hernandez
Costume Design by Catherine Zuber
Lighting Design by John Ambrosone
Sound Design by David Remedios
Stage Manager Chris De Camillis

Running time is approximately 2 1/2 hours including one intermission.

Discover Chekhov as you've never known him before - the brash young playwright who made his fame and fortune with sparkling vaudevilles that brilliantly lampooned conventional society. Robert Brustein has taken three of his most popular comedies and linked them with excerpts from the playwright's poignant, romantic love letters and scenes from his life. You'll laugh in recognition at the age-old rituals of love, courtship, and marriage in this effervescent flight of farces.

Photo: Mirjana Jokovic, Jeremy Geidt, Jeremiah Kissel.

 

CAST


The Proposal

Jeremy Geidt

. . . Stephen Chubukov, a landowner

Mirjana Jokovic

. . . Natasha, has daughter

Jeremiah Kissel

. . . Ivan Lomov, Chubukov's landowning neighbor

Tim Kang

. . . Vanya, a groom

Sarah Isenberg

. . . Masha, a housekeeper

Gerardo Rodriguez

. . . Tracker, Lomov's dog

Jennifer Black

. . . Treasure, Chubukov's dog


The Bear

Karen MacDonald
Myriam Cyr
Roslyn S. Ruff
Jennifer Black
Frances Chewning
Sarah Isenberg
Anne Goldfeld

. . . Madam Yelena Popov, a widow

Will LeBow
Ken Cheeseman
Trey Burvant
Gerardo Rodriguez
Tim Kang
Douglass Bowen Flynn
Gladdy Matteosian

. . . Gregory Smirnov

Remo Airaldi

. . . Luka, Madam Popov's manservant


The Wedding

Will LeBow

. . . Yevdokim Gonov, a minor civil servant

Karen MacDonald

. . . Nastasya, his wife

Frances Chewning

. . . Masha, their daughter

Remo Airaldi

. . . Epaminondas Pomponov, her fiancé

Gerardo Rodriguez

. . . Andryusha Dribbelov, town clerk

Myriam Cyr
Roslyn S. Ruff
Jennifer Black

. . . Mrs. Anna Snakina, a midwife

Ken Cheeseman

. . . Ivan Yatz, telegraph clerk

Tim Kang

. . . Kharlampy Marshmallopolis, a Greek

Trey Burvant

. . . Dmitry Marinin, a sailor

Douglass Bowen Flynn

. . . Master of Ceremonies

Sarah Isenberg

. . . 1st Lady

Anne Goldfeld

. . . 2nd Lady

Gladdy Matteosian

. . . 3rd Lady

Alvin Epstein

. . . Fyodor Nautikin-Keelov


Chekhov on Ice

Jeremiah Kissel

. . . Anton Chekov

Mirjana Jokovic

. . . Olga Knipper

Jeremy Geidt

. . . Doctor Schwoerer

Misha Aster
Darrin Browne

. . . Man in Black


 

SYNOPSIS

The playwright Anton Chekhov is in the Crimean seaside resort of Yalta, attempting to recover from consumption. He exchanges frequent letters with his wife, the actress Olga Knipper, who is performing in his plays at the Moscow Art Theatre.

Anton and Olga keep their spirits up with gossip, reminiscences of happier days, and with the thought of their planned meeting in the summer. Their thoughts frequently turn to love and marriage, and Anton is reminded of the matrimonial farces he wrote as a young man. As his imagination takes flight, three of these farces materialize on stage.

In The Proposal, a nervous young landowner has come to propose marriage to his neighbor's daughter. No sooner does he summon up the courage to ask her, though, than they begin to argue about property rights, and their squabbling threatens to destroy their chances of a match.

The Bear tells of a wealthy heiress, recently widowed, who receives an unwelcome visit from a landowner to whom her late husband was in debt. Their social pleasantries quickly descend into a fierce quarrel, and before he knows it, the landowner has challenged the widow to a duel.

The Wedding takes place at the marriage feast of Aplombov and his bride Dasha. A group of eccentrics has gathered for the party, and their squabbles quickly reduce the celebration into pandemonium.

Anton's health, meanwhile, has deteriorated, and his doctors move him to a spa in northern Germany, where Olga hurries to join him.

 

PHOTOS

Click on any thumbnail to view a full-size image in a separate window.

 

RELATED LINKS

Three Farces Poster

buy the poster!

 

American Repertory Theatre
This page updated January 16, 2001
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