GENERAL INFO<\/a><\/p>\n CAST:<\/strong> MORE ABOUT THE PLAY \/ THE PLAYWRIGHT<\/a><\/p>\n Ben Brantley of The New York Times described this 2013 Tony Award-winner as a \u201csunny new play about gloomy people.\u201d Fifty-something Vanya and his adopted sister Sonia \u2014 both single \u2014 still live in their childhood home in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, mourning the emptiness of their lives. Their dreariness is suddenly blown apart by the arrival of a third sibling, Masha, a glamorous and gallivanting actress, who bankrolls their lives while enjoying a champagne-and-caviar lifestyle. Masha sweeps in with old baggage in tow \u2014 vanity, insecurity, one-upmanship \u2014 as well as a much younger, sexy boy-toy, making for a riotous weekend full of delightfully despicable behavior.<\/p>\r\n Taking Chekhovian themes and characters and airlifting them 100 years forward to millennium America, Durang showcases his witty, screwball perspective on modern-day trials and tribulations. Yet, unlike in some other Durang plays, there is genuine pathos here alongside the hilarity. WHO'S WHO<\/a><\/p>\n ANDREW BOTSFORD<\/strong> (Vanya) has appeared in 42 Hampton Theatre Company productions since 1985, most recently as David Bliss in Hay Fever. Other stage work includes Round Table Theatre Company\u2019s production of Shakespeare\u2019s Scottish Play in 2013 and Tonight at 8:30 at Guild Hall\u2019s John Drew Theater. The host of a summer film commentary program at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center, he is also the co-host of the annual Hamptons Take 2 Documentary Film Festival. Andrew works in the MFA in Creative Writing and Literature program at Stony Brook Southampton, and has continued his study of acting, directing and playwriting at the campus during summer conferences. The director of HTC\u2019s production of Heroes in January 2014, he also directed this season\u2019s production of Theresa Rebeck\u2019s Dead Accounts.<\/p>\r\n ROSEMARY CLINE<\/strong> (Masha) last appeared with the HTC as Judith Bliss in Hay Fever. An original member of the company dating to its very first production, she has had leading roles in more than 30 productions and also spent many years performing in the city and in summer stock. She is pursuing an MFA in directing and acting at Stony Brook Southampton, where she has studied with Mercedes Ruehl, Joanna Merlin and Rinde Eckert. For the past seven years she has been the director of the Westhampton Beach High School productions. Many thanks to our director, Diana, the cast and crew, and always to Jane Stanton. My love to Christopher, Cashew and Carter\u2026 with a wink to Mom, Dad and June.<\/p>\r\n AMANDA GRIEMSMANN<\/strong> (Nina) is thrilled to return to the HTC stage following her appearances as Sheila Birling in An Inspector Calls, Jackie Coryton in Hay Fever and Myrtle Mae Simmons in Harvey. A Long Island native, she received a BFA in theater from Adelphi University. She most recently performed at Guild Hall\u2019s John Drew Theatre in a stage reading of the play My Girl. She has performed for several seasons in Manhattan with The Inwood Shakespeare Festival. Her other favorite credits include: Steel Magnolias, Arsenic and Old Lace, Don\u2019t Dress For Dinner, Hamlet Q1, and The Crucible. She has also performed with The Lafayette Salon Series, a monthly reading series that meets at The Players Club. A special thanks to Diana for this opportunity! Love to friends and family, physically and spiritually, for their constant support and encouragement.<\/p>\r\n JANE LOWE<\/strong> (Sonia) is thrilled to return to the HTC stage after a long hiatus. She is happy to make this her 16th production with the company. Jane began her career as a dancer, performing in major theaters and opera houses throughout the world, including the Kennedy and Lincoln Centers. She was in the Broadway production of Oh, Calcutta! and appeared as a Kit-Kat girl in the premiere of Cabaret in Berlin, Germany. Jane has also performed in many Off and Off Off Broadway productions. She was also a principal in many national commercials. This Jane is forever grateful to another Jane, Jane Stanton, for bringing her into the family of the HTC.<\/p>\r\n EDUARDO RAMOS<\/strong> (Spike) is honored to make his Hampton Theatre Company debut. An NYC-based actor, he has appeared in episodes of Comedy Central\u2019s Inside Amy Schumer, TV Land\u2019s The Jim Gaffigan Show, and Univision\u2019s Nuestra Belleza Latina. In 2013, he was named \u201cBest New Actor\u201d in a Spanish language play at the Premios ACE for his portrayal of Leonardo in Lorca\u2019s Bodas de Sangre. A very special thanks to director Diana Marbury and his new Quogue family. Endless love to the Lawson clan, his friends and family, his parents for their constant support and his guardian angel.<\/p>\r\n CHRISTOPHER DURANG<\/strong> (Playwright) is a writer known for works of outrageous and often absurd comedy who first achieved popular acclaim in the 1980s with a string of successful plays including The Actor\u2019s Nightmare, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You (Obie award), Beyond Therapy, Baby with the Bathwater, The Marriage of Bette and Boo (Obie and Dramatists Guild Awards) and Laughing Wild. More recent works include Sex and Longing, Betty\u2019s Summer Vacation (Obie award), Mrs. Bob Cratchit\u2019s Wild Christmas Binge and Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them. Durang won the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for Best Play in 2013 for Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.<\/p>\r\n DIANA MARBURY<\/strong> (Director, Set Decor), whose directing credits include last season\u2019s productions of Hay Fever and Harvey, as well as God of Carnage, How the Other Half Loves, Black Tie and others, is delighted to be directing Durang\u2019s outrageous comedy to complete HTC\u2019s 31st season. Diana has appeared in over 50 HTC productions, most recently as Grandma Kurnitz in Lost in Yonkers and Barbara in Dead Accounts. She would like to thank her dedicated cast and crew as well as all the people and businesses that provide the furniture, decorations, and props for each show. Also, a big hand to our wonderful patrons for their continued support.<\/p>\r\n SEAN MARBURY<\/strong> (Set Designer) worked in NYC in textile design as an artist and sales rep for several prominent European design houses. He found inspiration first in the diverse art and culture of Manhattan, and later in his travels throughout Europe. He then moved to California where he built sets for TV series, commercials, and films. He has also worked extensively in design, engineering and fabrication of race car components, as well as high-end residential construction. His set designs for HTC include Deathtrap, Other People\u2019s Money, Other Desert Cities, The Foreigner, Harvey and Time Stands Still. In his spare time, Sean enjoys his first creative love, the guitar.<\/p>\r\n SEBASTIAN PACZYNSKI<\/strong> (Lighting Designer) has designed all the company\u2019s productions since 2004 as well as the theater\u2019s lighting system. He has designed lighting for theater, dance and special events in a number of Broadway, Off Broadway, Off Off Broadway and regional venues. He has also worked in film and television as the director of photography. He has designed numerous productions for Guild Hall and for the Hamptons Shakespeare Festival.<\/p>\r\n TERESA LEBRUN<\/strong> (Costume Designer) is the resident costumer for the Hampton Theatre Company. She started helping with costumes in 1986 and has designed the costumes for all the company\u2019s productions since 2005. Teresa also costumes for Center Moriches and Westhampton Beach high schools. Much love to her boys Josh and Noah, family and great friends.<\/p>\r\n CHRISSIE DEPIERRO<\/strong> (Stage Manager). It\u2019s been a wonderful season at HTC. Many thanks to Russell Weisenbacher and Catherine Maloney for all their help with this production. Thank you to everyone who has put their all into the show, techs, crew and construction. Love to my stars Kristopher, Theresa, Matthew and Samantha.<\/p>\r\n MARYAM (Rob) DOWLING<\/strong> (Lighting & Sound Technician) has done lighting and sound for 22 years with various theater groups on the East End. Maryam has also helped Sebastian with lighting setup at Guild Hall, the Ross School, and other local venues. This is Maryam\u2019s seventh season with the Hampton Theatre Company and she is very happy to be part of the show and the company.<\/p>\r\n HAMPTON THEATRE COMPANY<\/strong> (Producer) is in its 31st season of bringing wonderful plays to Long Island\u2019s East End. Thanks to the generosity and unstinting support of the Village of Quogue, 23 of those years have been spent at the beautiful Quogue Community Hall. The company has presented more than 100 plays by the world\u2019s greatest playwrights, all listed in these pages, and is immensely grateful to our generous patrons, friends and audience members who have made these years such a success. PRODUCTION STAFF<\/a><\/p>\n DINNER AND THEATER PACKAGES:<\/a><\/p>\n The Rogers Memorial Library<\/strong> (Southampton) and Westhampton Free Library<\/strong> (Westhampton Beach) Dinner and Theater packages for June 2 and June 10 are sold out.<\/p>\r\n The Quogue Library<\/strong> package has a very limited number of seats still available for Friday, June 3. Dinner is at the Quogue Club<\/strong> at 5 pm, followed by the show at 7 pm. The cost for dinner (including tax and tip) and show is $70. Please call the Quogue Library<\/strong> at 631-653-4224 to make a reservation. (Quogue Library members will be given first priority for reservations.)<\/p>\r\n The Hampton Bays Public Library<\/strong> package is sold out. REVIEWS<\/a><\/p>\n By Lorraine Dusky (Southampton Press)<\/strong><\/p>\r\n Five characters in search of a play find plenty to chew on in Christopher Durang\u2019s \u201cVanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike\u201d as currently staged by the Hampton Theater Company in Quogue. Audiences in search of a theme may be a bit more befuddled as the writing bounces around like a hot air balloon buffeted by wind gusts, blowing absurdist one minute, affecting the next, and ridiculous the one after that.Postmodern light summer fare it is.<\/p>\r\n Title alone\u2014henceforth \u201cVanya et al.\u201d\u2014announces to anyone with a minimal knowledge of theater that the play will be a sendup of Chekhov, and indeed, the writing is stuffed with references to the\u2014dare I say it?\u2014dreary Russian drama\u2019s \u201ctheater of mood.\u201d However, while getting all the theatrical in-jokes will make one feel quite smugly self-satisfied, there is plenty to enjoy here for everyone. When I find my face drawn into a smile during a scene, what\u2019s not to like?<\/p>\r\n The story itself is pure Chekhovian: Two 50-ish siblings are watching their lives drift by aimlessly at a country home as they wait for a sighting of a blue heron (instead of a seagull, get it?) at their pond.<\/p>\r\n Of course they can\u2019t be your everyday drudges with humdrum jobs, so one is gay (Vanya), the other adopted (Sonia, see what I mean?). In fact, they are solely supported by their successful but not-quite-over-the-hill sister, the vivacious Masha (\u2026yes) who\u2019s been paying the bills.<\/p>\r\n She is home for the weekend with her latest lover, a boy toy with glittering pecs and a pre-ironic mind. His name adds an absurdist postmodernist touch: Spike, given name Vlad. Masha\u2019s about to shake up her siblings\u2019 dreary world by announcing that her career as a \u201cnymphomaniac serial killer\u201d in the movies has been spiraling downward, along with her ability to keep paying the bills.<\/p>\r\n Into this mix comes nearby visiting ing\u00e9nue (Nina, naturally) and a tough-talking housecleaner, Cassandra, who quotes snippets of Greek drama as her name implies, but knows her voodoo too. Smeralda Abel as Cassandra commands the stage every time she appears, not only because she\u2019s given some of the best lines that go from portending doom to \u201cI need to get my car inspected,\u201d but because she\u2019s just damn good. The writing screams out for expansive acting to take advantage of it, and Ms. Abel goes for the kill. A newcomer to the Hampton Theatre\u2019s retinue, we hope to see more of her.<\/p>\r\n As Mr. Durang moves about the characters in a plot as thin as a poor man\u2019s porridge, they will attend the neighbor\u2019s costume party, most of them attired as Disney characters from \u201cSnow White.\u201d Vanya will eventually morph into Uncle Vanya, and the unassuming Sonia will be transformed from a dumpling in pajamas to someone with the possibility of a life outside of this particular cherry orchard. Yes, of course, there would be such an orchard in this hodgepodge of Chekhovian delights.<\/p>\r\n Jane Lowe, returning to Hampton Theatre after a long hiatus, as Sonia is another standout in the cast as she transforms from neurotic spinster with a gloomy world view to flippant party-goer with more on the horizon. You do want her to succeed as the drama moves to its expected happy ending. Mr. Durang himself wrote in the Playbill when \u201cVanya et al.\u201d made its 2013 Broadway appearance: \u201cMy play is not a Chekhov parody… I take Chekhov scenes and characters and put them into a blender.\u201d With a play so thick with references, we beg to differ about the \u201cparody\u201d denial.<\/p>\r\n Eduardo Ramos as Spike gleefully bounds about in his skivvies whenever possible, which ain\u2019t a bad thing as Mr. Ramos ain\u2019t bad to look at, and he plays the buffoonish lover and would-be actor with the right touch of unaware cheekiness. He knows when he\u2019s wanted in the bedroom, but give the boy time\u2014he might surprise us all yet.<\/p>\r\n Fans of Hampton Theatre will happily recognize Rosemary Cline as Masha, up to her usual heights as the family diva, as well as Amanda Griemsmann as the possibly not-so-sweet ing\u00e9nue Nina, who works her way into the family quagmire with swift aplomb. She\u2019s both aching to be an actress and to inveigle her way into Spike\u2019s affections.<\/p>\r\n Andrew Botsford is someone whose comedic gift I have previously extolled, but here one wishes he would take full advantage of Mr. Durang\u2019s broad writing and veer to more outrageous oratory. Yet Mr. Botsford\u2019s given an insufferably long rant near the end, so who\u2019s to blame, playwright or actor? As Vanya, he decries the innocence of a bygone era, a time of stamps you lick, phones you dial, and tasks completed one at a time, when Ozzie and Harriet ruled on black-and-white TV and Tab Hunter was in the closet but his studio stood behind him. There\u2019s much more, and what else Mr. Durang could have stuffed into that soliloquy, I know not.<\/p>\r\n Against now-forgotten competition, \u201cVanya et al.\u201d won the Tony as well as the Drama Desk Award for best play in 2013. As amusing summer theater, the always competent cast in Quogue does well by this lesser Durang.<\/p>\r\n \u201cVanya and Sonia\u00a0and Masha and Spike\u201d continues through June 12 with performances Thursdays and Fridays at 7 p.m., Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. at Quogue Community Hall, 125 Jessup Avenue, Quogue. Tickets are $30 for adults, $25 for seniors excluding Saturdays and $10 for students under 21. Call 866-653-8955 or get tickets here<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n By Beth Young (East End Beacon) <\/strong><\/p>\r\n If you\u2019ve never had even a passing interest in the works of playwright Anton Chekhov, chances are you\u2019re a member of the ideal\u00a0audience for the Hampton Theatre Company\u2019s production of Christopher Durang\u2019s \u201cVanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,\u201d which opened this past weekend and runs through June 12. In the modern world, much attention is paid to family values. There is an adult series called DadCrush. If only Chekhov survived to 2020, he would definitely like this idea! This series has indescribable similarities with theatrical production. Team Skeet was always a little, well, nutty (if you\u2019ll excuse the word play here) however possibly this time the hyper-colorful network has actually gone too much. DadCrush sees morally-dubious communications in between step-dads as well as step-daughters that press the borders of appropriate family members values regarding regarding lawfully feasible. The one, 2, or 3 mini trysts consisted of in each special DadCrush encounter bring Full HD POV perversity to your screen and also actually show fairly pleasant and enchanting in lots of ways. (Unusual, I know!) Part of a crowd of brand-new standalone family-fucking websites from Team Skeet, Dad Crush is a wild daddy-daughter fantasy<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n And yes, the play does take place on a soon-to-be sold estate, a running theme throughout Chekhov\u2019s work. The estate is even in a cherry orchard, though most of the characters just see the orchard as a dozen or so scraggly trees.<\/p>\r\n But Chekhov never got to write for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. He never got to include a cameo of Maggie Smith being nominated for\u00a0an Oscar. There are no actors practicing their strip tease in any of his plays. And there is no record that he ever visited Bucks County, PA. The play opens on two siblings \u2014 Vanya, a half-closeted confirmed bachelor played by Andrew Botsford, and his adopted bumbling and angry sister Sonia, played by Jane Lowe. They are living together in their deceased parents\u2019 Bucks County home, spending their days bickering and wondering what to eat, while their movie star sister Masha, played by Rosemary Cline, is off making movies and paying their bills.<\/p>\r\n If you don\u2019t see this play, you\u2019ll likely never again get a chance\u00a0to see Andrew\u00a0Botsford in both a nightgown and a dwarf costume. He takes on Vanya as a perpetually meek and resigned man who secretly writes plodding plays about climate change, his cheeks sunken, his dejection complete, his affect toothless and bumbling. But he really is just plain charming. \u201cVanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike\u201d is referential in the extreme \u2014 it\u2019s a post-modern play for a post-modern audience \u2014\u00a0keenly aware of its own irrelevance and intent on manufacturing an air of irreverence. At some points it forces you to sit tight and listen in agony to its inner workings. Mr. Botsford\u2019s Vanya bears the brunt of this writing, in a jarring diatribe against text\u00a0messages, selfies, the internet, the warming planet and just about everything about the modern world. This is the spinach and broccoli of this play. You have to eat it. It will make you strong. Maybe.<\/p>\r\n If you\u2019re not going to the theater to eat your spinach and broccoli, rest assured, Rosemary Cline\u2019s melodramatic stage hog Masha (she is supposed to be this way) brings some eye candy with her when she visits to tell her wretched siblings she\u2019s selling the family home.<\/p>\r\n Her wannabe actor boy toy Spike, played by Eduardo Ramos, spends most of the play lounging around in his briefs and licking Masha\u2019s neck. He\u2019s ridiculous and he doesn\u2019t know it, but you will know it and love him for taking your mind off the agony of the wasted lives of our Chekhovian siblings.<\/p>\r\n If strip teases aren\u2019t your thing, perhaps some voodoo will help. Housekeeper Cassandra, played with bewildering mischief by Smeralda Abel, also has a literary lineage to live up to \u2014 she\u2019s been cursed like\u00a0Apollo\u2019s Cassandra, spouting prophesies that no one believes. But you don\u2019t need to get that literary reference either. In fact, it\u2019s probably better if you don\u2019t. If there\u2019s one character who\u00a0isn\u2019t unsettling, it\u2019s naifish neighbor Nina, played by Amanda Griemsmann. She stumbles upon Spike as he splashes around the Chekhov family\u2019s duck pond in his underwear, and then follows him back to\u00a0their house with an earnest desire to meet the famous actress Masha.<\/p>\r\n Nina is thrilled because it is her very own \u201cname day\u201d \u2014 a holiday synonymous with one\u2019s birthday celebrated only by youngest sister Irina in Chekhov\u2019s \u201cThree Sisters.\u201d You really don\u2019t need to know that either.<\/p>\r\n Masha invites Nina to a costume party with her family and Nina shows up in a princess costume from K-Mart. She willingly agrees to change into a\u00a0Dopey the Dwarf costume at Masha\u2019s request. She ends the play as a wisp of a molecule in Vanya\u2019s post-human climate diatribe script, a sprite dancing around the absurdity of this tortured family home. But, heck, we can take\u00a0selfies now, so maybe we don\u2019t even need a mirror anymore either.<\/p>\r\n \u201cVanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike\u201d runs at the Quogue Community Hall at 125 Jessup Avenue through June 12, with shows on Thursdays and Fridays at 7, Saturdays at 8 and Sundays at 2:30.<\/p>\r\n An audience talkback with members of the cast and the director will follow the performance on Thursday, June 2.![\"hampton](\"https:\/\/www.hamptontheatre.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/hampton-theatre-company-VANYA-poster-page-02.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\r\nMay 26 – June 12, 2016<\/h6>\r\n
by Christopher Durang
\r\ndirected by Diana Marbury<\/h6>\r\n
\r\nCassandra – SMERALDA ABEL
\r\nVanya – ANDREW BOTSFORD
\r\nMasha – ROSEMARY CLINE
\r\nNina – AMANDA GRIEMSMANN
\r\nSonia – JANE LOWE
\r\nSpike – EDUARDO RAMOS<\/p>\r\n\n <\/div>\n
\r\n\n <\/div>\n
\r\n\n <\/div>\n
\r\nSet Design – SEAN MARBURY
\r\nLighting Design – SEBASTIAN PACZYNSKI
\r\nCostume Design – TERESA LEBRUN
\r\nSound Design & Original Music – MARK BENNETT
\r\nSet Decor & Properties – DIANA MARBURY
\r\nStage Manager – CHRISSIE DEPIERRO
\r\nTechincal Support – RUSSELL WEISENBACHER
\r\n<\/div>\r\n
\r\nLighting\/Sound Tech – MARYAM (Rob) DOWLING, SEAMUS NAUGHTON
\r\nProduction Graphics – JOE PALLISTER – DESIGNINGJOE<\/a>
\r\nHouse Manager – JULIA MORGAN ABRAMS
\r\nAdvertising Sales – CATHY SCHWARTZ
\r\nProduction Photographer – TOM KOCHIE
\r\n<\/div>Library Dinner & Theater Packages are available for VANYA & SONIA & MASHA & SPIKE<\/h4>\r\n
\r\n\n <\/div>\n‘Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike’ Stirs Postmodern Chekhov and Absurdist Humor In Quogue<\/h3>\r\n
A Ridiculous Romp Through Chekhov and Bucks County<\/h3>\r\n
\r\nSure, the three main characters are named after Chekhov characters. But the reasoning behind the three siblings\u2019 names is straightforward \u2014 their parents were college professors with a penchant for community theater.<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\u201cVanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,\u201d which won the Tony Award for best play in 2013, is pretty darn funny, and Hampton Theatre Company\u2019s cast, under the direction of Diana Marbury, does a fine job playing it right.<\/p>\r\n
\r\nMs. Lowe is a secret weapon in this show\u2019s plot. As a whiny bipolar resentment-laden adoptee who perpetually scrunches up the bridge of her nose to keep her glasses from slipping, she\u2019s downright annoying. She\u2019s supposed to be. But she\u2019s bound to snap, and when she does, what hatches\u00a0is a debonair monster in a green sequined gown \u2014 Maggie Smith about to win an Oscar in \u201cCalifornia Suite,\u201d upstaging her adopted sister in a roar of glee.<\/p>\r\n
\r\nThe audience\u00a0can\u2019t ever tell if Cassandra\u2019s\u00a0possessed moments are an act or the work of demons. She leaves us guessing at her motivation every moment she\u2019s on stage.
\r\nActually, there are many moments in this play when the actors on stage seem to be grasping at a definition for\u00a0their motivation. It can be painful to watch, but it does seem to be a part of Mr. Durang\u2019s meta plan. It\u2019s unsettling, to say the least.<\/p>\r\n
\r\nThe producers of this play are right that you don\u2019t need to know anything about Chekhov to enjoy it\u00a0\u2014 in fact, I can\u2019t imagine it would help much if you did.
\r\nThese characters are too post-modernly pigheaded to understand the pathos of their predicament. Let\u2019s just say that, while Chekhov mulled over the themes of lives wasted, this play holds a mirror to a society filled with wasted lives.<\/p>\r\n
\r\nTickets are $30 for general seating, $25 for seniors (except on Saturday night) and $10 for students under 21 and are available online here<\/a> or by calling OvationTix at 1.866.811.4111.
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