Taper's 'Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike'

NOW IN REHEARSAL

Durang’s Tony Award-Winning Comedy Runs January 29-March 9

Rehearsals are underway for Christopher Durang’s 2013 Tony Award-winning comedy, “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” directed by Tony Award and Emmy Award-winner David Hyde Pierce, based on the Broadway direction of Nicholas Martin. “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” will be presented at the Mark Taper Forum, January 29 through March 9, 2014. The opening is scheduled for February 9.

The cast includes (in alphabetical order) Mark Blum, Christine Ebersole, Shalita Grant, David Hull, Kristine Nielsen and Liesel Allen Yeager. The production features sets by David Korins, costumes by Gabriel Berry, lights by David Weiner and original music and sound by Mark Bennett.  Casting is by Mark B. Simon and David Swee and the production stage manager is David S. Franklin.

            Set in 21^st century Bucks County, Pennsylvania, with hints of 19^th century Russia, “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” is a riotous comedy with the Chekhovian set-up of a middle-aged Vanya and his stepsister, Sonia, who live together in their ancestral farmhouse, complete with a pond and a cherry orchard.

            Their normally quiet existence is thrown into upheaval by the surprise visit from their glamorous, movie-star sister, Masha, and her 20-something boyfriend, Spike, the unlikely prophecies of their cleaning lady and an all too important costume party.

            “The terrifically kooky . . .” new comedy “. . . is entirely, indisputably, oh-no-he-didn't classic Durang,” said Melissa Rose Bernardo of Entertainment Weekly.  Elisabeth Vincentelli of the New York Post said, “Few Chekhov-inspired shows make you laugh out loud, and repeatedly at that. In fact there’s probably just one such rare bird on the planet: Christopher Durang’s riotous ‘Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.’ ”

Tickets for “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” are available by calling (213) 628-2772, visiting at www.CenterTheatreGroup.org, or in person at the Center Theatre Group box office at the Ahmanson Theatre. Tickets range from $20 - $70 (ticket prices are subject to change). The Mark Taper Forum is located at the Music Center, 135 N. Grand Avenue in Downtown L.A. 90012.

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