USU's Utah State Theatre Presents Classic Chekhov

Utah State Theatre, the production arm of the Department of Theatre at Utah State University, presents “The Cherry Orchard,” by renowned Russian playwright Anton Chekhov.

Directed by Theatre Arts Department faculty member Lynda Linford, UST’s production is slated to open the spring semester on Jan. 31, followed by performances Feb. 1, 2, and Feb. 6-9. Performances are presented in the Morgan Theatre of the Chase Fine Arts Center on campus (approximately 1110 E. 610 North, Logan) at 7:30 p.m.

 

Tickets for The Cherry Orchard range from $6 to $10, with free admission to USU students with valid I.D. Children under the age of 6 are not admitted. Tickets can be purchased by calling (435) 797-8022. For general inquires, call (435) 797-1500. Or email jeremy.gordon@usu.edu.

 

According to the director, the play fictionalizes a Russian family, its close friends, relatives and servants in crisis, and sets the story soon after the turn of the 20th century. The major conflict centers around the patriarch and matriarch and their struggle to hold onto the family estate during the development of a way of life foreign to European cultural progression. It is a play about fathers and children, landowners and servants, Linford said.

 

The Cherry Orchard depicts the social climate of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. The aristocrats and landowning gentry were losing their wealth and revealed themselves to be incapable of coping with their change in status. Many Socialist Soviet critics in Russia after the revolution of 1917 tried to interpret this as an indictment of Russian society at the turn of the century. However, it is unlikely that Chekhov meant this play as an attack on the society of which he was so much a part, Linford said. Though intended as a comedy, the tragedy of the situation in which Mrs. Ranevsky and her family find themselves is derived primarily from their inability to adapt to their new social and personal responsibilities. No longer able to live on the labor provided by the serfs (slaves) who worked the land, many wealthy landowners, like Mrs. Ranevsky in “The Cherry Orchard,” lost their fortunes and their estates.

 

Linford said several key elements are addressed in the production.

 

“The ordeal of change, raping of the land by developers, the responsibility of natural resource conservation and beautification, the paternal burden or blessing of stewardship and the moral decay of affluence are all a part of the play,” she said.

 

Utah State Theatre’s production of The Cherry Orchard is informed by an intense focus on research, realism and a few unique elements.

 

“We are working with a dramaturge, Kamren Winn, who has lived for an extended period in the Ukraine and is a teacher of Russian who has been instrumental in developing within the cast a working knowledge of this Slavic personality and is coaching the dialect training,” Linford said. “The play is underscored with live guitar and oboe music, and Dawna Campbell has choreographed the dancing sequences. Richard Cannon has helped with the magic tricks and Susan Neidert has helped with the puppetry and ventriloquism. These are specialized small sections of characterization within the play, but a European ‘period piece’ often lends itself to valuable skill-acquiring techniques — an opportunity for students to stretch beyond their reach.”

 

Linford said that Chekhov is the supreme playwright, crafting characters of extraordinary complexity and depth, and possessing the most penetrating insight into the human experience.

 

“Professional directors and actors consider his work the ultimate challenge,” she said. “I am blessed with the possibility of absolute perfection in the play’s casting, with a compelling design concept, beautifully executed.”

 

The Utah State Theatre cast for The Cherry Orchard includes Catherine Bergeson as Madame Ranyevsky, Rebecca Johnson as Anya, Felicia Stehmeier as Varya, Kynsie Kiggins as Charlotte, Jenna Carrington as Dunyasha, Aubrey Campbell as Madame Pischik, Ben Garvis as Lopakhin, Brandon Sean Pearson as Gayev, Luke Bybee as Trofimov, Josh Chatham as Yasha and Ben Scott as Pischik. Rounding out the cast are Chris Thames, John Terry, Jeff Denison and   Briant Hall.

 

 

 

Contact and writer: Jeremy Gordon (435) 797-1500
Contact: Lynda Linford (435) 797-3050