THEATRE + COMEDY

Classical Theatre Company’s second production of their 2011-2012 Main Stage Season, Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov, previews Thursday, January 5th, opens Friday January 6th and will run three weeks in January the 5th-22nd 2012 at the TBH Center, 333 South Jensen Drive.

Without question, Anton Chekhov is widely considered the greatest Russian playwright, and his plays are produced in nearly every corner of the globe. Chekhov was a skilled craftsman when it came to drama with his keen ability to layer in deep emotion and subtext into his scripts, and Uncle Vanya is no exception. Written in 1897, the play represents Chekhov's commentary of the wealthy Russian aristocracy and the lethargic "wasted" life they lived. Like most of his plays, Chekhov considered Uncle Vanya to be a comedy as it examines the melancholy lives of the upper class.

The play takes place on the estate of the retired professor Serebryakov, and circulates around Uncle Vanya himself and the love triangle he finds himself amidst. The old professor Serebryakov's beautiful young wife, Yelena, has caught the fancy of the middle-aged Vanya and he pursues her in vain while she is flirted with by the dashing younger doctor, Astrov. Meanwhile, the professor's daughter, Sonya, has expressed a love for Astrov, but being older and less beautiful than Yelena, she fears that she will never catch his eye. This collision of desires culminates in a flurry of conflict, gunplay, suicide attempts, and finally, in true Chekhovian fashion, more questions than resolutions.

Classical Theatre Company will be the first professional Theatre Company to produce a Chekhov in Houston in the last 15 years since Main Street Theater performed Uncle Vanya in 1997. Uncle Vanya will star well-known Houston actor Philip Lehl playing the title role.

Uncle Vanya will be directed by Boston College Theatre Professor and Houston native Dr. John Houchin. Dr. Houchin attended the University of Houston, graduated from Houston Baptist University, and was active during the founding of Main Street Theater where he directed three shows in their formative years.

Houchin's take on this production of Uncle Vanya will get back to the play's Russian roots of dark comedy rather than presenting a stiff drawing room drama style Chekhov. Houchin says, "Most productions of Uncle Vanya are heavily influenced by a Victorian English sensibility that has given the play a turgid, depressive feeling. Obviously, we know that Chekhov's characters will wind up just where they started, but they don't. Throughout the play, Chekhov's characters all seek transformation and hold onto hope until they are faced with the brutal reality that neither they nor anyone else will ever change. However, this production of Uncle Vanya will not dwell on the existential hopelessness that its characters encounter. Rather, it will explore their longings, aspirations and desires. While we may not be able to avoid their pain, we will nonetheless uncover a profound humanness, which, after all, is why we keep revisiting Chekhov's plays."

The Classical Theatre Company is dedicated to boldly re-envisioning classical drama on the stage, in the community, and in the classroom through engaging and enlightening plays - bringing them new life and relevance while maintaining the integrity that the works deserve.