(Bethlehem, PA) The Pennsylvania Playhouse is proud to present Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, winner of the 2013 Tony Award for Best Play. This wickedly funny Broadway hit from three-time Obie Award-winner Christopher Durang, directed by George B. Miller, runs for three weekends, February 5th thru February 21st
In bucolic Bucks County, siblings Vanya and Sonia fritter their lives away in their family’s rambling farmhouse amidst regret, angst, and the strange prophecies of their latest housekeeper, Cassandra. When their sister Masha, a famous, fading movie star, shows up with with her latest boy toy Spike, the stage is set for a wildly intoxicating weekend of lust, rivalry, regret, romance - and the sudden possibility of escape.
Director George B. Miller returns to the Playhouse to stage this lovingly funny homage to Chekhov’s themes of heartbreak and hope, after recently directing the Playhouse’s acclaimed production of To Kill A Mockingbird.
The cast for Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike features Mike Febbo (Vanya), Jan Labellarte (Masha), Kendra O’Donnell (Nina), Jeanie Olah (Sonia), Tatiana Torres (Cassandra), and Zoran Zdravkovic (Spike). The creative team includes Stage Manager and Sound Designer Ginny Wilson, Costumer Kate Scuffle, Lighting Designer Brett Olivera, and Set Design by Brett Olivera and Michael Schofield.
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike earned universal acclaim in its 2013 Broadway debut; awards included the Tony Award for Best Play, the Outer Circle Critics Award for Best Play, the Drama League Award for Best Production of a Play, the Drama Desk Award for Best Play, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Production and the Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best Play.
Critics called it “a comic tour de force” (Village Voice), “the funniest play in town” (Bloomberg News), an “utterly refreshing…sweet, witty play with a huge pop culture appetite” (Associated Press) and “terrifically kooky” (Entertainment Weekly).
Playwright Christopher Durang’s works include The Actor’s Nightmare; Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You (Obie Award); Beyond Therapy, Baby with the Bathwater; The Marriage of Bette and Boo (Obie Award); Laughing Wild; Durang/Durang; Sex and Longing; Betty’s Summer Vacation (Obie Award); Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge; Miss Witherspoon (Pulitzer Prize finalist) and Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Loved Them. Durang has a BA from Harvard and an MFA in playwriting from Yale School of Drama. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild’s council and lives in - yes, bucolic Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike runs for three weekends, February 5 - 21: Fri-Sat, February 5-6; Fri-Sun, February 12-14; and Thurs-Sun, February 18-21. Curtain times are: 7:30pm on Thursday, 8pm on Friday and Saturdays, and 3pm on Sundays. For more information, see www.paplayhouse.org. For ticket reservations, contact the Playhouse at 610-865-6665. The Pennsylvania Playhouse is located on Ilicks Mill Rd, between Rt. 512 and Schoenersville Road in Bethlehem.