Invictus Theatre Company announced today that it will stage the Chekhov classic THREE SISTERS in its new home, the Windy City Playhouse, from June 4 through July 14. Artistic Director Charles Askenaizer will helm the production, using the translation by Paul Schmidt. The full cast and production team were also announced today. The production will preview June 4 through 9, with a press opening on Monday, June 10 at 7:00 p.m.
The company’s previously announced production of Tracy Letts’s AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY, originally scheduled to run May 28 to July 14, has been cancelled. Invictus Theatre Executive Director Todd Henry Faulstich explained the circumstances behind the cancellation:
“For reasons outside of Invictus’s control, it is with great disappointment that we will no longer be able to perform the show AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY. While we properly obtained a license to perform the play, it was subsequently brought to our attention and the attention of the licensor that territorial restrictions existed that precluded our ability to perform the play.”
Invictus quickly pivoted to THREE SISTERS as a replacement. Artistic Director Charles Askenaizer, who will direct the Chekhov play, says it's a piece he has been wanting to direct for some time. “It fits with our commitment to performing the classics along with significant contemporary plays. Like the play it's replacing, it’s a family-themed play with a large ensemble cast. That allowed us to offer roles in THREE SISTERS to the majority of the artists who had been cast in AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY, and nearly all accepted roles in the new production.”
THREE SISTERS, which has been called “the most perfect expression of Chekhov’s artistic genius," follows the fortunes of the four children — three sisters and one brother — of a recently deceased Colonel in the Russian army. The sisters are sweet Irína, the youngest and most impressionable; tempestuous Másha who is trapped in a loveless marriage; practical Ólga, who has resigned herself to spinsterhood; and their brother Andrey, whose ill-advised romance and compulsive gambling wreaks havoc on the family finances. Invictus will use the translation of THREE SISTERS by Paul Schmidt, whose translations of Chekhov’s plays are the only ones in English by a Russian-language scholar who is also a veteran Chekhovian actor. Critics have hailed these translations as making Chekhov fully accessible to American audiences. They are also accurate — Schmidt has been described as "the gold standard in Russian-English translation" by Michael Holquist of Yale University’s Russian department.
Invictus’s cast will include Michael B. Woods (Andrey Prózorov), Maria Stephens (Ólga Prózorov), Katherine Schwartz (Másha Prózorov), Ellie Duffey (Irína Prózorov), Cat Hermes (Natásha), Francis Brady (Kulýgin), Bryan Breau (Vershínin), Charlie Diaz (Túzenbach). John Wehrman (Solyóny), Joseph Beal (Chebutýkin), Colton Smith (Fedótik), Brandon Boler (Róhde), Frank Nall (Ferapónt), Renae Stone (Anfísa), Ophelia Harkness (Ensemble, understudy for Másha), and Kevin Cruz (Ensemble, understudy for Róhde, Fedótik, and Andrey). Additional understudies are Mary Carroll Dougherty (Anfísa u/s), Whitney Minarik (Ólga u/s, and Natásha u/s), and Lea Biwer (Irína u/s), plus two additional understudies to be named.
Top row (L-R): Joseph Beal (Chebutýkin), Brandon Boler (Róhde), Francis Brady (Kulýgin), Bryan Breau (Vershínin)
Second row (L-R): Kevin Cruz (Ensemble), Charlie Diaz (Túzenbach), Ellie Duffey (Irína Prózorov), Ophelia Harkness (Ensemble)
Third row (L-R): Cat Hermes (Natásha), Frank Nall (Ferapónt), Katherine Schwartz (Másha Prózorov), Colton Smith (Fedótik)
Bottom row (L-R): Maria Stephens (Ólga Prózorov), Renae Stone (Anfísa), John Wehrman (Solyóny), Michael B. Woods (Andrey Prózorov)
The production team, which like the cast, consists mainly of the same artists who had signed on to create AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY, includes Jeff Award winner Kevin Rolfs (Technical Director/Scenic Designer), Jeff Award nominee Jessie Gowens (Costume Designer/Wardrobe Supervisor), Trey Brazeal (Lighting Designer), Jeff Award winner Petter Wahlbäck (Sound Designer), Jay Donley (Fight/Intimacy Designer), Rachel Livingston (Props Designer), Steve Nordmark (Dramaturg), Becca Holloway (Casting Director), Karina Osborne (Master Electrician), Todd Henry Faulstich (Production Manager), Alisa Resnick (Stage Manager), and Kaia-Joy Johnson (Assistant Stage Manager). Steve Nordmark is Box Office Manager and Ana Schedler is Graphic Designer.
Invictus Theatre Company has been one of the most notable success stories among Chicago’s storefront theatres in spite of the challenges facing the theater community in recent years. The company also survived a devasting fire in the building that housed its previous performance venue, then moved to the Windy City Playhouse on Irving Park Road in January and opened its critically acclaimed production of TOPDOG/UNDERDOG there in February.
Tickets for THREE SISTERS are $35 for Friday through Sunday performances, $25 for Monday performances and $25 for previews June 4 through 9. Tickets and further information are available at www.invictustheatreco.com
LISTING INFORMATION
THREE SISTERS
by Anton Chekhov
translation by Paul Schmidt
directed by Charles Askenaizer
June 4 – July 14, 2024
Previews: Tuesday 6/4/24, Friday 6/7/24, Saturday 6/8/24 at 7 p.m. Saturday 6/8/24 and Sunday 6/9/24 at 2 p.m.
Press Opening Monday 6/10/24 at 7 p.m.
Regular performances Fridays, Saturdays, and Mondays at 7 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays at
2 p.m.
Additional performance Wednesday 7/3/24 at 7 p.m.
NO PERFORMANCE Friday 7/5/24
Performances at Windy City Playhouse, 3014 W. Irving Park Road, Chicago
Ticket prices: Previews $25. Monday $25. Friday through Sunday $35. Season subscriptions available.
www.invictustheatreco.com
Anton Chekhov’s classic play, packed with action and emotion, chronicles three and a half years in the falling fortunes of the four children of a recently deceased Colonel in the Russian army. They have been living in a small town in Russia for the past 11 years and yearn to return to the excitement of Moscow. Their dreary provincial life is enlivened only by the arrival of the Imperial Army. The sisters’ dreams of a new life are crushed when their brother marries a woman they consider ill-bred and mortgages the house.
BIOS