About the Playwright

William Shakespeare

Shakespeare is the world's most widely-read author. During his short lifetime, he wrote 37 plays, 154 sonnets, and five full-length poems. Shakespeare was born to John Shakespeare and Mary Arden in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. He attended the Stratford Grammar School, but did not proceed to Oxford or Cambridge. In 1582 he married Anne Hathaway and over the next three years the couple had a daughter, Susanna, and twins Judith and Hamnet. Shakespeare moved to London and embarked on a career as an actor, poet, and playwright, joining one of the most successful acting troupes in London, The Lord Chamberlain's Men. When the troupe lost the lease on their theatre, they built The Globe Theatre and opened it in 1599. James I came to the throne in 1603 and renamed the troupe The Kind's Men; they performed for the king and the public for the next decade. In June 1613 a canon fired during a performance of Henry VIII set fire to the roof and burned the theatre to the ground. The theatre was later rebuilt but Shakespeare retired from the stage to Stratford where he had purchased a home and had considerable land holdings. He continued to write until his death in 1616 at the age of 52.

About the Director

Shawn Kairschner

Shawn has acted and directed in numerous venues in the United States and in England, including a three-year stint as the Artistic Director of the Sideway Theater Company in Berkeley, CA, for whom he directed or produced a variety of productions from Shakespeare to original, one-person shows. Recent directorial credits include The Caucasian Chalk Circle in Williamstown, MA, as well as Equus, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and a musical adaptation of Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market at Stanford University, where he received his Ph.D. As an actor, he was in the first American cast to appear onstage at the Globe Theatre in Southwark, London; most recently, he played Petruchio in Taming of the Shrew at the Winedale Shakespeare Festival. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor in the Theatre Department at Villanova, where he teaches acting and dramaturgy. His scholarly work on nineteenth-century European acting technique has been featured in "Performance Journal" and will be included in a forthcoming collection published by the University of Toronto Press.

Production Photos

Prospero (Brian McCann) and the Ensemble	The tempest
Ferdinand (Charles Illingworth IV) and Miranda (Jessica Dal Canton	Prospero II (Jared Nelson) is instructed by Prospero (Brian McCann)
The Goddess Blessing (Kristi A. Good, Jenny Jacobs, Maria Gianfrancisco)	Trinculo (Shaun Malleck), Caliban (Chris Braak), and Stephano (Joshua Hoover)
Ariel (Kristi A. Good) leads Caliban (Chris Braak)	Miranda (Jessica Dal Canton) and Ferdinand (Charles Illingworth IV)
Antonio (Jared Nelson) and Sebastian (Jarad Mitchell Benn)	Miranda (Jessica Dal Canton), Prospero II (Jared Nelson), and the Ensemble
The dumbshow	Trinculo (Shaun Malleck)
Stephano (Joshua Hoover), Caliban (Chris Braak), and Trinculo (Shaun Malleck)	Prospero (Brian McCann) and Ariel (Kristi A. Good)

Cast of Characters

About the Playwright

ANTON CHEKHOV (Playwright)

Anton was born January 29, 1860, in Taganrog, Russia. Chekhov began writing short stories during his days as a medical student at the University of Moscow. After graduating in 1884 with a degree in medicine, he freelanced as a journalist and comedy sketch writer for multiple publications in St. Petersburg and Moscow while practicing medicine all over the Western Russia region.  Chekhov endured heavy criticism for such early works as Ivanov (1887) and The Wood Demon (1888) and thereafter took purposeful steps away from the dramatic conventions of the time.  His unique perspective on humanity, influenced by his medical career, and his fondness for vaudevilles and French farces helped lead the way to such one-act masterpieces as The Bear (1888), and The Wedding (1889). With the Moscow Art Theatre’s production of The Seagull (1897), Chekhov enjoyed his first overwhelming success of a full-length play. The Seagull was followed by a significantly revised version of The Wood Demon – newly entitled Uncle Vanya – and productions of Three Sisters (1901) and The Cherry Orchard (1904). These last four “great” plays would become his legacy; Chekhov died of tuberculosis on July 14, 1904 at the age of 44. Since his death, his plays have become famous world-wide, and he is considered to be Russia’s greatest playwright.

PAUL SCHMIDT (Translator)

Paul, a librettist, poet, teacher and actor who collaborated with many major avant-garde theater artists, earned his Ph.D. in Slavic Literature from Harvard University. A professor of Russian Literature at the University of Texas and at Wellesley College, he translated the complete works of Arthur Rimbaud, the complete works of Russian poet Velemir Khlebnikov, and Chekhov’s four major plays: Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, The Seagull, and The Cherry Orchard. His translations of plays by Gogol, Genet, Brecht, and Marivaux have been produced by Joanne Akalaitis, Robert Wilson, and Peter Sellars. Schmidt wrote the libretto for Alice (an adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass), and an original play about Stalin and Shostakovich entitled Black Sea Follies.

About the Director

HARRIET POWER

Harriet has worked with playwrights throughout her career, as a resident director of Bay Area Playwrights Festival, West Coast Playwrights, and the Iowa Playwrights Festival, as well as during her tenure as Artistic Director of Venture Theatre and at the International Women Playwrights Festival (Galway, Ireland). An associate professor of theatre at Villanova, Ms. Power teaches dramaturgy, acting, and solo performance. In 2004, during her sabbatical year in Rome, Italy, she directed Dinner with Friends for The English Theatre of Rome (the city’s largest professional English-language theatre). Recent U.S. directing credits include Fred and Jane, Incorruptible, Art and By the Bog of Cats… (Villanova Theatre), Syncopation (Act II Playhouse), Reinventing Eden (InterAct Theatre Company) and Missing Link (InterAct Theatre Company, 2002 Barrymore nominee for Best New Play). She is the recipient of three Barrymore nominations for Outstanding Direction for Measure for Measure (Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival), A Moon for the Misbegotten (Venture Theatre), and Angels in America: Perestroika, for which she received the 1997 award with Villanova colleague James J. Christy.

Press Release

VILLANOVA THEATRE PRESENTS THREE SISTERS

Villanova Theatre presents Three Sisters, Anton Chekhov’s beloved exploration of love and longing in turn-of-the-century Russia.  Directed by theatre professor and award-winning director Harriet Power, Three Sisters runs February 6 – 18, 2007 at Vasey Hall on the Villanova University campus. Show times are 8:00pm Tuesday – Saturday and 2:00pm Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $18-$24, with discounts for seniors, students, and groups, and may be ordered by calling the Villanova Theatre Box office at (610) 519-7474. Additional information is available online at www.theatre.villanova.edu.

Three Sisters brings to life an intimate circle of siblings, spouses, and friends who pass the long days together in a remote Russian town.  Their placid routines are disrupted, however, when a handsome stranger arrives upon the scene, bringing long-suppressed desires to the fore.

Anton Chekhov was born in 1860 in Taganrog, Russia. After enduring heavy criticism for such early works as Ivanov (1887) and The Wood Demon (1888) he took purposeful steps away from the dramatic conventions of the time. The Moscow Art Theatre’s production of The Seagull (1897) gave Chekhov his first overwhelming success with a full-length play. The Seagull was followed by a significantly revised version of The Wood Demon – newly entitled Uncle Vanya – and productions of Three Sisters (1901) and The Cherry Orchard (1904). These last four “great” plays would become his legacy; Chekhov died of tuberculosis on July 14, 1904 at the age of 44.  Since his death, his plays have become famous world-wide, and he is considered Russia’s greatest playwright.

Scholars marvel at the extent to which Three Sisters reflects Chekhov’s personal life, in which he fell in and out of love with three different sets of three sisters before marrying late in life.  Like the three fictional sisters for which his play is named, Chekhov also yearned for the bustle and excitement of Moscow whenever work or poor health kept him from his favorite city.  However, it was Chekhov’s struggle to find answers to questions about human existence, the meaning of life, and the importance of work that produced his vigorous unconventionality that mystified and captivated his contemporaries.

“I am astounded by Three Sisters, which, 105 years later, feels like absolutely new, even daring work,” said Power.  “Not only was Chekhov the first playwright to make the tiny, seemingly accidental nuances of human interaction his focus, he continues to be the only playwright to do so with such deadly yet loving accuracy.”

Unlike many professional productions, which cast older actors in the sibling roles – a mistake, Power believes, “since their youth is such a powerful factor in their story” – Villanova Theatre’s staging of Three Sisters boasts a fully age-appropriate cast.  The current production also uses the celebrated American translation by actor, playwright and scholar Paul Schmidt, a version Power prizes for its clarity, naturalness, and humor.  “It is a mark of Chekhov’s genius that he so effortlessly interwove comedy and tragedy,” said Power.  “We hope to do the same in our production.”

Power is an award-winning director and associate professor at Villanova Theatre whose passion and affinity for Chekhov was exhibited in her acclaimed production of Uncle Vanya at Villanova in 2000.  Her recent directing credits include Michael Hollinger’s Incorruptible and the American premiere of Sebastian Barry’s Fred and Jane at Villanova Theatre, the world premieres of Seth Rozin’s Reinventing Eden and Missing Link (which received the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia’s Barrymore nomination for Outstanding New Play) at InterAct Theatre, and Measure for Measure at Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival, which received a Barrymore nomination for Outstanding Direction of a Play.  In 1997, she received the Barrymore Award for Outstanding Direction of a Play with James J. Christy for Villanova Theatre’s production of Angels in America: Perestroika.

The cast of Three Sisters features a mix of graduate theatre students, undergraduate students, and guest artists, including David Whalen (Vershinin), Carl Granieri (Tuzenbach), Bohdan Senkow (Chebutykin), Jared Nelson (Andrei), Grace Armstrong (Olga), Jessica Dal Canton (Masha), Laura Papay (Irina), Marcie Bramucci (Natasha), Jarad Mitchell Benn (Kulygin), Justin Damm (Solyony), Matt Mykytushyn (Fedotik), Joshua Hoover (Rohde), Charles Helmetag (Ferapont), Barbara Quinn (Anfisa), and Chris Braak, Carrie Chapter, Callie Jacobsen, and Adam Landon.

Three Sisters runs February 6 – 18, 2007. Show times are 8:00pm Tuesday – Saturday and 2:00pm Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $18-$24 and may be ordered by calling the Villanova Theatre Box office at (610) 519-7474. Visit www.theatre.villanova.edu for more information.

Cast of Characters

About the Creators

Alfred Uhry (Book & Lyrics)

Alfred Uhry, a playwright, lyricist, and screenwriter, is the only author to have received the Pulitzer Prize, Tony Award, and Academy Award for his work.  Born in Georgia in 1936 to a prosperous family of German-Jewish descent, Uhry attended Brown University in Rhode Island, where he received a degree in English and drama in 1958. He then relocated to New York City, where he taught English at the Calhoun School. In 1975, after several failed attempts at writing a successful play, he collaborated with Robert Waldman to adapt Eudora Welty's short novel The Robber Bridegroom into a musical, which premiered on Broadway in 1976. The production received a Tony Award nomination for Best Book of a Musical, and  marked Uhry's first success as a playwright.  His “Atlanta trilogy” -- Driving Miss Daisy (1987, Pulitzer Prize), The Last Night of Ballyhoo (1996, Tony Award) and Parade (1998, Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical) all draw on Uhry's heritage as a Southern Jew, bringing together aspects of both Southern and Jewish culture.  Uhry's lesser-known theatrical works include contributions to Swing (1980), Little Johnny Jones (1982), and America's Sweetheart  (1985). He also wrote the screenplays for Driving Miss Daisy (Academy Award) and Mystic Pizza (1988). 

Robert Waldman (Music)

Robert Waldman first collaborated with Alfred Uhry when they wrote musicals at Brown University.  Upon graduation, he studied composition at Juilliard and then became a protégé of Frank Loesser.  He has written music for television shows, films, and commercials.  His songs written with Alfred Uhry have been widely recorded as well as heard on Broadway in the score he created for Here’s Where I Belong.  His music has also been heard throughout the United States and Europe in ballets and in the theatrical scores for the American Shakespeare Theatre’s production if Twelfth Night and The Acting Company’s School for Scandal.

About the Director

Peter Reynolds

Peter Reynolds has directed productions of Company, Pericles, Shakin’ the Mess Outta Misery and Beautiful Thing for Temple Theatre, where he was an adjunct theatre professor. He has directed for Philadelphia Theatre Company in their collaborations with Philadelphia Young Playwrights and was Artistic Coordinator for the Philadelphia Young Playwrights’ Saturday Series. He spent two seasons with Lenape Regional Performing Arts Center in New Jersey where he assisted the Producing Artistic Director. Peter hails from the Midwest and for six years served as Artistic Director of HealthWorks Theatre-Chicago, winner of the 2000 Award of Excellence in Prevention Education as well as the 2001 Hall of Fame After Dark Award. Regionally Peter has worked at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, HotCity Theatre-St. Louis, Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, Theatre Building Chicago, Apollo Theatre-Chicago, City of Maples Repertory, Face to Face Productions, Lillian Russell Theatre, and on the stages of the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign and Southern Illinois University. He received his M.F.A. in Directing from Temple University.

Production Photos

Rosamund (Janet McWilliams) and Jamie (Charles Illingworth IV)	Jamie (Charles Illingworth IV) and Clemment Musgrove (Andy Joos)
Rosamund's Dream (Janet McWilliams)	Rosamund (Janet McWilliams) and the Residents of Rodney (Jennifer Brown, Joshua Hoover, Katherine Glavin)
Jaime (Charles Illingworth IV) explains how he steals with style to the Raven (Jessica Ciaramella)	Salome (Amy Walton) makes a deal with Goat (Justin Damm) and Goat's Mother (Kristi A. Good)
Goat (Justin Damm) and Jamie (Charles Illingworth IV)	Residents of Rodney (Katherine Glavin, Brian Kurtas, Justin Damm, Jenny Jacobs, Joshua Hoover, Jennifer Brown)
Rosamund (Janet McWilliams) and Jamie (Charles Illingworth IV)	Jamie (Charles Illingworth IV) and the ladies of Rodney (Kristi A. Good, Kate Reynolds, Jenny Jacobs, Katherine Glavin, Jennifer Brown)

Cast of Characters

Press Release

VILLANOVA THEATRE PRESENTS THE TONY AWARD-WINNING MUSICAL THE ROBBER BRIDEGROOM

Villanova Theatre ends its 2006/2007 season with The Robber Bridegroom, a rollicking musical fairy tale set in Depression-era Mississippi.  Directed by theatre professor Peter Reynolds, The Robber Bridegroom runs March 27 – April 1 and April 10 – 22, 2007 at Vasey Hall on the Villanova University campus. Show times are 8:00pm Tuesday – Saturday and 2:00pm Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $18-$24, with discounts for seniors, students, and groups, and may be ordered by calling the Villanova Theatre Box office at (610) 519-7474. Additional information is available online at www.theatre.villanova.edu.

Vividly presented in “story theatre” style and driven by a rousing bluegrass score, The Robber Bridegroom tells the tale of a charming gentleman bandit who lusts after the daughter (and gold) of a rich plantation owner.  In fairy tale fashion, the girl is bedeviled by a wicked stepmother who’d like to see her dead.  The bandit encounters his own share of troubles when he finds himself competing with a rival bandit, who carries around his brother’s talking head in a trunk.  It’s a rollicking country romp where goats and ravens talk, a good square dance solves any problem, and -- when it comes to love and riches -- anything goes.

“I believe wholeheartedly that theatre should challenge audiences.  It should encourage introspection and thoughtful consideration of the issues we face in our lives,” said Reynolds. 

“But I also believe in the wise words of my father, who once said to me, ‘Peter, people want to laugh and have a good time at the theatre.’  The spring is quickly approaching and now is a good

time to have fun and enjoy the great music and lively tall tales of The Robber Bridegroom.”

Alfred Uhry, a playwright, lyricist, and screenwriter, is the only author to have received the Pulitzer Prize, Tony Award, and Academy Award for his work.  Born in Georgia in 1936 to a prosperous family of German-Jewish descent, Uhry attended Brown University in Rhode Island, where he received a degree in English and drama in 1958. He then relocated to New York City, where he taught English at the Calhoun School. In 1975, after several failed attempts at writing a successful play, he collaborated with Robert Waldman to adapt Eudora Welty's short novel The Robber Bridegroom into a musical, which premiered on Broadway in 1976. The production received a Tony Award nomination for Best Book of a Musical, and  marked Uhry's first success as a playwright.  His “Atlanta trilogy” -- Driving Miss Daisy (1987, Pulitzer Prize), The Last Night of Ballyhoo (1996, Tony Award) and Parade (1998, Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical) all draw on Uhry's heritage as a Southern Jew, bringing together aspects of both Southern and Jewish culture.  Uhry's lesser-known theatrical works include contributions to Swing (1980), Little Johnny Jones (1982), and America's Sweetheart  (1985). He also wrote the screenplays for Driving Miss Daisy (Academy Award) and Mystic Pizza (1988). 

Robert Waldman first collaborated with Alfred Uhry when they wrote musicals at Brown University.  Upon graduation, he studied composition at Juilliard and then became a protégé of Frank Loesser.  He has written music for television shows, films, and commercials.  His songs written with Alfred Uhry have been widely recorded as well as heard on Broadway in the score he created for Here’s Where I Belong.  His music has also been heard throughout the United States and Europe in ballets and in the theatrical scores for the American Shakespeare Theatre’s production if Twelfth Night and The Acting Company’s School for Scandal.

Peter Reynolds is an assistant professor of theatre at Villanova University.  He recently received his M.F.A. in directing from Temple University, where he directed productions of Ragtime, Company, Pericles, Shakin’ the Mess Outta Mystery, and Beautiful Thing.  He has directed for the Philadelphia Theatre Company in their collaborations with Philadelphia Young Playwrights and was also Artistic Coordinator for the Philadephia Young Playwrights’ Saturday Series.  He spent three seasons with the Lenape Regional Performing Arts Center in New Jersey, where he assisted the Producing Artistic Director.  Peter hails from the Midwest and for six years served as Artistic Director of Health Works Theatre in Chicago, winner of the 2000 Award for Excellence in Prevention Education, presented by Mayor Daley and the Chicago Department of Public Health, as well as the 2001 Hall of Fame After Dark Award.  Regionally he has worked at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Groove Mama Ink in New York City, HotCity Theatre in St. Louis, Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, Theatre Building Chicago, Apollo Theatre in Chicago, City of Maples Repertory, Face to Face Productions, Lillian Russell Theatre, and on the stages of the University of Illinois in Urbana/Champaign and Southern Illinois University.

The cast of The Robber Bridegroom features a mix of graduate theatre students, undergraduate students, and guest artists, including Jennifer Brown (Airie), Jessica Ciaramella (Raven), Justin Damm (Goat), Kristi Good (Goat’s Mother), Joshua Hoover (Big Harp), Charles B. Illingworth IV (Jamie Lockhart), Andy Joos (Clemment Musgrove), Janet McWilliams (Rosamund), Jared Nelson (Little Harp), Amy Walton (Salome), Jarad Mitchell Benn, Shannon DeVido, Katherine Glavin, Jenny Jacobs, Brian Kurtas, Kate Reynolds, and Tom Riordan (Residents of Rodney).

The Robber Bridegroom runs March 27 – April 1 and April 10 – 22, 2007. Show times are 8:00pm Tuesday – Saturday and 2:00pm Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $18-$24 and may be ordered by calling the Villanova Theatre Box office at (610) 519-7474. Visit www.theatre.villanova.edu for more information.