Anya-Violette Zhang, Elena Lozonschi, Amy Hart Nguyễn, Lairce Dias, Joe Staton, Roslind Finlay, & Frank Pagliaro of “The Cherry Orchard: A Multilingual Adaptation”

Posted on January 22, 2024 by robby

Listen in as The Cherry Orchard: A Multilingual Adaptation performers Elena Lozonschi, Anya-Violette Zhang, Amy Hart Nguyễn, Lairce Dias, Joe Staton, along with assistant director/performer Roslind Finlay & director Frank Pagliaro, discuss finding home, creating a multilingual version of a classic text, “a common language,” missing the merge onto the highway, and the importance of listening.

“It’s all about listening. When you listen, you can understand. […] It’s not about the words…”

Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Nick Benacerraf, Jess Chayes, Stephen Aubrey, and Jax Jackson of “SEAGULLMACHINE”

Posted on April 20, 2018 by robby

Listen in as collaborators on The Assembly’s SEAGULLMACHINE—conceiver/co-director Nick Benacerraf, co-director Jess Chayes, dramaturg Steven Aubrey, and performer Jax Jackson—discuss layering multiple theatrical sources, permission to find points of resonance, turning on a dime, the company’s development process, finding new roles through that process, bringing an audience into a world “oozing word-slime,” different versions of ourselves, and the question of whether or not theatre can produce change.

“…every night, by a certain time in the play, it feels like we’re also just people, human beings in a room with our audience. And that has been one of the most special experiences of it, to me…”

Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Jessica Burr of “Platonov, or, A Play with No Name”

Posted on March 8, 2018 by robby

Listen in as Blessed Unrest Artistic Director and director of Platanov, or, A Play with No Name, Jessica Burr, discusses the company’s staging process for the round, adapting early Chekhov, finding the humanity in “dreadful” people, putting the audience in the world of the characters, sleepless nights thanks to blocking, and the similarities between this 140-year-old play and our current world.

“…I guess for me, ultimately, I don’t go to the theatre to see Platonov, or to see Hamlet. I go to the theatre to see actors, to see human beings being exposed…that’s really what I want to see. Of course it’s story, it’s narrative, it’s context, but it’s really about the humans, we put these humans in this situation, and we watch and see what they do. And hopefully we learn from them.”

Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Ryan Victor ‘Little Eagle’ Pierce, of “Uncle Abram”

Posted on May 5, 2017 by robby

Listen in as The Eagle Project‘s Artistic Director Ryan Victor “Little Eagle” Pierce, adapter/director of Uncle Abram: A Reconstructed Uncle Vanya, discusses moving Chekhov from Russia to Reconstruction-era Missouri, finding the relevance of American history to current events, “ghosts of the past,” and why we can’t take our foot off the gas.

“…even after this very progressive period…somehow, in society, the more things change, the more they stay the same…”

Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Lori Wolter Hudson, adapter/director, and David Hudson, actor, of “Drunkle Vanya”

Posted on September 15, 2014 by robby

Take one part Chekhov, two parts drinking game, one part party, add a dash of improv, and you’ve got a recipe for fun, boozy theatre in a bar the way only Three Day Hangover can do it.

When you love Chekhov the way adapter/director Lori Wolter Hudson does, contemporizing Uncle Vanya for a New York bar audience must be equally thrilling and daunting; if the experience of this podcaster (who typically loathes Chekhov) is any indication, she’s got a hell of a lot to be proud of. The podcast doesn’t editorialize, as I always say — but you’d do well to take this episode at its word, and go see this show.

Listen in as Lori, along with fellow Hangover-er (and portrayer of Astrov in the show) David Hudson, discuss the element of randomness, playing games, the difference between original scripts and what actually ends up on stage, structure around improv, and how to make Chekhov fun (in a bar).

Go See a Show!

The off-off-Broadway podcast

Tag Archives: Anton Chekhov

Anya-Violette Zhang, Elena Lozonschi, Amy Hart Nguyễn, Lairce Dias, Joe Staton, Roslind Finlay, & Frank Pagliaro of “The Cherry Orchard: A Multilingual Adaptation”

Nick Benacerraf, Jess Chayes, Stephen Aubrey, and Jax Jackson of “SEAGULLMACHINE”

Jessica Burr of “Platonov, or, A Play with No Name”

Ryan Victor ‘Little Eagle’ Pierce, of “Uncle Abram”

Lori Wolter Hudson, adapter/director, and David Hudson, actor, of “Drunkle Vanya”