Photos: Patrick Weishampel

 

Portland Center Stage Presents

Christopher Durang’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

Winner of the 2013 Tony Award for Best Play

January 16 – February 8, with Previews Beginning January 10

THE “SUNNY NEW PLAY ABOUT GLOOMY PEOPLE”

family drama to life are two artists familiar to PCS audiences – local favorite Sharonlee McLean as Sonia and

Carol Halstead (last at PCS in The Beard of Avon) as her sister Masha – along with four exciting debuts: Andrew

Sellon as Vanya, Nick Ballard as Spike, Olivia Negron as Cassandra and Eden Malyn as Nina.

Previews for Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike begin January 10; it opens January 16 and runs through

February 8, 2015 on the U.S. Bank Main Stage at PCS’s Gerding Theater at the Armory. Regular tickets start at

$36. Preview tickets start at $29. Rush tickets are $20. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays

(excluding January 25 and February 3 and 8); 2 p.m. matinees on select Saturdays and Sundays; and matinees at

noon on select Thursdays. Tickets can be purchased at pcs.org or 503.445.3700. A complete schedule can be

found online at http://www.pcs.org/vanya/.

 

 

ABOUT THE PLAY

In Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Vanya and his sister Sonia tolerate their mediocre middle-aged lives,

until their movie-star sister Masha returns for a surprise visit with her boy-toy Spike that really shakes things up.

“It’s been our cross to bear that our parents gave us names from Chekhov plays,” says Vanya at the top of the

show, setting off the hilarious, Chekhovian-peppered tale of sibling rivalry, jealousy, regret, lust, aging and

basically everything that’s wrong with America. There are certainly themes and characters that will be familiar to

fans of Chekhov, but as Durang says, “I did my very best to write it so that you don’t have to know Chekhov to respond to

it.”

AWARDS AND ACCLAIM

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike debuted on Broadway at the John Golden Theatre in 2013 after a sold-
out Off-Broadway run at Lincoln Center. USA Today called it “hugely entertaining” and Newsday proclaimed it

‘‘one of the funniest comedies Broadway has seen in seasons.’’ The New York Times said “Durang fans can watch

a master of antic psycho-comedy play with Chekhov like a self-amusing cat toying with a tangled string,” and

noted that “even if you’ve never read a word of Chekhov, you’re likely to find plenty to make you laugh.” The

play received six Tony nominations, taking home the coveted Best Play Award, along with a Drama Desk Award

for Outstanding Play and the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play. It quickly became the most-
produced new play at regional theaters across the country during the 2014-2015 season.

CHRISTOPHER DURANG

Christopher Durang is a three-time Obie Award-winning playwright whose works include A History of the

American Film (Tony nomination, Best Book of a Musical), Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You (Obie

Award), Beyond Therapy (on Broadway in 1982 with Dianne Wiest and John Lithgow), Baby with the Bathwater,

The Marriage of Bette and Boo (Obie Award, Dramatists Guild Hull Warriner Award), Betty’s Summer Vacation

(Obie Award, Drama Desk Award nomination) and Adrift in Macao (with music by Peter Melnick). He is the co-
chair of the Playwriting Program at The Juilliard School, and a recipient of a Guggenheim, a Rockefeller, the CBS

Playwriting Fellowship, a Lecompte du Nouy Foundation grant and the Kenyon Festival Theatre Playwriting Prize.

Durang was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2012.

Andrew Sellon makes his PCS debut as Vanya, a role he recently gave a “striking performance” of at Asolo

Repertory Theater (Talkin Broadway); the hilarious local favorite, Sharonlee McLean, in her 23rd production at

PCS, plays the discontented sister Sonia; Carol Halstead (previously at PCS as Haley in Bad Dates, Olivia in

Twelfth Night and Queen Elizabeth in The Beard of Avon) returns as their glamorous movie star sister Masha;

Nick Ballard (recently the Los Angeles premieres of Dog Sees God and Anita Bryant Died For Your Sins) debuts as

the self-absorbed Hollywood boy-toy Spike; Olivia Negron (on Broadway in Cuba and His Teddy Bear with

Robert De Niro and Serious Money with Alec Baldwin) debuts as the cleaning lady and soothsayer Cassandra;

and Eden Malyn (appearing in the upcoming season of Orange is the New Black as Erin Sikowitz) plays the star

struck and naive Nina.

THE CREATIVE TEAM

Leading the creative team is Director Rose Riordan, who most recently directed The Typographer’s Dream,

LIZZIE and A Small Fire at PCS. Bringing the Chekhov-inspired farmhouse to life – the play is set in Bucks County,

Pennsylvania, where Christopher Durang currently resides – is Scenic and Lighting Designer Daniel Meeker

(most recently The Typographer’s Dream and LIZZIE at PCS), joined by the debut of Costume Designer Mike

Floyd (who also became PCS’s new costume shop supervisor this season) and PCS Resident Sound Designer Casi

Pacilio (most recently Dreamgirls and The Last Five Years).

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike | Ticket and Performance Information

When: January 10* – February 8, 2015

*Opening Night is Friday, January 16, 7:30 p.m.

Preview Performances: January 10, 11, 13, 14 and 15 at 7:30 p.m.

Showtimes: 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays (excluding Jan. 25 and Feb. 3 and 8); 2 p.m. matinees on

select Saturdays and Sundays; and matinees at noon on select Thursdays.

Where: On the U.S. Bank Main Stage at the Gerding Theater at the Armory

128 NW Eleventh Ave., Portland.

More Info: http://www.pcs.org/vanya/

To Purchase: Regular tickets range from $36-69. Preview tickets start at $29. Rush tickets are $20.

Discounts for students, those under 25 and groups of 10+. Prices subject to change.

Online: www.pcs.org

By Phone: 503.445.3700, 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.

In Person: PCS’s box office is at 128 NW Eleventh Avenue

12 p.m. to curtain on performance days

12 p.m. to 6 p.m. on non-performance days

Groups: Group tickets can purchased at 503.445.3794.

Please Note: Recommended for ages 14+; contains mature language and sexuality.

Accessibility: PCS is committed to making our performances and facilities accessible to all of our patrons.

Learn more at http://www.pcs.org/access/.

Portland Center Stage inspires our community by bringing stories to life in unexpected ways. Founded in 1988, PCS is

the city’s leading professional theater and one of the top 20 largest regional theater companies in the U.S. PCS

attracts more than 150,000 theatergoers annually with its blend of classical, contemporary and premiere works, along

with its summer playwrights festival, JAW. PCS also offers a variety of education and community programs tailored for

patrons of all ages.

The Gerding Theater at the Armory houses the 590-seat U.S. Bank Main Stage and the 190-seat black box Ellyn Bye

Studio. It was the first building on the National Register of Historic Places – and the first performing arts venue – to

achieve a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum certification. The Gerding Theater at the

Armory opened to the public on Oct. 1, 2006.

Additional support for Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is provided by Show Sponsors Keith and Sharon Barnes.

Portland Center Stage’s 2014-2015 season is funded in part by Season Superstars Tim and Mary Boyle and Lead

Corporate Champion Umpqua Bank; Season Sponsors the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, Oregon Arts Commission

and the National Endowment for the Arts, the Regional Arts and Culture Council, Work for Art, and Season Supporting

Sponsor KINK FM. The Mark Spencer Hotel is the official hotel partner for Portland Center Stage. Portland Center

Stage is a participant in the Audience (R)Evolution Program, funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and

administered by Theatre Communications Group, the national organization for the professional not-for-profit

American theater.