Due to very strong ticket sales, Classic Stage Company's new production of Anton Chekhov's UNCLE VANYA, starring Tony Award winner Denis O'Hare as Vanya, Maggie Gyllenhaal as Yelena and Peter Sarsgaard as Astrov, has extended its limited engagement through Sunday, March 8, it was announced today by CSC Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Jessica R. Jenen.
Directed by Austin Pendleton, UNCLE VANYA will begin previews tonight, Saturday, January 17 at Classic Stage Company at 136 East 13th Street, with an official opening set for Thursday, February 12.
The cast of UNCLE VANYA also features Mamie Gummer (Sonya), Louis Zorich (Waffles), George Morfogen (Srebryakov), Delphi Harrington (Maria) and Cyrilla Baer (Marina). UNCLE VANYA will feature scenic design by Tony Award winner Santo Loquasto, who received wide acclaim last season at CSC for his design of The Seagull and who has designed numerous Chekhovian productions in his esteemed career including the famed Lincoln Center production of The Cherry Orchard in 1977. Costume design is by Suzy Benzinger, who also designed last season's The Seagull, and lighting design is by Jason Lyons. The play is translated by Carol Rocamora.
O'Hare, who last performed at CSC in Yasmina Reza's A Spanish Play, stars as Vanya, the quintessential superfluous man, who wakes up one morning to discover he has wasted his life in the service of others, in Chekhov's tragicomic masterpiece of dashed dreams, thwarted love and eternal longing. The play was first performed at the legendary Moscow Art Theater in 1899, directed by Constantine Stanislavsky.
Maggie Gyllenhaal (Yelena Adreevna) has garnered rave reviews for her performances in such films as Sherrybaby (Golden Globe nomination), Secretary (Golden Globe nomination), The Dark Knight, Donnie Darko, Happy Endings and World Trade Center, among others. Her stage work includes Tony Kushner's Homebody/Kabul.
Peter Sarsgaard (Astrov) recently co-starred in the Broadway production of The Seagull, as Trigorin, opposite Kristin Scott Thomas. Other stage work includes the Signature Theatre production of Lanford Wilson's Burn This, as well as Kingdom of Earth, opposite Cynthia Nixon. He has received acclaim for his work in such films as Shattered Glass, Boys Don't Cry, Kinsey, Garden State, Jarhead, The Dying Gaul and Rendition, among others.
Austin Pendleton has directed UNCLE VANYA twice before, at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in 1972 and at the Hartman Theatre in Stamford in 1980; both times featuring sets by Santo Loquasto, however, CSC's new production will feature a new direction and design. Mr. Pendleton has also played Vanya several times: at the Whole Theatre Co. (directed by Olympia Dukakis); at the Williamstown Theatre Festival (directed by Jeff Blechner); at CSC (directed by Maria Irene Fornes); at Steppenwolf (directed by Sheldon Pantinkin); and twice in an event called the Chekhov Cycle, a series of staged readings of the four major Chekhov plays, organized by Olympia Dukakis and presented first at Williamstown and later at the Two River Theatre in New Jersey. He has also performed in numerous other productions of Chekhov's plays.
