L.A. Theatre Works Records THE SEAGULL, Starring Calista Flockhart

Calista Flockhart, T.R. Knight and Dakin Matthews head the cast when L.A. Theatre Works opens its 2012-13 season with Christopher Hampton's new version of Anton Chekhov's tragi-comic masterpiece, The Seagull. The cast also includesGordon Clapp, Stephen Collins, Logan Fahey, Cindy Katz and Josh Stamberg, with Rosalind Ayres directing. Five performances will take place Sept. 20-23 at UCLA's James Bridges Theater, where they will be recorded for broadcast on L.A. Theatre Works' nationally syndicated radio theater series.

Recorded live for public radio stations nationwide, L.A. Theatre Works Productions are performed by headline actors using live Foley sound effect artists who bring classic and cutting-edge plays to life without sets or costumes. Presented in the intimate, acoustically vibrant James Bridges Theater on the campus of UCLA, each play is captured for broadcast on L.A. Theatre Works' nationally syndicated radio theater series, distribution on CD, and digital download.

Set on a country estate by a lake in 19th century Russia, The Seagull's idyllic locale belies the turbulent passions of its inhabitants. When the famed but aging actress Irina Arkádina returns home with her younger lover, she finds a household overflowing with creativity, fantasies of fame, jealousy and unrequited love.

"We're thrilled to have such a stellar cast to interpret Christopher Hampton's spectacular translation, and that Calista is back to open our season for the second year in a row," says L.A. Theatre Works producing director Susan Loewenberg.

The Seagull was an abysmal failure when it premiered in St. Petersburg in 1896, but its second staging two years later by Stanislavsky at the Moscow Art Theatre received triumphant acclaiM. Chekhov admitted his misgivings with the play, referring to it as "lots of talk about literature, little action and 180 lbs. of love." A tragicomedy about life and art, it astonished the old century as it heralded the birth of modern drama. The play has since been recognized as one of the greatest contributions to Russian and world theater and is now regarded as one of the playwright's masterpieces

In an NPR interview following the acclaimed 2008 Broadway premiere of his new translation, Hampton explained that he wanted to return to the edgy interpretation he believes Chekhov intended.

"When The Seagull was first performed, it was received poorly because it was so edgy," Hampton said. "What we're looking for is to really try to fathom exactly what Chekhov's intentions were and to reproduce them. To make the audience laugh when he wanted them to laugh and to make them cry when he wanted them to cry."

New York Times theater critic Ben Brantley called it "The finest and most fully involving production of Chekhov that I have ever known."

Performances of The Seagull  take place on Thursday, Sept. 20 @ 8 pm; Friday, Sept. 21 @ 8 pm;Saturday, Sept. 22 @ 3 pm & 8 pm; and Sunday, Sept. 23 @ 4 pm. The James Bridges Theater is located in Melnitz Hall on the campus of the UCLA School of Theater, Film, Television at 235 Charles E. Young Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90095 (enter UCLA from Hilgard just south of Sunset Blvd. and  park in Lot 3 on the lower level). Tickets are $49; student tickets are $15 at the door. To purchase tickets, call L.A. Theatre Works at 310-827-0889 or got to www.latw.org.

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