The third offering on Vassar & New York Stage and Film's Powerhouse Theater Mainstage this season will be Keith Bunin's funny, sexy, romantic, and moving story Vera Laughed, about a great writer living in exile - with his wife and his mistress. Vera Laughed will open on Wednesday, July 22, and run through Sunday, August 2, at the Powerhouse Theater on the Vassar College campus.
Vera Laughed is set in April of 1942 against the backdrop of WWII. Nobel Prize-winning author Ivan Bunin, who escaped the Russian Revolution 20 years earlier, has successfully created a new life for himself in the French countryside with his wife Vera and his mistress Galina. However, he still dreams of returning home, but he's not a young man anymore, and the world is at war again.
Not only does Ivan have to deal with his own love triangle, but many others, including Galina's ‘other' love Margarita; Margarita's ‘fiancé' Vladimir; and Vera's devotee, a younger Russian writer, Leonid.
Based on a true story, Vera Laughed provides a provocative and yet humorous glimpse into the household and antics of this great writer (Powerhouse Theater, 7/22 - 8/2, $35).
THE CAST
The cast will include Tony & Drama Desk-nominated actress Maureen Anderman (The Lady from Dubuque, You Can't Take It With You, The Year of Magical Thinking, Edward Albee's Seascape & Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf) as Vera, Jeffrey DeMunn (Our Town, Bent, CableACE Award for HBO's Citizen X, The Green Mile, The Shawshank Redemption) as her husband Ivan, Obie Award-winner Ana Reeder (Small Tragedy, Hedda Gabler, Top Girls, Sight Unseen) as Margarita, Gareth Saxe (The Homecoming, Heartbreak House, Michael Mann's Public Enemy) as Vladimir, Jesse Pennington as Leonid, Bess Wohl as Galina, and Jason Dechert as Andrei.
THE PLAYWRIGHT
The playwright Keith Bunin is a Hudson Valley (Poughkeepsie) native and the author of The Busy World is Hushed, The Credeaux Canvas, and a writer of HBO's award-winning In Treatment.
THE DIRECTOR
Director Carolyn Cantor (Pumpgirl, Something You Did, Orange Flower Water) is the founding artistic director of the Obie Award-winning Edge Theater.
Individual tickets to Mainstage shows are $35; Martel Musicals $25; and the Inside Look series $20. This year, continuing its mission of presenting artistically exceptional and affordably priced performances, Powerhouse Theater will offer a $5 student rush ticket for students 25 years and under [as available 15 minutes before curtain].
To purchase tickets, go online to http://powerhouse.vassar.edu, call (845) 437-7235 or (845) 437-5599, or visit the Box Office on the Vassar campus.
Photo credit: Kerry Long
Bess Wohl
Gareth Saxe and Jeffrey DeMunn
Maureen Anderman and Bess Wohl
Jeffrey DeMunn and Maureen Anderman
Maureen Anderman
Carolyn Cantor directs the cast (Ana Reeder as Margarita and Bess Wohl as Galina)
Carolyn Cantor directs the cast (Gareth Saxe as Vladimir and Jason Dechert as Andrei)
Keith Bunin
