PLAY OF THE DAY! Today's Play: THREE SISTERS by Anton Chekhov

During this time when productions all over the world have been put on pause, we are coming together to celebrate plays that have left their mark on theater history.

This week we will be focusing on the plays of Anton Chekhov.

Today's play, Three Sisters!

Three Sisters was written in 1900 and first performed in 1901 at the Moscow Art Theatre under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko.

The production history includes:

A production during John Gielgud's 1936-37 season at the Queen's Theatre starring Peggy Ashcroft as Irina and Michael Redgrave as Tusenbach.

A 1942 Broadway production starring Judith Anderson as Olga, Katharine Cornell as Masha, Gertrude Musgrove as Irina, and Ruth Gordon as Natasha on Broadway. The production was so significant that the cast ended up on the cover of Time magazine that year.

The inaugural season of the Guthrie Theater in 1963 featured a production starring Jessica Tandy as Olga.

A production in the 60s by The Actors Studio featured Kim Stanley and Geraldine Page as Masha and Olga, with Sandy Dennis as Irina and Shelley Winters as Natasha.

The Roundabout Theatre staged a production starring Jerry Stiller as Chebutykin, Billy Crudup as Solyony, Eric Stoltz as Tuzenbach, Lili Taylor as Irina, Paul Giamatti as Andrei, Amy Irving as Olga, Jeanne Tripplehorn as Masha, Calista Flockhart as Natasha, and David Strathairn as Vershinin.

Three Sisters was recently staged in 2019 at the Almeida Theatre in London. It starred Alan Williams as Ivan Romanovich Chebutykin.