Chelsea Theatre Works Presents UNCLE VANYA, Now thru 11/4

Last season's Uncle Vanya played to sold out houses, was honored with three Elliot Norton Award nominations, and left many on the waiting list hoping for a return engagement.

Apollinaire Theatre has announced that it will reopen Uncle Vanya tonight, October 10th, featuring six members of the original cast, including Ronald Lacey reprising his role as Astrov (Elliot Norton nominee Outstanding Performance) and Kevin Fennessy as Telegin. We are thrilled to welcome Diego Arciniegas, Kate Paulsen, and Jack Schultz to the cast. (complete cast list and bios below) Apollinaire's artistic director, Danielle Fauteux Jacques (Elliot Norton Award Outstanding Director), directs.

Diego Arciniegas joins the cast taking on the role of Vanya. Diego is an Elliot Norton Award winning actor, and the former Artistic Director of the Publick Theatre Boston (2001-2011), where he directed Shakespeare and modern classics, including his own translation of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull. Diego has performed at the Huntington Theatre (Two Men of Florence, The Rose Tattoo, Dead End), The American Repertory Theatre (The Balcony), New Repertory Theatre (Dollhouse, Romeo and Juliet, Thom Pain -based on nothing, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead), Trinity Repertory Theatre, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Lyric Stage Company of Boston, Underground Railway Theatre, and the Nora Theatre Company, among others. Kate Paulsen, fresh from a tour of Romeo and Juliet, will be taking on the role of Elena.

On a remote, no longer grand country estate, the household is in disarray. The celebrated Professor Serebriakov and his stunning, much younger second wife Elena have returned, not just for the summer but to stay. Serebriakov's daughter Sonya and her Uncle Vanya have devoted their lives to sustain the estate so the professor could concentrate on loftier pursuits in the city. Now work and sleep are interrupted, meals happen when the Professor is in the mood, and Vanya wakes to the realization that the Professor's work is a sham. Disillusioned with his former idol, Vanya feels cheated by life, and to top it off, he is hopelessly in love with the professor's wife. Sonya is also hopelessly in love, with the charismatic doctor Astrov. His increasingly frequent visits, inspired by the force of Elena's attraction, only fuel the chaos, primed to ignite when the Professor reveals a shocking plan.

Uncle Vanya's four scenes are each staged in a distinct space in the theater, with the audience moving to a new location as the action moves. Seating is limited to 30 guests per performance to accommodate the intimate staging. Apollinaire Theatre Company is known for producing "environmentally" staged outdoor summer theater, most recently presenting Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and Cyrano de Bergerac in multiple locations in Mary O'Malley Park. Uncle Vanya is our first environmentally staged indoor production, taking advantage of the natural architecture of the Chelsea Theatre Works.

Apollinaire Theatre Company stages passionate plays at their elegantly restored theater in the Chelsea Theatre Works, as well as New England's only bilingual free summer theater in the park. Less than five miles from downtown Boston, our historic building is at the center of the burgeoning Chelsea arts community. Recent productions include Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard, The Wedding on the Eiffel Tower by Jean Cocteau, dark play or stories for boys by Carlos Murillo, Arabian Night by Roland Schimmelpfennig and East of Berlin by Hannah Moscovitch.

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