Theatre Y to Stage New Adaptation of 3 SISTERS

Theatre Y presents "3 SISTERS" a world premiere adaptation by Earl H.E. Hill, Dan Christmann & Andrej Visky, at Humility Gallery, 564 W 18th St, Chicago, on Wednesday, April 27, 2016, at 7pm. 3 SISTERS, directed by Andrej Visky, and featuring Melissa Lorraine, Katie Stimpson and Kevlyn Hayes, begins previews on April 25 with a press opening on April 27, and will run every night until May 2nd, and every Friday and Saturday following until closing night on June 11. For more information, visit Theatre-Y.com.

3 SISTERS is an adaptation of Chekhov's masterpiece that explores the 'fate-in-retrospect' of three iconic and singular young women: Olga, Masha and Irina. Our play starts where Chekhov's ends: the military brigade has left town, the last vestiges of culture and urbanity have gone, and the would-be lovers and admirers of the women have vanished - and with them the hope that they can reach Moscow. Moscow - the girls' utopian image of youth, a memory which has for so long stoked their embers of hope - disintegrates throughout Chekhov's story into an ashen symbol of failure and non-attainment. What succession of events and what decisions prevented them from realizing their dreams? If they unravel the thread of their lives, what essence, what truth can they find in the tangle of memory? In the desert of possibility, is there an oasis of reality in what has been and can be remembered? Can the truth of one's recollected life occasion vitality and transformation?

3 SISTERS is an exploration of what happens if a canonical piece of theater has its historical trajectory rewritten, remembered with alternate perspectives and futures possibly embedded within its characters. The piece is an attempt to free ourselves of a play's closure, and to imagine Chekhov's complex women as women who choose to act, to liberate themselves from Chekhov's written fates, and to become actresses', in a more literal sense. The sisters themselves performatively reconstruct their lives, their habits and their desires, sometimes even in parody, ultimately and accidentally uncovering the will to surpass the original play's somewhat illusory limitations.

Under the direction of Andrej Visky, Theatre Y investigates the heart of this deconstructed classic, the relationship of reality and fiction therein, and the acts of remembering and longing that harbor our illusive human identity.

The cast of 3 SISTERS includes Melissa Lorraine (Masha), Katie Stimpson (Irina) and Kevlyn Hayes(Olga). The creative team for 3 SISTERS includes Andrej Visky (Director), Peter Szabo (Design), Earl H.E. Hill (Writer) and Dan Christmann (Writer).

Melissa Lorraine (Masha) became a company member of Studio K in Budapest, Hungary upon graduating from Northern Illinois University in 2002 with a B.F.A. in acting. During that year, she was given the rights to the newly-translated Juliet, by Transylvanian writer András Visky. Three years later she co-founded Theatre Y with director Christopher Markle, and Juliet began her international tour, which has included over two hundred performances worldwide. I Killed My Mother, written by András for Melissa, premiered in Chicago at the Greenhouse Theater (Chicago's Best Actress Orgie award), and also ran at LaMama ETC in New York in 2012 and was featured on the cover of the New York Times Art Section. In 2010 Lorraine created a second production of Juliet with director Karin Coonrod for Theatre Y at the Royal George Theater in Chicago. Lorraine played Bertha in Exiles by James Joyce, Martha in The Misunderstanding by Albert Camus, and directed the critically acclaimed Vincent River by Philip Ridley in Theatre Y's summer Exiled Trilogy. She played the title role in Porn: 1989. A Butterfly by András Visky, for which she was named one of the 6 stars of 2012 by the Chicago Reader. Last year Lorraine directed Theatre Y's world premiere of The Binding, a collaboration with two Serbian/Hungarian choreographers which was a cover feature of the Chicago Reader. Recent Theatre Y performances: Euripides' Medea, Beckett's Happy Days, Penelope, O Penelope by Simon Abkarian, and Peter Handke's The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez. She recently shot a film directed by András Visky based on his playJuliet which is scheduled to be released in the fall of 2016.

Katie Stimpson (Irina) After briefly pursuing a degree in anthropology Katie ended up with an eclectic theatrical training from a Buddhist college, Naropa University, where her studies included Lecog physical theater and ritual theater, Tibetan movement and meditation practices, Afro-modern dance and ballet, and vocal training from the Roy Hart Theatre. Her experience as a whole, combined with extensive travel and continuing studies in meditation post-graduation, has largely been a process of letting go of ego and surrendering to play. She considers herself immensely lucky to be able to work now with Theatre Y, a company she finds to be similarly spiritual in nature and one that is so relentlessly committed to beauty.

Kevlyn Hayes (Olga) is an actor and director in her adopted hometown of Chicago. After relocating to the Midwest from the East Coast she co-founded Found Objects Theatre Grp. in 2007 with a crew of like-minded artists dedicated to creating new work. Her work with Found Objects includes Teatime at Golgotha, Torvald and I, An Increasingly Uncordial Invitation, Histories Minor, Shuttlecock'd, Imposters, Mascot, and Notes to Molly. In addition she has had the privilege to work with such companies as Prop THTR, Curious Theatre Branch, The Annoyance, The Magpies Project, and Theatre Y. Kevlyn holds a BFA in Theatre Performance from Northern Illinois University. She also studied at the Moscow Art Theatre in Russia, The Actor's Movement Studio in New York City and is an alumni of Director's Lab Chicago.

Andrej Visky (Director) is a director and performer from Cluj-Napoca, Romania. He recently graduated from Yale School of Drama, where he holds an MFA in directing. At Yale his credits include Marlowe's Faustus, Moliere's Don Juan, Shakespeare's As You Like It and Preston Montfort by Ryan Campbell. He directed Beginners by Raymond Carver, or What We Talk About When We Talk About Love at Yale Cabaret. Andrej is a founding member of Waiting Room Project, a theatre company devoted to experimental work. During his time with the company he directed Bánk Bán by Katona József and adapted, co-directed, and performed in Karl Wittlinger's Do You Know the Milky Way?. In 2011, Andrej served as an assistant director at the Hungarian Theatre of Cluj, where he worked with directors from Romania and the United States. He has assisted directors Robert Woodruff, Karin Coonrod, and Mihai Mâniutiu, and was an Assistant Lecturer in acting at Babe-Bolyai University. Andrej holds a BFA and MFA in acting from Babe-Bolyai University, where he is currently also a PhD candidate.

Péter Szabó (Designer), born 1978 in Romania, is an intermedia and conceptual artist, living and working in Budapest, Hungary. During his studies in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, he was a founding member of Protokoll Studio, a contemporary art space, and noise bands Alergische Platze and Ovekk Finn. Jackie Triste is his current sound project. He works with large scale media, including drawing, object, installation and public action, often commenting on recent political and social situations in his micro-environment. His present work focuses on the social and economic value of art, creating public-art events, community building and educational projects as well.

Earl H.E. Hill is an amateur, a dilettante, an idler and a vagrant.

Dan Christmann is Theatre Y's resident Dramaturg. He expends his creative energies as a writer, poet, and on-again-off-again academic.Recent credits as a dramaturg include his work on ADAPT. Theatre company's LINES: The Lived Experience of Race, and Theatre Y's adaptation of Fatelesness. He was also recently involved in creating a short adaptation of Lolita for the Depaul humanities department entitledYoung Matrix, Unknown Heart. He received his Master's degree in Playwrighting and Dramaturgy from the University of Glasgow, and his Bachelor's degree in Theatre with a minor in Writing from Calvin College.

To post a comment, you must register and login.