UNCLE VANYA Opens Tonight for Now-Extended Run at the Goodman

Goodman Theatre Artistic Director Robert Falls marks his 30th anniversary season with the Chicago premiere of Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Baker's (The Flick) adaptation of Uncle Vanya.

Taken from a literal translation by Margarita Shalina and the original Russian text, Baker's adaptation of Anton Chekhov's intimate play about relationships, love and loss, has been hailed as "easygoing, free of the stilted or formal locutions that clutter up some of the more antique-sounding translations" (The New York Times) with "fresh pockets of rawness and disorientation in the classic" (Time Out New York). Falls returns to Chekhov following his critically-acclaimed productions of The Seagull (2010) and Three Sisters (1994).

Uncle Vanya opens tonight and appears for a now-extended run through March 19 in the Owen Theatre. Extension week schedule: Thursday, March 16 at 7:30pm; Friday, March 17 at 8pm; Saturday, March 18 at 2pm and 8pm; and Sunday, March 19 at 2pm and 7:30pm (closing performance).

Tickets ($20-$59; subject to change) are available at GoodmanTheatre.org/Vanya, the box office (170 North Dearborn) or by phone at 312.443.3800.

"Uncle Vanya is Chekhov's first mature play-and as such, his most radical. It's essentially about life, whether you're 27, 47, 60 or 80. Time is going by, and you naturally start to examine your life and how you're living it, or have lived it. For many years, I had a hard time connecting to it. But I re-read it last year, and suddenly it demanded to be done," said Artistic Director Robert Falls. "Chekhov was really the creator of modern drama. To an enormous extent, everything that we are as contemporary theater artists comes from him and his very complex collaboration with [Konstantin] Stanislavsky."

In Uncle Vanya, tensions are high at the remote estate of an elderly professor, where resentments flow as freely as the vodka. As the professor's health fails, his extended family is forced to confront their disturbing futures, while still foundering in their disconcerting pasts. As previously announced, Falls' all-star cast includes Kristen Bush (Yelena), Marton Csokas (Astrov), David Darlow (Serebryakov), Marilyn Dodds Frank (Maria), Tim Hopper (Vanya), Caroline Neff (Sonya), Larry Neumann, Jr. (Telegin), Alžan Pelesi? (Yefim) and Mary Ann Thebus (Marina).

Falls frequent collaborators bring life to Chekhov's famed classic including: Todd Rosenthal (Set), Ana Kuzmanic (Costumes), Keith Parham (Lighting) and Richard Woodbury (Sound).

Baker's adaptation of Uncle Vanya first premiered in 2012 Off-Broadway at the Soho Repertory Theatre. Baker, who is not fluent in Russian, noted that she wanted to "create a version that sounds to our contemporary American ears the way the play sounded to Russian ears during the play's first productions."

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Robert Falls is celebrating 30 years as Goodman Theatre Artistic Director this season. Last season, he directed Rebecca Gilman's Soups, Stews, and Casseroles: 1976 and co-adapted/directed the world premiere of his critically acclaimed production of 2666, based on Roberto Bolaño's internationally celebrated novel. Previous credits include the critically acclaimed production of The Iceman Cometh at the Brooklyn Academy Of Music; Gilman's Luna Gale at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles; and a new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni for the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Other recent productions include Measure for Measure and the world premiere of Beth Henley's The Jacksonian. Among his other credits are The Seagull, King Lear, Desire Under the Elms, John Logan's Red, Jon Robin Baitz's Three Hotels, Eric Bogosian's Talk Radio and Conor McPherson's Shining City; the world premieres of Richard Nelson's Frank's Home, Arthur Miller's Finishing the Picture (his last play), Eric Bogosian's Griller, Steve Tesich's The Speed of Darkness and On the Open Road, John Logan's Riverview: A Melodrama with Music and Gilman's A True History of the Johnstown Flood, Blue Surge and Dollhouse; the American premiere of Alan Ayckbourn's House and Garden and the Broadway production of Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida. Falls' honors for directing include, among others, a Tony Award (Death of a Salesman), a Drama Desk Award (Long Day's Journey Into Night), an Obie Award (subUrbia), a Helen Hayes Award (King Lear) and multiple Jeff Awards (including a 2012 Jeff Award for The Iceman Cometh). For "outstanding contributions to theater," Falls has also been recognized with such prestigious honors as the Savva Morozov Diamond Award (Moscow Art Theatre), the O'Neill Medallion (Eugene O'Neill Society), the Distinguished Service to the Arts Award (Lawyers for the Creative Arts) and the Illinois Arts Council Governor's Award.

Annie Baker grew up in Amherst, Massachusetts. Her full-length plays include John (Signature Theatre), The Flick (Playwrights Horizons, Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Hull-Warriner Award, Susan Smith Blackburn Award, Obie Award for Playwriting), Circle Mirror Transformation (Playwrights Horizons, Obie Award for Best New American Play, Drama Desk Award nomination for Best New American Play),The Aliens (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Obie Award for Best New American Play), Body Awareness (Atlantic Theater Company, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations for Best Play/Emerging Playwright) and an adaptation of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya (Soho Rep, Drama Desk nomination for Best Revival), for which she also designed the costumes. Her plays have been produced at over 150 theaters throughout the U.S. and have been produced internationally in over a dozen countries. Other recent honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, Steinberg Playwriting Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters Award and the Cullman Fellowship at the New York Public Library. She is a resident playwright at the Signature Theatre.

Goodman Theatre is a not-for-profit organization distinguished by the quality and scope of its artistic programming and civic engagement. Founded in 1925, the Goodman is led by Robert Falls-"Chicago's most essential director" (Chicago Tribune), who marks 30 years as Artistic Director this season-and Executive Director Roche Schulfer, who is celebrated for his vision and leadership over nearly four decades. Dedicated to new plays, reimagined classics and large-scale musical theater works, Goodman Theatre artists and productions have earned hundreds of awards for artistic excellence, including: two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards, nearly 160 Jeff Awards and more. Over the past three decades, audiences have experienced more than 150 world or American premieres, 30 major musical productions, as well as nationally and internationally celebrated productions of classic works (including Falls' productions of Death of a Salesman, Long Day's Journey into Night, King Lear and The Iceman Cometh, many in collaboration with actor Brian Dennehy). In addition, the Goodman is the first theater in the world to produce all 10 plays in August Wilson's "American Century Cycle." For nearly four decades, the annual holiday tradition of A Christmas Carol has created a new generation of theatergoers.

The 2016 opening of the Alice Rapoport Center for Education and Engagement ("the Alice") launched the next phase in the Goodman's decades-long commitment as an arts and community organization dedicated to educating Chicago youth and promoting lifelong learning. Programs are offered year-round and free of charge. Eighty-five percent of the Goodman's youth program participants come from underserved communities.

Goodman Theatre was founded by William O. Goodman and his family in honor of their son Kenneth, an important figure in Chicago's cultural renaissance in the early 1900s. The Goodman family's legacy lives on through the continued work and dedication of Kenneth's family, including Albert Ivar Goodman, who with his late mother, Edith-Marie Appleton, contributed the necessary funds for the creation of the new Goodman center in 2000.

Today, Goodman Theatre leadership includes the distinguished members of the Artistic Collective: Brian Dennehy, Rebecca Gilman, Henry Godinez, Dael Orlandersmith, Steve Scott, Chuck Smith, ReGina Taylor, Henry Wishcamper and Mary Zimmerman. Joan Clifford is Chair of Goodman Theatre's Board of Trustees, Cynthia K. Scholl is Women's Board President and Justin A. Kulovsek is President of the Scenemakers Board for young professionals.

Visit the Goodman virtually at GoodmanTheatre.org-including OnStage+ for insider information-and on Twitter (@GoodmanTheatre), Facebook and Instagram.

Photo Credit: Liz Lauren

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