Chekhov’s ‘Vanya’ continues in Troutt

The costumes are ready. The set is complete. The actors know their lines. Anton Chekhov’s play, “Uncle Vanya” debuted in the Troutt Theater on Feb.19 where it runs through March 1.

“It’s a classic in theater repertoire and it’s a very important play every student needs to be exposed to,” said Paul Gatrell, department chair for theatre and dance.

Chekhov’s original play took place in rural Russia. It focuses on Ivan Voynitsky, “Uncle Vanya,” who talks about how he believes he wasted his life. The other characters in the play also express their dissatisfaction with how their lives panned out.

“It’s one big ‘Dr. Phil,’” said Daniel Easterly, director of “Uncle Vanya.”

Easterly modernized the 1899 play whish has been in the planning stages since August. The version being presented at Belmont is set in 2006 Maine because it is culturally, geographically, and economically like rural Russia. It is the same family Chekhov created set 120 years later. Easterly worked with the actors in order for them to understand this concept by creating a back-story for them, explaining how their families got to Maine. The American characters parallel the Russians from the original.

Historically, Chekhov has been a harder sell to the college crowd than Shakespeare. The humor in Chekhov’s works isn’t as obvious as it is in Shakespeare. Chekhov’s aim was to create an ensemble cast and have them have something in common. He wanted the audience not to like one particular character but to understand society and the situation everyone is facing.

“Everyone is dissatisfied,” said Easterly. “The humor comes from the absurdity of the situation. It’s not [a] Neil Simon comedy. You look at the whole picture and the whole picture is absurd.”

In adapting the work, it was important to keep in mind that the majority of the audience for this production of will be made up of college students rather than the typical adult audience. Easterly had to make the play relate to the students as much as possible; most of the characters are 20 years old and older.

Still, adults and 20-somethings can take away some of the same themes from Chekhov’s work.

“There’s a connection between wasting your life and sitting back later looking back at your life thinking that you wasted your life. If you spend your time doing what you think you’re supposed to be doing, you won’t look back and think you wasted your time,” Easterly said.

Franne Lee, a Tony-Award winning costume designer, created the costumes for “Uncle Vanya” based on each character’s function instead of their personality. She was very particular about the costumes and every minor detail had to be perfect.

“I think when I do the work I do, I try to help the actors understand who they are by what they’re wearing,” said Lee, who has taught at Belmont for six years.

Lee incorporated the history of Russia into the modernized costumes. Uncle Vanya wears work clothes because his ancestors worked in the fields. Sonya doesn’t work so she wears a lot of fashion-forward clothing and high heels. The grandmother is very spiritual so she has loose clothing and a lot of jewelry. It’s touches like these that allow the modernized cast to show the history of their ancestors through their current clothing.

For Easterly. the best part about working on this play was the actors.

“I thank the students’ total willingness to bite off something very hard, work hard, and keep the enthusiasm up the whole time. I don’t think they’ve ever gotten discouraged even though it’s been really hard sometimes. There were many times they could’ve given up, gotten frustrated or angry but they haven’t. They’ve been wonderful.”

Tickets are $8 for adults and $4 for non-Belmont students and Belmont faculty/staff. It’s free for Belmont students and offers one culture/arts convo credit.