By Ernio Hernandez
06 Nov 2004

Stephen Spinella.

Angels in America Tony Award winner Stephen Spinella stars in the Theatre for a New Audience Off-Broadway staging of Svejk, starting Nov. 6.

The work will officially open the "souls at war" season for Theatre for a New Audience, Nov. 14 at The Duke on 42nd Street for a run through Dec. 5.

Colin Teevan pens a new adaptation of Jaroslav Hasek's The Good Soldier Svejk and His Fortunes in the Great War, simply titled Svejk for the North American debut of the work. Dalia Ibelhauptaite directs.

The play concerns the darly comic adventures of the title soldier, a Czech who's called back into the army by the Austrian empire to fight in World War I. Unwillingly and contemptuous of his superiors, Svejk survives by pretending to be a nitwit, and subverts authority by following orders in an absurdly literal manner.

Hasek drew on his own war experiences while writing the work. The book, one of the first anti-war novels, was published in 1923, a year after Hasek unexpectedly died at the age of 39.

Spinella heads a cast that includes Max Casella, Jo Flores Chase, David Deblinger, Juliana Frances, Michael Gotch, Ken Jennings, Paul Lazar, Peter McRobbie, Mark Mineart, Chip Persons, Richard Poe, and Ryan Shively. The actors will portray 40 roles in the production.

Svejk (pronounced to rhyme with cake) will feature 20 pieces of music — some new, some set to traditional Eastern European melodies — by composer Lenny Pickett (music director for "Saturday Night Live") with lyrics by Mr. Teevan.

The designer team features Gideon Davey (set), Mimi Jordan Sherin (lighting), Anita Yavich (costumes) and Robert Kaplowitz (sound).

Spinella earned his Tony for his Broadway debut in Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and Angels in America: Perestroika. Other Broadway credits include A View from the Bridge, Electra, James Joyce's The Dead and the recent revival of Our Town.

The remainder of the season will include Karin Coonrod's staging of Shakespeare's Coriolanus (begins previews Feb. 5, 2005) and Michael Feingold's new translation of Eduardo De Filippo's Souls of Naples with John Turturro (April 2 start).

Tickets for Svejk at The Duke, 229 West 42 Street, can be purchased by calling (212) 239-6200. For more information, visit www.tfana.org/.