Anna D. Shapiro, who won the Tony for directing Letts' August: Osage County, directs the Russian classic about "a privileged family's changing fortunes," as Steppenwolf puts it. Performances play to Aug. 26 at Steppenwolf's Downstairs Theatre. The title closes the Tony Award-winning Chicago company's 2011-12 season.
Opening night is July 8. According to Steppenwolf, "In Three Sisters, the Prozorov family chafes at the constraints of life in their small provincial town, once a bustling army garrison where their late father served as general. Attempts to shore up their crumbling social status lay bare the larger forces of unrest that will soon engulf them all."
Shapiro said in a statement, "Three Sisters is a play about a certain kind of paralysis. It is about all of the things we construct in the future that keep us immobilized in the day. There are unhappy marriages, unrequited love, duels and really nasty in-laws. And everybody's trying to get somewhere else. And it's funny. Funny in the way that serious human folly can be funny."
The complete cast also includes Alana Arenas (Natalia "Natasha" Ivanovna), Yasen Peyankov (Kulygin), Usman Ally (Solyony), Chance Bone (Fedotik), B. Diego Colón (Rodé), Maury Cooper (Ferapont), Mike Digirolamo (Ensemble), Jennifer Dymit (Ensemble), Luke Fattorusso (Ensemble), Derek Gaspar (Tusenbach), Brandon Holmes (Ensemble), Scott Jaeck (Chebutykin), John Judd (Vershinin), Garrett Lutz (Ensemble), Katie Mazzini (Ensemble), Tom McGrath (Ensemble), Bruce Moore (Ensemble),), Rakisha Pollard (Ensemble), Tommy Rivera-Vega (Ensemble), Mary Ann Thebus (Anfisa) and Dan Waller (Andrey Prozorova).
Adaptor Letts has been a Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble member since 2002 and is the author of Killer Joe, Bug, Man from Nebraska (Pulitzer Prize finalist), August: Osage County (Pulitzer Prize, Tony Award for Best Play) and Superior Donuts. He penned the screenplays for "Killer Joe" and "August: Osage County." The production team for Three Sisters includes Todd Rosenthal (scenic design), Jess Goldstein (costume design), Donald Holder (lighting design), Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen (sound design) and David Singer (original music). Additional credits include Erica Daniels (casting), Cecilie O'Reilly (vocal coach), Dassia N. Posner (dramaturg), Laura D. Glenn (stage manager) and Deb Styer (assistant stage manager).
For more information, visit steppenwolf.org.
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Steppenwolf Theatre Company, formed in 1976, is an ensembe theatre that uses members and guest artists to produce new works and classics in its three Chicago theatre spaces — the 515-seat Downstairs Theatre, the 299-seat Upstairs Theatre and the 80-seat Garage Theatre.
