Three Sisters offers Office-like comedy

With the end of Danny and The Deep Blue Sea, Eastern’s theatre department has begun work on their next production. The theatre department will be performing Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov, from Nov. 12 through 15 at 8 p.m. and Nov. 16 at 3 p.m.

The play revolves around the Prozorov sisters, Olga, Masha and Irina. Their parents have passed away, and, after their father dies the sisters have to leave their lavish home in Moscow to live in a small provincial town.

Olga, the eldest, is 28 years old and the lady of the house. Masha the middle sister is unhappily married and has lost all hope of ever returning to Moscow. Irina, the innocent youngest sister, dreams of returning to Moscow and finding love. The sisters’ dreams of happiness quickly diminish as the play goes on.

The dynamics of the household change when the sisters’ brother Andrei brings his new wife, Natasha, into the household. The sisters dislike her because she comes from the peasantry. At first she tries to please them, but then she takes over.

“By the end of the show she is the lady of the house,” sophomore Rebecca Coppola said, who will be playing the role of Natasha.

Three Sisters is directed and adapted by Mark Hallen and Liz Carlson. The play was originally written in Russian before it was translated into English. Most versions of the play are performed in British-English, but the directors have chosen to do an American-English version of the play.

The script was created by combining five different versions, including translations by Landford Wilson, Paul Schmitt and David Mamet.

The comedy of Three Sisters is comparable to that of The Office because the characters often speak directly to the audience and a lot of the comedy is derived from awkwardness.

The roles of the sisters have been double cast to allow multiple interpretations of the characters and involve more female actors.

“We have a large number of very good female actors here,” Hallen said.

There are two different families of sisters for different nights. One family of sisters will be played by Caitlyn Shaffstall, Tess Roholt and Caetlyn Myer. The other family is made up of Kristen Smither, Kat Moorman and Kaylee Goodwin.

Eastern’s theatre department is only in the beginning stages of rehearsal for Three Sisters.

“It is still evolving,” senior actress Janelle Boyd said.

The play is made up of a variety of complex and changing relationships.

“I’m excited to see the different relationships within the show,” Boyd said.