The Library Theatre Announces the Chicago Premiere of Chekhov's The Wood Demon adapted by Richard Nelson
The Library Theatre
Ina Marlowe,
Artistic Director
Lawrence Lenza
Producer
Chicago — January 29, 2007 — The Library Theatre announces plans for the production of Chekhov's The Wood Demon adapted by Richard Nelson which will run Thursday, April 26 through Sunday, April 29th and Friday May 4 through Sunday May 6 at The Library Theatre at Feltre, 22 West Erie in Chicago.
"In my comedy," wrote Chekhov, "I am depicting good, healthy people, half of them sympathetic; it has a happy ending. The general tone - all round lyricism. It is called The Wood Demon."
The Wood Demon has never been produced in Chicago. It is the first draft of Uncle Vanya. It has some of the same characters, some of the same scenes, and occasionally some of the same lines. The approach, however, is much lighter. If you don't know Uncle Vanya, The Wood Demon is a relishable piece, if you do, the Demon you see will be haunted by ghostly clones from the latter play, which takes different paths. The Wood Demon is profoundly tantalizing.
In both plays, the character of the uncle — George in The Wood Demon and Vanya in Uncle Vanya — is haunted by failure because he realizes that he has wasted his life idolizing and slaving to support a selfish intellectual fraud of a brother-in-law and that he is in love with the professor's bored young wife, Yelena. But whereas in The Wood Demon this mid-life crisis is the spur to a defiant, point-making suicide, followed by a final act of romantic pairings-off among the survivors, in Uncle Vanya it produces a farcically humiliating anti-climax that changes nothing.
If the later play takes its name from the leading loser Uncle Vanya, it's significant that The Wood Demon is named after a character Chekhov seems to want to present in a predominantly positive light, Michael Krushchov - the young, environmentally minded landowner. Astrov, his counterpart in Vanya, is a once-fervent idealist whom the dullness of provincial life has turned into a futile self-hating drunkard. A character who doesn't appear in Uncle Vanya is Fyodor, an arrogant, insolent, young man, whose love changes him by the end of the play. The final act of The Wood Demon has an almost Shakespearean feel with two sets of lovers and their proposals, which may surprise audience members who know Uncle Vanya.
The Wood Demon cast includes actors who were ensemble members of Marlowe's Touchstone Theatre Company - Nick Polus, Melinda Moonahan and Tom Creamer, as well as Chicago newcomers from the Guthrie Theatre's acting program - Stanton Nash, Rachael Jenison, and Remy Oritz. Lawrence Gardner, Amber Starr Friendly, Elise Lammers, Bob Kruse, and Lawrence Lenza complete the cast. The design team includes Joanna Iwanicka, set design, Joelle Contorno costume design, and Jenny Pinson, props design. Shayna O'Neill is stage managing. Ray Walsh will provide incidental cello music in the intimate library setting and Sandeep Shekhar Das is the production dramaturg.
Lawrence Lenza is the producer of The Library Theatre and is co- founder of The Feltre School., in which the Library Theatre is located. Ina Marlowe is the Artistic Director of The Library Theatre and director for this production.
The Library Theatre is in its second season. The Theatre was founded in October 2005 with the staged readings of Sophocles's Oedipus the King, Ibsen's Ghosts and Desire Under the Elms by Eugene O'Neill, produced by Lawrence Lenza and directed by Ina Marlowe. . Among the actors were Tony Mockus, Ray Chapman, Corliss Preston, Nick Polus, Cynthia Judge and William J. Norris. The design team included Cory Rodeheaver and David Warfel.
The response to the readings was very strong and spurred Lenza and Marlowe to define the theater they wanted to create. The physical space of the library and the mission of the Feltre, an adult continuing education center specializing in the study of traditional English and the classics, helped to dictate the type of plays that The Library Theatre should produce. The space is intimate and the atmosphere is warm, inviting and conducive to learning. Lawrence graduated from the theater program at Northwestern University and always had an interest in recreating the intensity of study, rehearsal and performance that he enjoyed under the program, which was originated by the legendary Alvina Krause.
Ina Marlowe had just completed her 20 year tenure at the helm of Organic /Touchstone Theatre, when she met Lenza. After handing leadership of Organic Theatre to its new Artistic Director Alex Gelman, she began to devote her time to visual art. She became a student at the studio of Gay Riseborough (www.gayriseborough.com ). During this period of exploration, Marlowe engaged in intense conversations with Lenza about what she had learned through her tenure at Organic and Touchstone and expressed a desire to create the kind of theater that was at the heart of her artistry. Ms. Marlowe says, "I want to direct character and language rich plays, plays that have universal meaning. The intimate size of the theatre gives me the freedom to choose under-produced classics and create the close actor/audience relationship that I loved when we were in residence on Halsted Street." Surrounded by books, the actual library setting offers patrons an intimate theatrical experience.
After the initial staged readings, Lenza and Marlowe went on to produce and direct Two Tennessee Williams One Acts, This Property is Condemned and Talk to me like the Rain and Let me Listen starring Cynthia Judge and Craig Bryant in the spring of 2006. In October, 2006 they presented Eugene Ionesco's Exit the King starring William J. Norris.
The Wood Demon will be performed at 7:30 PM on Thursday, April 26, Friday April 27, and May 4 and Saturday April 28 and May 5. The April 29 and May 6 performances will have a benefit brunch matinee option followed by a 2:30 PM performance. Tickets can be purchased by calling 312-255-1133 or by e-mail at info@feltre.org. Seating is extremely limited.
General Admission $35 per person.
Benefit brunch with theater ticket $75 per person.
The Library Theatre will begin next season on October 25, 2007 with a production of Sophocles' Antigone.
For tickets and further information please call The Library Theatre at Feltre -- 312-255-1133.
Contact: Lawrence Lenza - 312-255-1133
Lenza@feltre.org
The Library Theatre at Feltre
22 W. Erie
Chicago, Illinois 60610
