UNCLE VANYA

OCTOBER 26, 2019- FEBRUARY 29, 2020

Anton Chekhov’s Comedic Drama about hope, courage, and the human responsibility to each other and to mother earth.

Artistic Director Jack Stehlin directs Chekhov's masterpiece.
with:
April Adams
Iulia Brezeanu
Eve Danzeisen
Don Harvey
Brian Henderson
Jordan Lund
David Purdham
Jade Sealey
​Janellen Steininger
Scenic design: Clare Scarpulla
Lighting design: Ryan Dohner
Sound Design: Christopher Moscatiello
Costume Design: Florence Kemper Bunzel
Produced by:  Jeannine Wisnosky Stehlin ​
Watch our teaser!

DATES & INFORMATION

November 1 , 2019-February 29, 2020
ENCORE ENCORE!
5th EXTENSION!

Friday, February 14, 8pm  (with Valentine's celebration)
Saturday, February 22, 8pm
Sunday, February 23, 3pm
Friday, February 28,  8pm
Saturday, February 29, 8pm

Don't miss it!
The New American Theatre
1312 N. Wilton Place 
Hollywood, CA 90028

TICKETS   or call 310.424.2980

Running time: 110 minutes

PRESS

**** RECOMMENDED!! ****
 "The stakes are high and the action engaging. The play comes to life via a talented cast and crew!"

"The actors’ talents are heightened by [Jack] Stehlin's excellent direction"
​
Nikki Munoz, Stage Raw 
**** Terrific! Excellent! Delightful! ****
"...Its loving ensemble and lack of stuffiness make it a perfect way to introduce Chekhov to newbies while reminding those of us familiar with his work just how amazingly universal his writings remain!"
Tony Frankel, Stage and Cinema
LOS ANGELES TIMES
"Anyone who’s had difficulty finding the much-vaunted humor in Chekhov may find this play’s wistful yearners as funny as they are heartbreaking — especially Vanya, one of the most magnificently unprepossessing protagonists in Chekhov’s oeuvre. L.A. theater devotees expect savvy director Jack Stehlin to illuminate the reasons behind the characters’ comically willful inaction."
F. Kathleen Foley, Los Angeles Times
CULVER CITY CROSSROADS
"The cast is across the board fantastic!" 

"The play, written in 1898, touches on such timely themes as environmentalism and the #MeToo movement and the production, ably directed by ... Jack Stehlin, shows how relevant this play is to today."

Brenna Guthrie, Culver City Crossroads

Photo Gallery

ABOUT THE CAST

Iulia Brezeanu Picture
APRIL ADAMS Marina
​April Adams currently appears opposite Ben Affleck in the film The Way Back. TV credits include Station 19, A.P. Bio, Superstore,  Bones, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and As the World Turns. Her recent stage appearance in The Pain and The Itch by Tony/Pulitzer winner Bruce Norris garnered wondrous reviews. She has played Carnegie Hall (as Mozart) and Madison Square Garden (Holiday on Ice). Also a producer (grad school work at Circle in the Square on Broadway), Ms. Adams and her husband Gregory Doucette created NY's Theatre of the Hudson Highlands. In LA, their films played several film festivals. The Purple Hat  swept all the awards given by the State of New Mexico. It debuted at the Hollywood FF. Distribution by Films Media Group. 
Iulia Brezeanu
IULIA BREZEANU Estate Worker
Iulia is a Romanian actress with considerable experience in both TV and Theatre. Theatre in Portland: The Fool in King Lear, Montano in Othello (Post5 Theatre); Misty in Successful Strategies (Theatre 33); Phoebe in As You Like It (Post5 Theatre). In Romania: Estelle in No Exit (Puck Theatre); Woman in Women From Trahis, Philostrat in Midsummer Night’s Dream, Bacchae (Tony Bulandra Theatre). Her biggest dream is to do King Lear...as King Lear.
Eve Danzeisen
​EVE DANZEISEN Sofya Alexandrovna ​"Sonia"  
​Eve is thrilled to be back at NAT. Most recently she was seen in NAT’s production of Boxing Lessons. Theatre includes: LA: 4Play: Sex in a Series (TripLA), Cold Sweat (Atwater Village Th.), The Trip Back Down (Whitefire Th.) NY: world premiere of The Body Politic (59E59), U.S. premieres of Construction of the Human Heart (Access Th.), and Romeo and Hamlet (Abington Th., Gayfest), with The Old Globe (San Diego): Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Winter’s Tale, Richard III, and more. On camera credits include: her film The Hardest Part (Tropfest Best Actress Award), Fire in the Hole, Reason, Heyday, Pooched, & 3 yrs. as the Optimum Business spokesperson. Sarah Lawrence College (BA), The Old Globe (MFA), www.evedanzeisen.com. She dedicates this performance to Richard Abrons.
Don Harvey
DON HARVEY Voynitsky Ivan Petrovich, "Vanya"
Don Harvey is a graduate of The University of Michigan and The Yale School of Drama. He made his New York theatre debut in Sam Shepard’s A Lie Of The Mind at the Promenade Theatre in 1986. Other theatre credits include What The Butler Saw (La Jolla Playhouse), American Buffalo and True West (Portland Stage), The Homecoming (South Coast Rep), The Rover (The Guthrie), The Broken Pitcher (Baltimore Center Stage), Progress (The Long Warf), Titus Andronicus (New York Shakespeare Festival), and That Championship Season (Broadway). He is a thirty-five year veteran of television and film with many notable performances including “Casualties of War,” “Eight Men Out,” “Taken 3,” “Yellowstone,” “Better Call Saul,” “The Blacklist,” “The Truth About The Harry Quebert Affair” and “The Deuce.” He was honored with a Daytime Emmy Award Nomination for his performance as Tom Baker in “General Hospital.” He is the proud husband of Dyanne Court Harvey and father of eighteen-month-old Ashley Court Harvey. Much thanks to Jack Stehlin for this wonderful opportunity.
​​
Brian Henderson
BRIAN HENDERSON Astrov Mikhail Lvovich 
LA THEATRE: Othello (A Noise Within), Cry It Out (Echo Theater), The House In Scarsdale (Boston Court, SAGE Winner), Equivocation (Geffen Playhouse, Ovation Nom.) NYC THEATRE: The Little Dog Laughed (Broadway, Kirk Douglas Theater), Mistakes Madeline Made (Naked Angels), Getting Home (2nd Stage), As You Like It (The Public Theater - Delacorte), Brian's worked at Ojai Playwrights Conference, Barrington Stage Co. and The Promenade Theatre. TV/FILM: The Newsroom (HBO), The Guiding Light (CBS), Cooties, This Isn’t Funny, The Frankenstein Theory. TRAINING: MFA, NYU Graduate Acting Program. 
Jordan Lund
JORDAN LUND Telegin Ilya Ilyich 
New American Theatre Associate Artist. Since 1997, he’s made over 20 appearances for NAT/CT including:
63 Trillion, Julius Caesar, More Lies About Jerzy, The Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night, Man.Gov, The Adding Machine, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Cherry Orchard, Macbeth: Revisited, and As You Like It. Broadway: Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It and Macbeth (Belasco Theatre, NY Shakespeare Festival). NY: All’s Well That Ends Well, Measure For Measure, The Golem, Twelfth Night and King John (Delacorte Theatre, NY Shakespeare Festival in Central Park), Tis Pity She’s a Whore and Sleep (LaMama), I Saw the Seven Angels (The Kitchen), Henry Lumper (Working Theater), The Racket (Soho Rep). Resident and Los Angeles theatre includes: Romeo and Juliet (Ahmanson), Scapin (Portland Stage), My Antonia (TheatreWorks), What the Butler Saw (Great Lakes Theatre Festival), On The Waterfront (Cleveland PlayHouse), Scaramouche (TheatreVirginia), Marius (Aurora Theatre), The Cradle Will Rock (The Blank/LA), The Shadow of a Gunman (Pacific Resident Theatre). Over 80 film and TV appearances include: “The Bucket List”, “Doc Hollywood”, “Speed”, “The American President”, “Species”, “Lonesome Dove”, “The Stand”, “Without a Trace”, “Cheers”, “Frasier”, “Firefly”, “Law & Order”, “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”,  “Star Trek: DS9, TNG & Enterprise”. Jordan received his training at Carnegie-Mellon University. tlbrsm
David Purdham
DAVID PURDHAM Serebryakov Alexander Vladimirovich
With The New American Theatre: Measure for Measure and Macbeth Revisited. As a professional actor and director, David Purdham has worked extensively in theatre on and off Broadway, in many of the great resident theatres in our country(including New York Shakespeare Festival, Roundabout Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Old Globe- San Diego, Yale Repertory Theatre, American Repertory Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Pasadena Playhouse, Williamstown Theatre Festival) as well a lot of television and film during the last 40 years. He has directed and initiated enrichment programs and reading series for L.A. Libraries, for kids and adults, emphasizing theatrical expression of great literature. He currently directs The Tempus Theatre Group’s Classical Play reading series (an exploration by professional actors of the evolution of theatre from the Greeks forward.)
Jade Sealey
JADE SEALEY  Yelena Andreevna 
Member of The New American Studio Ensemble. With NAT: Meanwhile, Back at The Super Lair... Macbeth: Revisited, The Number, Julius Caesar, Christina Woodman in the world premiere play Bedfellows, Baltimore in Sister Cities (Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Circus Theatricals), Jane in Mooney’s Kid Don’t Cry, Crystal Allen in The Women, Shannon Gosling in Safe, Viola in Twelfth Night, Marian in The Heiress, Genevieve in Weedwacker, Iphigenia in Iphigenia , Debby in Deconstructing the Torah. Other theatre: Janna in Blind Spots, Ruthie in Tsuris (Sidewalk Studio Theatre), Portia in The Author's Voice and Constanze in Amadeus(Steve Dobuzyinski Theatre). Film/TV credits include: “Chasing Eagle Rock,” “How to Cheat,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Saturday Night Live,” “Bridesmaid #3,” “The Hunger Artist,” “ Cul De Sac” and “Fool's Paradise.” 

​
Janellen Steininger
JANELLEN STEININGER Voynitskaya Maria Vasilievna 
Delighted to be making her New American Theatre debut in Uncle Vanya, having performed in its predecessor, The Wood Demon at The Mark Taper Forum, Most recently in: The Caucasian Chalk Circle at Antaeus where she is a founding member. Other theatre: East/West Players, The Old Globe, International City Theatre, Odyssey, Evidence Room, Sacred Fools, Lower Depths Theatre Ensemble, Fountain Theatre, 24th Street Theatre. TV/Film include Raising Hope, Sleeper Cell, Roseanne, Playing Beethoven. Voice overs in film, TV, radio, video games, animation. She translates theatre and opera from German to English and is an Antaeus Academy Moderator. www.JanellenSteininger.com


​



​ABOUT THE PRODUCTION TEAM

CHRISTOPHER MOSCATIELLO
CHRISTOPHER MOSCATIELLO Sound Design
Christopher Moscatiello is an award winning sound designer, composer, music editor and music director for theater, television and film. Recent TV credits include The Walking Dead, (AMC), Human Target (Fox), EUREKA (SyFy), Psych (USA), Caprica (SyFy), The Cape (NBC), Trauma (NBC), and he has scored full series and specials for National Geographic and The Discovery Channel, as well as specials and promos for HBO, BBC, Animal Planet, MSNBC, AOL/Time Warner, The History Channel, The Learning Channel and ZDF Germany. Theater credits include The New American Theatre, The Kennedy Center, The Smithsonian Institution, The Folger Shakespeare Theater, Rogue Machine Theatre, Pacific Resident Theatre, The Odyssey Theatre, The Road Theater, and he served as assistant conductor for the national tour of The Phantom of the Opera.

​An East Coast native, Chris spent several years in Boston as Associate Artistic Director and Conductor of the Boston Chamber Ensemble. During that period, he wrote a ballet commissioned by the Kirov Ballet Academy that had its world premier in Washington, DC. Also while on the East Coast, he was the production music director for the theater program at American University, and the supervising composer for The Washington Opera's Create and Produce program. He also served as Master Sound Engineer for the Washington Folklore Society Folk Festival, Staff Engineer at Wooden Nickel Sound and Recording and as Technical Director for The Stage Door theater program in Arlington, VA. moscatiello.com
FLORENCE KEMPER BUNZEL Costume Design
Television: HBO’s Tales From the Crypt, ABC’s Camp Wilder, Nickelodeon’s All That, The Amanda Show, Drake and Josh,
Carsey-Werner’s Grounded for Life and The Tracy Morgan Show, HBO’s Unscripted, NBC’s Teachers. Film: Highway to Hell, The Perfect Game, Movie 43. Theater: Anne, a New Play (Simon Wiesenthal Center), Miss America’s Ugly Daughter (Barra Grant), Boxing Lessons, 63 Trillion (both at The New American Theatre), The Rug Merchants of Chaos (Pasadena Playhouse), Gravity Shoes (New American Theatre/Hudson Avenue Theater), Complexity (New American Theatre).
​
Clare Scarpulla
Clare Scarpulla brings 30+ years of design expertise through a diversified career. She originally worked in NYC for several top architectural firms as a commercial interior designer of large retail establishments and high-end corporate offices. After receiving her MFA in Scenic Design from Yale University, she forged a 16+ design career in the film and television industry out of NYC and LA, working on major studio features such as, "The Horse Whisperer", "Stargate", "The Patriot" and many others. She also Production Designed for the independent film market and worked for Universal Studios as a Senior Concept Designer for their theme parks in Orlando. Today, she freelances in various venues which include interior design, scenic design and creative photography.
Jeannine Wisnosky Stehlin
JEANNINE WISNOSKY STEHLIN Managing Director, Producer
As a producer: 85+ plays for New American Theatre/Circus Theatricals including thre plays by John Bunzel (Gravity Shoes, Complexity, 63 Trillion), 25 Festivals of New One Act Plays, Five Beauties by Tennessee Williams, I Never Sang for My Father, Sister Cities, Titus Redux, (w/ Not Man Apart at Kirk Douglas Theatre and RADAR-LA), LA/Off-Broadway productions of Man.gov, Harm’s Way, The Job.; Many New American Theatre/Odyssey Theatre co-productions including audience and critical favorites Tempest Redux, Creditors, Richard III, True West, etc.. Short film Game 7, As an actor; numerous plays in LA and Chicago. Film/TV: Watch It, Rancho Cucamonga, Chicago 8, Colette. She made her TV debut as a preschooler on the children’s program, Romper Room. Jeannine earned a B.S. in Advertising from University of Illinois and an M.B.A. in Marketing from Illinois Institute of Technology. She is partner of PlayMakersLA, a marketing and consulting company, and she serves as a Cultural Affairs Commissioner for the City of Culver City. 
Jack Stehlin
JACK STEHLIN (Artistic Director/Director)
Jack Stehlin has directed over 80 plays for The New American Theatre. Fresh out of The Juilliard School, he founded the company (as Circus Theatricals) in 1986. Also an actor, he can regularly be seen on television. His Los Angeles stage roles include New American Theatre productions of Tempest Redux (co-production with Odyssey Theatre), 63 Trillion, More Lies About Jerzy, Julius Caesar, Harm’s Way (LA/Off Broadway), Titus Redux (Not Man Apart co-production at Kirk Douglas Theatre and RadarLA,) and Odyssey/New American Theatre co-productions of Creditors (LA Weekly Award nomination-Best Actor),Taming of the Shrew, The Misanthrope, Macbeth, Richard III, Tartuffe, and True West. On the small screen, he is perhaps best known on television as DEA captain Roy Till on the Showtime series Weeds (SAG award nomination). New York/Regional stage credits include Salome (with Al Pacino), numerous productions at New York’s Public Theatre including Richard II (with Steven Berkoff), Henry V (with Kevin Kline), Casanova (with Ethan Hawke), Henry IV, (with Mandy Patinkin), and Julius Caesar (with Al Pacino and Martin Sheen). His many guest-starring roles on countless TV fan favorites include the recent Assassination of Gianni Versace, NCIS Los Angeles, Without a Trace, Monk, The Practice, Crossing Jordan, ER, NYPD Blue, and Fox’s Hieroglyph. Jack can currently be seen on the big screen in Wilde Salome with Al Pacino.
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860-1904) is often considered "The Father of the Modern Short Story and the Modern Play."  He was the leading playwright of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The third of six children, he understood first-hand the realities of the lower-middle-class and peasant life in nineteenth century Russia. He humorously investigated their lives and the lives of the landowners in his stories and plays. As a medical student in Moscow, he first began writing out of need to support himself and his family. His humorous stories about Russian life first appeared in lowbrow comic magazines,and then later in similar journals and under various pseudonyms. He began practicing medicine in 1884 - a second career which brought him hard work but little income. Uncle Vanya: Scenes from a Country Life in Four Acts, was an update of his earlier play The Wood Demon. Uncle Vanya was first published in 1898, and received its Moscow première in 1899 in a production by the Moscow Art Theatre under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski. Chekhov's wife, actress Olga Knipper played Yelena. 
NEWS RELEASE  
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contact: Jeannine Wisnosky Stehlin 

Anton Chekhov’s Comedic Drama ‘Uncle Vanya’ is New American Theatre’s Fall 2019 Production
Artistic Director Jack Stehlin directs masterpiece about hope, courage, and the human responsibility to each other and to mother earth.

LOS ANGELES (September 26, 2019) — Critically-acclaimed Hollywood theatre company The New American Theatre (NAT) will present Anton Chekhov’s masterpiece Uncle Vanya, directed by Artistic Director Jack Stehlin, who recently was honored along with managing director/producer Jeannine Wisnosky Stehlin with a career achievement award from Stage Raw. Subtitled “Scenes from a Country Life in Four Acts,” Uncle Vanya is adapted by the company from a translation by Constance Garnett. The play opens Saturday, October 26, 2019.

“Uncle Vanya is the perfect play at the perfect time. It speaks to us on a personal as well as a global scale,” says director Jack Stehlin. “Chekhov was essentially an optimist, writing through his characters that life has value and encouraging us to have hope and the courage to fight against our worst inclinations in order to save ourselves and our planet.”

Vanya and his niece Sonya toil over their country estate, sending most of the proceeds to Sonya’s city-dwelling father Alexander, a renowned professor. When the professor retires and returns home with his much younger second wife Yelena, hidden resentments and passions are uncovered, and the future of the family and estate are threatened. Country doctor and environmentalist Astrov adds to the upheaval with his dire warnings about the destructive human impact on the earth and to each other.

The New American Theatre has assembled a stellar cast to bring this timeless play to life. Don Harvey (Lie of the Mind/Broadway directed by Sam Shepard, film classics such as Untouchables, Eight Men Out) plays Vanya Voynitsky; Eve Danzeisen (New American Theatre’s Boxing Lessons, Uranium Madhouse’s Cold Sweat at Atwater Village Theater) is Sonya,  Brian Henderson (Cry It Out at Echo Theater Co, The Little Dog Laughed on Broadway and The Kirk Douglas Theatre, As You Like it at NY Shakespeare Festival, House in Scarsdale Boston Court/SAGE Winner) is Mikhail Astrov, David Purdham (NAT’s Measure for Measure, Macbeth Revisited, regional stages including New York Shakespeare Festival,  Roundabout Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Old Globe- San Diego, etc.)  is Alexander Serebryakov, Jade Sealey (NAT’s Meanwhile, Back at the Super Lair, Macbeth: Revisited, The Number, Julius Caesar, Bedfellows) is Yelena, Michael Matthys (NAT’s Measure for Measure, The Seagull at The Guthrie, Enemy of the People with Ian McKellen at The Ahmanson) plays Treplev,  Janellen Steininger (Denim Doyles at Sacred Fools, As You Like it, Picnic at Antaeus, Phaedra at Getty Villa) is Maria, and April Adams (The Pain and the Itch at the Zephyr, Careful What You Wish For at the Blank, film The Way Back w/Ben Affleck) is Marina.

The creative team for UNCLE VANYA includes scenic designer Clare Scarpulla, sound designer Christopher Moscatiello, costume designer Florence Kemper Bunzel, and lighting designer Dennis Jackson.  Jeannine Wisnosky Stehlin produces for The New American Theatre.

Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) is often considered "The Father of the Modern Short Story and the Modern Play."  He was the leading playwright of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The third of six children, he understood first-hand the realities of the lower-middle-class and peasant life in nineteenth century Russia. He humorously investigated their lives and the lives of the landowners in his stories and plays. As a medical student in Moscow, he first began writing out of need to support himself and his family. His humorous stories about Russian life first appeared in lowbrow comic magazines,and then later in similar journals and under various pseudonyms. He began practicing medicine in 1884 - a second career which brought him hard work but little income. Uncle Vanya: Scenes from a Country Life in Four Acts, was an update of his earlier play The Wood Demon. Uncle Vanya was first published in 1898, and received its Moscow première in 1899 in a production by the Moscow Art Theatre under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski .Chekhov's wife, actress Olga Knipper played Yelena. 

Jack Stehlin has directed over 50 plays for The New American Theatre. Fresh out of The Juilliard School, he founded the company (as Circus Theatricals) in 1983. In fact, Uncle Vanya was the company’s first production. Also an actor, he can regularly be seen on television. His Los Angeles stage roles include New American Theatre productions of Tempest Redux (co-production with Odyssey Theatre), 63 Trillion,  More Lies About Jerzy, Julius Caesar, Harm’s Way (LA/Off Broadway), Titus Redux (Not Man Apart co-production at Kirk Douglas Theatre and RadarLA,) and Odyssey/New American Theatre co-productions of Creditors (LA Weekly Award nomination-Best Actor),Taming of the Shrew, The Misanthrope, Macbeth, Richard III, Tartuffe, and True West. On the small screen, he is perhaps best known on television as DEA captain Roy Till on the Showtime series Weeds (SAG award nomination). New York/Regional stage credits include Salome (with Al Pacino), numerous productions at New York’s Public Theatre including Richard II (dir. Steven Berkoff), Henry V (with Kevin Kline), Casanova (with Ethan Hawke), Henry IV, (with Mandy Patinkin), and Julius Caesar (with Al Pacino and Martin Sheen). His many guest-starring roles on countless TV fan favorites include the recent Assassination of Gianni Versace, NCIS Los Angeles, Without a Trace, Monk, The Practice, Crossing Jordan, ER, NYPD Blue and Fox’s Hieroglyph. Films include Wilde Salome with Al Pacino.

The New American Theatre is a company of professional actors and artists who work in theater, film, television and new media. The company has enjoyed critical acclaim, awards and nominations from the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, LA Drama Critics Circle, Back Stage, LA Weekly, LA Stage Alliance Ovations and more. CBS Los Angeles named The New American Theatre as one of the top five 99-seat theater companies in Los Angeles.

Uncle Vanya opens on Saturday, October 26 at 8pm and Sunday, October 27 at a 3pm matinee with performances continuing through December 7 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m.  Preview dates: Saturday, October 19, Friday, October 25. Tickets are $35, except previews which are $15. The New American Theatre is located at 1312 N. Wilton Place, HNEWS RELEASE  
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contact: Jeannine Wisnosky Stehlin 


Meet the Cast in Anton Chekhov’s Comedic Drama ‘Uncle Vanya’ at New American Theatre 

Artistic Director Jack Stehlin directs masterpiece about hope, courage, and the human responsibility to each other and to mother earth. Opens November 1.

LOS ANGELES (October 8, 2019) — Critically-acclaimed Hollywood theatre company The New American Theatre (NAT) will present Anton Chekhov’s masterpiece Uncle Vanya, directed by Artistic Director Jack Stehlin, who recently was honored along with managing director/producer Jeannine Wisnosky Stehlin with a career achievement award from Stage Raw. Subtitled “Scenes from a Country Life in Four Acts,” Uncle Vanya is adapted by the company from a translation by Constance Garnett. Opening weekend begins Friday November 1 at 8pm. 

“Uncle Vanya is the perfect play at the perfect time. It speaks to us on a personal as well as a global scale,” says director Jack Stehlin. “Chekhov was essentially an optimist, writing through his characters that life has value and encouraging us to have hope and the courage to fight against our worst inclinations in order to save ourselves and our planet.”

Vanya and his niece Sonya toil over their country estate, sending most of the proceeds to Sonya’s city-dwelling father Alexander, a renowned professor. When the professor retires and returns home with his much younger second wife Yelena, hidden resentments and passions are uncovered, and the future of the family and estate are threatened. Country doctor and environmentalist Astrov adds to the upheaval with his dire warnings about the destructive human impact on the earth and to each other.

The New American Theatre has assembled a stellar cast to bring this timeless play to life. Don Harvey (Lie of the Mind/Broadway directed by Sam Shepard, film classics such as Untouchables, Eight Men Out) plays Vanya Voynitsky; Eve Danzeisen (New American Theatre’s Boxing Lessons, Uranium Madhouse’s Cold Sweat at Atwater Village Theater) is Sonya,  Brian Henderson (Cry It Out at Echo Theater Co, The Little Dog Laughed on Broadway and The Kirk Douglas Theatre, As You Like it at NY Shakespeare Festival, House in Scarsdale Boston Court/SAGE Winner) is Mikhail Astrov, David Purdham (NAT’s Measure for Measure, Macbeth Revisited, regional stages including New York Shakespeare Festival,  Roundabout Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Old Globe- San Diego, etc.)  is Alexander Serebryakov, Jade Sealey (NAT’s Meanwhile, Back at the Super Lair, Macbeth: Revisited, The Number, Julius Caesar, Bedfellows) is Yelena, Michael Matthys (NAT’s Measure for Measure, The Seagull at The Guthrie, Enemy of the People with Ian McKellen at The Ahmanson) plays Treplev,  Janellen Steininger (Denim Doyles at Sacred Fools, As You Like it, Picnic at Antaeus, Phaedra at Getty Villa) is Maria, and April Adams (The Pain and the Itch at the Zephyr, Careful What You Wish For at the Blank, film The Way Back w/Ben Affleck) is Marina.

The creative team for UNCLE VANYA includes scenic designer Clare Scarpulla, sound designer Christopher Moscatiello, costume designer Florence Kemper Bunzel, and lighting designer Ryan Dohner. Scenic painter is Stuart Chapin.  Jeannine Wisnosky Stehlin produces for The New American Theatre.

Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) is often considered "The Father of the Modern Short Story and the Modern Play."  He was the leading playwright of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The third of six children,, he understood first-hand the realities of the lower-middle-class and peasant life in nineteenth century Russia. He humorously investigated their lives and the lives of the landowners in his stories and plays. As a medical student in Moscow, he first began writing out of need to support himself and his family. His humorous stories about Russian life first appeared in lowbrow comic magazines,and then later in similar journals and under various pseudonyms. He began practicing medicine in 1884 - a second career which brought him hard work but little income. Uncle Vanya: Scenes from a Country Life in Four Acts, was an update of his earlier play The Wood Demon. Uncle Vanya was first published in 1898, and received its Moscow première in 1899 in a production by the Moscow Art Theatre under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski. Chekhov's wife, actress Olga Knipper played Yelena. 

Jack Stehlin has directed over 50 plays for The New American Theatre. Fresh out of The Juilliard School, he founded the company (as Circus Theatricals) in 1983. In fact, Uncle Vanya was the company’s first production. Also an actor, he can regularly be seen on television. His Los Angeles stage roles include New American Theatre productions of Tempest Redux (co-production with Odyssey Theatre), 63 Trillion,  More Lies About Jerzy, Julius Caesar, Harm’s Way (LA/Off Broadway), Titus Redux (Not Man Apart co-production at Kirk Douglas Theatre and RadarLA,) and Odyssey/New American Theatre co-productions of Creditors (LA Weekly Award nomination-Best Actor),Taming of the Shrew, The Misanthrope, Macbeth, Richard III, Tartuffe, and True West. On the small screen, he is perhaps best known on television as DEA captain Roy Till on the Showtime series Weeds (SAG award nomination). New York/Regional stage credits include Salome (with Al Pacino), numerous productions at New York’s Public Theatre including Richard II (dir. Steven Berkoff), Henry V (with Kevin Kline), Casanova (with Ethan Hawke), Henry IV, (with Mandy Patinkin), and Julius Caesar (with Al Pacino and Martin Sheen). His many guest-starring roles on countless TV fan favorites include the recent Assassination of Gianni Versace, NCIS Los Angeles, Without a Trace, Monk, The Practice, Crossing Jordan, ER, NYPD Blue and Fox’s Hieroglyph. Films include Wilde Salome with Al Pacino.

The New American Theatre is a company of professional actors and artists who work in theater, film, television and new media. The company has enjoyed critical acclaim, awards and nominations from the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, LA Drama Critics Circle, Back Stage, LA Weekly, LA Stage Alliance Ovations and more. CBS Los Angeles named The New American Theatre as one of the top five 99-seat theater companies in Los Angeles.

Uncle Vanya opens on Friday, November 1 at 8pm with performances continuing through December 7 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m, select Sundays at 3pm  Tickets are $35, except previews which are $15. The New American Theatre is located at 1312 N. Wilton Place, Hollywood, CA 90028. For reservations and information, call (310) 424-2980 or go to www.newamericantheatre.com/
 
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Details for Calendar Listings

UNCLE VANYA
 
WHAT: Anton Chekhov’s Comedic Drama ‘Uncle Vanya’ is New American Theatre’s Fall 2019 Production. Artistic Director Jack Stehlin directs masterpiece about hope, courage, and the human responsibility to each other and to mother earth.

WHO: 
Written by Anton Chekhov

Directed by Jack Stehlin

Starring :
Marina: April Adams
Sonya: Eve Danzeisen
Vanya: Don Harvey
Astrov: Brian Henderson
Telegin: Michael Matthys
Alexandre Serebryakov: David Purdham
Yelena: Jade Sealey
Maria: Janellen Steininger

Presented by The New American Theatre, Jack Stehlin Artistic Director , Jeannine Wisnosky Stehlin, Managing Director

Scenic design: Clare Scarpulla
Lighting design: Dennis Jackson
Sound Design: Christopher Moscatiello
Costume Design: Florence Kemper Bunzel
Produced by:  Jeannine Wisnosky Stehlin 
 
WHEN:
November 1 -December 7, 2019
Fridays at Saturdays at 8pm
Select 3pm Sunday Matinees November 3, November 24, December 1
No Friday performance Thanksgiving weekend, November 29

WHERE:
The New American Theatre
1312 N. Wilton Place,
Hollywood, CA 90028
(between Fountain and Sunset)

HOW:
• Call (310) 424-2980 or go to www.newamericantheatre.com/
• Visit us on facebook: www.facebook.com/newamericantheatre/
• Follow us on twitter: @NewAmericanThtr

TICKET PRICES:
General admission: $35
Previews: $15

PARKING:
Ample street parking available
 
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