Two middle-aged siblings who’ve held down the fort at home are confronted by news from their actress sister, who comes home with a boy-toy boyfriend and wants to overturn their complacent lives.
This is the plot of Christopher Durang’s newest show, “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” which the Tower Players will perform in April.
“It’s an exploration of change and how different generations react to change,” said senior Aaron Pomerantz, who will play Vanya in the production.
The show is only three years old, premiering in New Jersey in 2012. From there it went to Broadway and became 2014’s most produced play in professional theatre, as well as winning nearly every theatre award there is to win, according to Professor in Theatre and Director George Angell.
Pomerantz said they will perform in a fully-mounted black box, with a full stage and even a roof hung from the rafters, producing a much more intimate feeling between the actors and audience.
Angell said that the intimate black box is more appropriate for plays with edgier elements.
“This is an R-rated play,” Pomerantz said. “There is swearing and also near nudity. Nick Gibbs gets down to his underpants at least twice in the play and there will be a lot of kissing.”
Pomerantz added that none of it is included to offend people, but illustrates Durang’s interest in creating realistic comedy.
Angell said that the small 6-person cast allows for more work on the intersections of the characters and their embodiment.
“Students will find they have something in common with the characters in this play,” Pomerantz added. “These siblings have lived in a bubble their whole lives and suddenly it get pulled from beneath them and they have to cope with that.”
In addition to encounters with reality, the play explores the relationship between siblings. Sophomore Gwendolyn Hodge, who plays Masha, the queen-bee, drama-queen sister of Vanya and Sonia added that we all quarrel with our siblings and make decisions we regret.
“But in the end, it’s family that matters,” Hodge said.
Pomerantz said that as a senior going to graduate school and getting married, he can relate to the fears that accompany change. Despite that, he said that no one will leave the play depressed.
“I find the humor to be quite delicious,” Angell said.
Hodge said she will be banging pots, screaming at her boy-toy Spike, and waxing on about her once-great acting career.
“You get to see Snow White and a couple dwarves and a very good voodoo scene,” Angell said. “Certainly not the things I would expect to see together in one play.”
