Digital Program

Actor, librettist, poet, translator, professor, and Russian scholar Paul Schmidt’s translation of Chekhov’s work have been praised as “the gold standard in Russian-English translation.”

Throughout his career, Schmidt worked in both the academy and professional theatre, translating the complete works of poets Arthur Rimbaud and Velemir Khlebnikov as well as translating works by Gogol, Brecht, and Marivaux for production. He worked extensively with American avant-garde directors, including Peter Sellars, JoAnne Akalaitis, Elizabeth LeCompte, and Robert Wilson. With Wilson and Tom Waits, he write the libretto for an opera adaptation of Lewis Carrol’s Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.

He did his first work with Chekhov with LeCompte, when she asked him to translate Three Sisters for the Wooster Group’s 1990 theater piece Brace Up! Schmidt supplied the translation as well as performing Chebutykin in the initial production. Schmidt went on to translate all of Chekhov’s work for the theatre, looking for a language that actors would find playable and audience would relate to.

“Over and over,” Schmidt wrote, “we see Chekhov reducing action and dialogue to their simplest terms, to ensure his audiences’ identification with their own lives. He wanted the people onstage to be recognizably normal for the audience and to speak a language that the audience understood was theirs.

Jack Serio recently directed the acclaimed U.S. premiere of Rita Kalnejais’ This Beautiful Future at The Cherry Lane Theater. A NY Times Critic’s Pick, the production transferred off-Broadway after a twice-extended, sold-out run at Theaterlab. Other recent credits include the world premieres of On Set With Theda Bara starring David Greenspan, written by Joey Merlo at The Brick, and Bernard Kops’ The Dark Outside at Theater for The New City. His work has been developed and presented at Playwrights Horizons, Ars Nova, Clubbed Thumb, 59e59, Cherry Lane, Theaterlab, Theater for the New City, and The Pearl Theater Company. He is the Development Associate for Aasif Mandvi’s Fat Mama Productions, a member of the 2019 Lincoln Center Directors Lab, and the 2019-2021 SDC Foundation Observership Class. BFA: NYU. www.jackfserio.com

Broadway: Oklahoma!, You Can’t Take It With You, Act One.  Other NYC:  A Case for the Existence of God (Signature), Illyria (Public), Tribes, Our Town (Barrow St), Restoration Comedy (EPBB), You May Be Splendid Now (Shelby).  Regional:  Zero Cost House (Pig Iron), Lieutenant of Inishmore (PICT), Translations (Stanford), Arcadia (TheatreWorks).  Film / TV: “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”, To The Moon, Test Pattern, “The OA”, Not Fade Away.  Upcoming: “Fellow Travelers”, Stereophonic (Playwrights).

Julia Chan is thrilled to be a part of this very special Uncle Vanya. Theatre: Original cast of 2:22 A Ghost Story, Nöel Coward Theatre, West End. Selected TV and Film: “Before” (Apple), “Accused” (Fox), “Will Trent” (ABC), “Archive 81” (Netflix), “Katy Keene” (CW), “Bojack Horseman” (Netflix), “Saving Hope” (CTV), “Silent House” and “a Kid Like Jake”. She was also the co-host of the Great Canadian Baking Show for the CBC.

On Broadway David played Howard Fine in The Waverly Gallery and Carl Lindner in A Raisin in the Sun. Off-Broadway he appeared as the Stage Manager in Our Town at the Barrow Street Theatre. Roles in his native Chicago include Ned Weeks in The Normal Heart (Timeline), Louis Ironson in Angels in America, Parts 1 & 2 (The Journeymen), and Edmund Tyrone in Long Day’s Journey into Night (Goodman Theatre) among others. His directing credits on and off Broadway include Camp Siegfried, A Case for the Existence of God, Prayer for the French Republic, The Sound Inside, The Band’s Visit, The Treasurer, The House of Blue Leaves, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Nikolai and the Others, The Effect, When the Rain Stops Falling, Tribes, Adding Machine, Our Town, and Orson’s Shadow.

Will Dagger loves Chekhov, and this team! He’s helped develop new work with EST, New Dramatists, Primary Stages, Second Stage Theater, Clubbed Thumb, The Civilians, NYTW, Colt Couer, Lesser America, and The New Group. Theatre: Corsicana (Playwrights Horizons), The Antelope Party (Dutch Kills), Among the Dead (Ma-Yi), The Convent of Pleasure (Cherry Lane), Macbeth (*upcoming, Double Feature). TV: “Law & Order: SVU” (NBC), “FBI: Most Wanted” (CBS), “The Blacklist” (NBC), and “Deception” (ABC). He also writes songs. www.willdagger.com.

Broadway: Reasons to be Pretty (Theatre World Award, Tony nomination), The Big Knife, After Miss Julie. Selected Off-Broadway: Blue Ridge (Atlantic), Morning Sun (MTC), Summer and Smoke (Transport Group/CSC), Ironbound (Rattlestick), Three Sisters (CSC), Cyclone (Studio Dante—Obie Award), Blasted, Marie Antoinette (both Soho Rep), In the Wake (Public). TV/Film includes “Y: The Last Man,” “Umbrella Academy,” “Girls,” “Homeland,” “Sneaky Pete,” “Glass Chin” (Independent Spirit nomination), “The Irishman”, “Hell or High Water”. For Ben.  

Broadway: The Ferryman. Lincoln Center: Admissions, Dinner at 8, Abe Lincoln in Illinois. Regional: A Doll’s House Part 2 at George Street Playhouse, John at ACT in San Francisco, City of Conversation at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., eleven productions at The Long Wharf Theater, seven plays by A.R. Gurney, including the premiere of The Dining Room at Playwrights Horizons. Other premieres: Uncommon Women and Others, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains it All For You. Film:  Moonstruck, Six Degrees of Separation. TV: “All My Children,” “Law and Order,” “The Last O.G.,” “The Watcher.”.

Broadway: West Side Story, The Nap, The Crucible, In The Next Room or the Vibrator Play. Off-Broadway: Deep Blue Sound, Becky Nurse of Salem, Eureka Day, Dance Nation, The Amateurs, The Lady From Dubuque, Measure For Measure, The Little Foxes, The Temperamentals. Films: the title role in Hal Hartley’s Cannes Festival prize winning Henry Fool trilogy, as well as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Scenes From an Empty Church, Burn Country, Cryptozoo, The Legend of Bagger Vance among others. He has won a Callaway and two Drama Desk Awards, and received Drama League and Gemini Award nominations.

NY Stage includes: Vineyard Theatre; Prospect Theater Co; National Asian American Theatre Company; National Asian Artists Project; Ma-Yi Theatre Ensemble; Theatre C; Pan Asian Rep; Regional includes: Milwaukee Rep; Mark Taper Forum; L.A. Shakespeare; Inner City Cultural Center; Studio Theatre; 3 Seasons in Rep at Barter Theatre; East West Players. TV includes: “Hawaii 5-0”; numerous appearances as singer/guest on couch “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson”; “Law and Order”; Latest film: When the World Was Young. www.performingartslegacy.org/wing

New York: You Will Get Sick (Roundabout), Selling Kabul (Playwrights Horizons), Juliet & Romeo (The Brick), La storia di colapesce (INTAR). Regional: Hand to God (SpeakEasy). Readings: Three Sisters at Williamstown; The Public, Teatro LATEA, Chautauqua, Two River, Huntington. Dario stars in Jason Katims’ series “Dear Edward” on AppleTV+. Film: The Bull Cage (Best Actor, NY Indie Shorts Awards), Undercover (also co-producer; Hurley/Pickle), The Shadow Wrangler. Northeastern University | BADA | Yale Drama. @darioladani

The Coast Starlight, Epiphany (Lincoln Center Theater). Clear Blue Skies: Diaries from Ukraine (Society). The Seagull, Mr Burns, Empty Place (NYU). Richard III, The Tempest (Smith Street Stage). TV: “The Good Fight”, “Law & Order: SVU”. BA Columbia University in Race & Ethnicity Studies, MFA NYU Grad Acting. @raq_chavez

Barbara Kingsley has appeared in over two hundred stage productions. Recent credits include: Babs in the Off Broadway, N.Y. Times Critic’s Pick, Life Sucks, August: Osage County (Broadway & Natl. tour), Uncanny Valley (Off-Broadway). Film: Honeydew, Ticket Out (w/ Ray Liotta), Older Than America (w/ Bradley Cooper), Sweet
Land (Ali Selim, dir.). TV: Servant, Hello Tomorrow!, New Amsterdam. Barbara’s play, Under This Roof was produced at the Guthrie Theater in 2018.

Broadway: Between Riverside and Crazy, Desire Under The Elms, Tuck Everlasting, A Christmas Story The Musical, Escape to Margaritaville, Scandalous, and Hollywood Arms.

Ricky Reynoso is a New York City based costume designer who is so happy to be collaborating with Jack and this intelligent group of designers again. He would like to thank his partner for all of his support (and reminding him to drink water). In addition to his theater work, Ricky is also Assistant Costume Designer for HBO’s “We’re Here” which recently received an Emmy Award for outstanding costumes.

Stacey Derosier (NYC based lighting designer) has designed The Cotillion (The Movement Theatre Company & New Georges), Regretfully, So the Birds Are (Playwrights Horizons), How to Defend Yourself (NYTW), On Set with Theda Bara (Exponential Festival), Cornelia Street (Atlantic Theater Company), Where the Mountain meets the Sea (Manhattan Theatre Club), Weightless (The Women’s Project), This Beautiful Future (Cherry Lane), Fat Ham (Public Theater & National Black Theater), Wedding Band (Theatre for a New Audience), sandblasted (Vineyard Theatre/WP Theater), Head Over Heels (Pasadena Playhouse), The Last of the Love Letters (Atlantic Theater Company), Stew (Page 73), Lewiston/Clarkston (Rattlestick Playwright’s Theater) & is the 2018 Lilly Award Daryl Roth Prize recipient.

Christopher Darbassie is an interdisciplinary artist. (Select Credits): A Bright New Boise (Signature Theater), Camp Siegfried (2nd Stage), Patience (2nd Stage), A Case for the Existence of God (Signature Theater), This Beautiful Future (Cherry Lane Theater, TheaterLab), PS (Ars Nova), Fly Away (Petzel Gallery), Preparedness, Black Exhibition (The Bushwick Starr). Chris has designed for installations, radio plays, devised works and theatrical productions in collaboration with Alliance Theater, The Movement Theater Company, The Public, New York Theater Workshop, Playwrights Horizons, The TEAM, Theater for a New Audience, The Atlantic, and The Shed. Wingspace 2019-2020 Sound Design Fellow. www.darbassiedesign.com

Previous prop designs include Help, MISTY (The Shed); Pride & Prejudice, Discord, The Roads To Home, Fade, and A Perfect Arrangement (Primary Stages); Proof of Love, The Way She Spoke, Half-Life of Marie Curie (Audible Theatre); Cry It Out and Airness (ATL); This Beautiful Future, Out Of The Mouths Of Babes and The Traveling Lady (Cherry Lane Theatre); The Effect (Barrow St.); Lost Girls (MCC); Assassins, Hamlet, Faustus (CSC). 

Broadway: Grey House, A Beautiful Noise, Life of Pi, Funny Girl, SIX. National Tours: Wicked, Tina. Love and gratitude to his family, friends, and mentors.

Nathan Malin is a New York based actor and director. Previous acting credits include The Crucible (u/s, Bedlam), Just Tell No One, Witness (Arlekin Players), Heroes of the Fourth Turning, Admissions, The Sound Inside (SpeakEasy Stage), As You Like It (Actors’ Shakespeare Project), Vanity Fair, The Happy Prince/Matchless (u/s, Central Square Theatre), 1984, The Lathe of Heaven (Boston University), Maura Dunne (The Poets’ Theatre), Much Ado About Nothing (Boston Theatre Company). Training: Boston University, Shakespeare & Company. www.nathan-malin.com

Keyana Hemphill is a multi-hyphenate artist who’s enjoyed working with this incredible cast and crew! BFA: NYU Tisch ‘17. Off Broadway: The Harriet Holland Social Club Presents the 84th Annual Starburst Cotillion in the The Grand Ballroom of the Renaissance Hotel (ASM, New Georges/The Movement Theater Company). Other theatre credits include In the Name of the Mother Tree (ASM, DoubleEdge Theatre in assoc. w/ National Black Theatre and the Apollo Theater); The Dance Cartel’sTM 10th Anniversary Show (SM, The Dance Cartel); BAMKids SpringFest (PA, BAM); Definition (SM, Mercury Store); where love lies fallow (SM, The Shed, The Public).

Tessa Bagby is a director, creative producer, and nurturer of original artistic endeavors. Since moving to New York in August 2022, Tessa has supported productions on and off-Broadway with the Public, New York Theatre Workshop, Juniper Street Productions, The Tank, Beth Morrison Projects, and Ensemble Studio Theatre.

WJP, founded by Sue Wagner and John Johnson, specializes in Producing and General Managing theatrical productions, concerts, live experiences and special events. With an esteemed staff of seasoned industry professionals, WJP brings unrivaled passion, perspective, and experience to every project. Credits include: The Lehman Trilogy (Tony Award); Ain’t No Mo’ (Tony Nominee); The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window (Tony Nominee); Mike Birbiglia: The Old Man and the Pool (Broadway, Edinburgh, West End); Almost Famous; Bad Cinderella; Gabriel Byrne: Walking With Ghosts; One Woman Show; The DiscOasis in Central Park; Dylan Mulvaney’s Day 365 Live! at the Rainbow Room; the TodayTix Originals Concert Series at Showfields and Tavern on the Green; the live tour of podcast phenomenon Men In Blazers; and the history-making performance of To Kill a Mockingbird for an audience of 18,000 New York City public school students at Madison Square Garden. Upcoming: Here We Are (The Shed); Danny and the Deep Blue Sea (Lucille Lortel); Lempicka; Imitation of Life. www.wagnerjohnson.com @wjplive

Everyman Agency is a communications firm promoting complex ideas, mostly in the arts. Founded by John Wyszniewski, Everyman Agency builds awareness and provokes action for cultural organizations and individual artists by putting impactful storytelling, strategic thinking, and meaningful relationships at the heart of its work. Clients include Ars Nova, Axis Theatre Company, The Civilians, Elevator Repair Service, HERE, Keen Company, Ma-Yi Theater Company, Target Margin Theater, and TheaterWorks Hartford, among others. www.everymanagency.com

David Manella works at the forefront of major deals that are shaping the entertainment and media industries. David brings an extensive background in theatre production, including an MFA in Theatre Management and Producing from Columbia University, to his practice, which covers a wide-spectrum of transactional work for film, TV and live stage productions, digital media and streaming platforms, and immersive live events. His experience includes development and rights acquisitions, and the representation of leading financial institutions and production companies in financings for the production and distribution of entertainment media. David also maintains a burgeoning talent practice, and serves as production counsel to live stage and TV productions. Outside of his practice, David serves on the Board of Directors of Ars Nova. He is also a Tony Award winning producer for Parade, whose credits also include Tony nominations for Sea Wall/A Life and Slave Play.

Standing Room Theatrical Solutions provides live experience producers with the resources needed to make critical decisions in revenue and inventory management. www.srtheatrical.com

Oliver Roth is a producer at OHenry Productions, a Tony and Olivier Award-winning New York-based production company which he founded in 2014. Situated at the intersection of art and commerce, OHenry Productions is dedicated to promoting the world’s most vital voices on the world’s most distinguished stages. Its mission is to produce work that is as engaging as it is inspiring, and as challenging as it is entertaining. Producing credits include – Broadway: Merrily We Roll Along, Parade (Tony Award), A Doll’s House (Tony Nom), The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window (Tony Nom), Slave Play (Tony Nom), Burn This (Tony Nom), and Sea Wall/A Life (Tony Nom), The Inheritance (Tony Award & Olivier Award), Derren Brown: Secret, Head over Heels; West End: A Streetcar Named Desire, A Little Life, Herding Cats (Soho Theatre); Off-Broadway: This Beautiful Future, Little Shop of Horrors, Invisible Thread; National Tour: Hundred Days, Escape to Margaritaville; Studio Recording: Witness Uganda; Upcoming: Lempicka, An Enemy of the People. www.ohenryproductions.com

The Dennis & Victoria Ross Foundation (DVRF) is a New York City based non-profit foundation organized and operated for educational purposes, including support for public debate and discussion on topics of current or historical importance, and the promotion of emerging artists and new works of theater, literature, and visual art. For more information on our programming please visit www.dvrf.org

Cameron Kasky is a comedy producer and political advocate who focuses on comedic storytelling and satire on and off the stage. Director of Coney Island Christmas at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Co-Producer, Just For Us.

Christian Rene Palomares is New York-based producer and general manager for theatre, television, and live events. Select credits: Job (SoHo Playhouse), White Girl In Danger (Second Stage), Fortuity (The Public DTWG), Once on Rumspringa (Development). Christian previously worked at ABT, T.T.Partners, “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” (CBS), and “SNL” (NBC).

Actors’ Equity Association (AEA), founded in 1913, represents more than 50,000 actors and stage managers in the United States. Equity seeks to advance, promote and foster the art of live theatre as an essential component of our society. Equity negotiates wages and working conditions, providing a wide range of benefits, including health and pension plans. AEA is a member of the AFL-CIO, and is affiliated with FIA, an international organization of performing arts unions. The Equity emblem is our mark of excellence. www.actorsequity.org

The production would like to extend our deepest gratitude to Zack Baer, Reza Behjat, Nate Brown, Emily Davis, Alex Donnelly, Eddie Delaney, Kathy Fabian and Propstar, Travis Fitzgerald, Karly Fischer, Ashley Rose Galligan, Sharla Grass & Dan Temel, Chris & Susan Gifford, Patrick Herold, Sarah Hutton, Bill Irwin, Stephen Kolack, Thomas Laub, Talene Monohon, Jason Perna, Dan Prosky, PRG, Kiki Rathbun, Doug Ross, Lois Smith, Anya Saffir, Thom Sesma, Tom Smith, Ray Wetmore.