SIST Audition: UNCLE VANYA by Anton Chekhov

Click Here to Register on Facebook

Staten Island Shakespearean Theatre Company Audition Announcement: UNCLE VANYA By Anton Chekhov (Translation rights pending)

Directed by Frank Williams

Assistant Director: Cara S. Liander

Every family has its problems: sibling rivalry, political differences, long-time resentments and hurts. However, very few could match the tangled, oppressive, and manipulative family problems of Uncle Vanya.

In Chekhov’s classic play, Professor Serebryakov lives in the city, while his rural estate is run by family. One of the estate managers is Uncle Vanya, his brother-in-law from his first marriage; the professor’s new wife Yelena is much younger and very attractive. When they visit their estate both Vanya and the local doctor fall hard for Yelena. Sonya, the professor’s daughter from his first marriage, is also helping to run the estate, and seeing her stepmother’s beauty and charm reminds her how unattractive she herself is and how unrequited her adoration for the doctor is, especially with Yelena on the scene.

Trouble develops when Serebryakov announces his plan to sell the estate (Vanya and Sonya’s home) in order to invest the profits and make a fortune for himself and Yelena. Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya explores the disruption and discontent of a small group of people in rural Russia (20th century in this production), and since its publication has helped pave the way for many of the world’s finest contemporary playwrights.

Auditions will take place on Wednesday, January 5 and Thursday, January 6 from 5:00pm to 10:00pm in the Carpenter’s Shop at Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden, 1000 Richmond Terrace, Staten Island, NY 10301

To make an audition appointment email Production Manager Chelsea Smith at [email protected] with preferable time slot and we will accommodate as best as possible.

All actors MUST BE FULLY VACCINATED and provide proof upon entering the audition.

Performances will take place in the Carpenter’s Shop, Snug Harbor on the following dates:

Friday, March 11 – 8:00pm

Saturday, March 12 – 8:00pm

Sunday, March 13 – 2:00pm

Friday, March 18 – 8:00pm

Saturday, March 19 – 8:00pm

Sunday, March 20 – 2:00pm

ALL ROLES ARE OPEN. There will be a small stipend provided to actors

Please prepare a monologue from the play or other contemporary works. Memorized is preferred, but rather have you on book than not there if interested.

This production is interested in having a diverse cast and actors of color and Latinx descent are encouraged to audition.

CHARACTERS

Aleksandr Vladimirovich Serebryakov: a retired university professor, who has lived for years in the city on the earnings of his late first wife’s rural estate, managed for him by Vanya and Sonya.

Helena Andreyevna Serebryakova (Yelena): Serebryakov’s young and beautiful second wife. She is 27 years old.

Sofia Alexandrovna Serebryakova (Sonya): Serebryakov’s daughter from his first marriage. She is of a marriageable age, but is considered plain.

Maria Vasilyevna Voynitskaya: the widow of a privy councilor and mother of Vanya (and of Vanya’s late sister, Serebryakov’s first wife).

Ivan Petrovich Voynitsky (“Uncle Vanya”): Maria’s son and Sonya’s uncle, the title character of the play. He is 47 years old.

Mikhail Lvovich Astrov: a middle-aged country doctor. His preoccupation with the destruction of forests is one of the first discussions of ecological problems in world literature.

Ilya Ilych Telegin (nicknamed “Waffles” for his pockmarked skin): an impoverished landowner, who now lives on the estate as a dependent of the family.

Marina Timofeevna: an old nurse.