Vivienne Benesch is drawing raves with her directorial debut as PlayMakers’ Producing Artistic Director, a critically-acclaimed look at Anton Chekhov’s timeless classic Three Sisters. See what the reviewers have to say about her staging based on Libby Appel’s new adaptation.

In our previous post, Tracy Christensen shared with us her ideas for creating costumes for Three Sisters. Those concepts are now reality on the stage of the Paul Green Theatre, and the results are beautiful.

While Three Sisters is set at the turn of the 20th century, costume designer Tracy Christensen and director Vivienne Benesch worked together fusing modern influences to create its period clothing. The duo drew inspiration from contemporary fashion and runway couture photography. “There are a lot of fashion designers putting out lines that evoke early 20th Century ideas,” says Tracy.

Unlike other playwrights Chekhov’s dramaturgy eschews climactic encounters and theatrical pyrotechnics. What would be central aspects of a different type of play: a fire that nearly consumes the town, love affairs, duels to the death; occur offstage. We see only the consequences of these events, not the events themselves. Like an impressionist painter Chekhov gives us the passing moments in his characters lives. His landscapes are ephemeral, provisional, and richly informative artistically, but not historically detailed.

I discovered Chekhov’s plays when I was 16 years old and an English teacher in my junior year high school class assigned us The Cherry Orchard to read. It was a revelation for me from the first moment I picked it up. I still have difficulty understanding how a teenage girl could fall so madly in love with this play about loss, memory and grief, but fall in love I did. And this was the start of a lifelong passion with all of Chekhov’s works.

Making her debut as PlayMakers’ Producing Artistic Director, Vivienne Benesch also takes on the role of director for our next Mainstage production, Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters. Vivienne first read Three Sisters in college and says she learned more from working on one of its scenes than from every other scene from the entire semester put together.

Join us for the ‘Second Act’ of PRC².
Come for the stunning performance – stay for insightful conversation.

In a fascinating story expertly told, KJ shares a unique family history and what it was like to live under 300 year-old Spanish land grants in the high desert of New Mexico, where her family was among the original settlers.

Peter and the Starcatcher’s “awfully big adventure” has audiences, young and old, cheering. Here’s what some of the reviews have said about this magical theatrical treat