Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Christopher Durang’s comic send-up of Chekhov's work, opens off-Broadway on November 12. Directed by Nicholas Martin and starring Oscar nominee Sigourney Weaver and Emmy and Tony winner David Hyde Pierce, the comedy runs at Lincoln Center Theater’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre.
In addition to Weaver and Pierce, the cast includes Kristine Nielsen (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson), Genevieve Angelson (Army Wives), Shalita Grant (The Merchant of Venice) and Billy Magnussen (As the World Turns).
In Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Durang transports characters and themes from Chekhov's work to present day Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Vanya (Pierce) and his stepsister Sonia (Nielsen) have lived their entire lives in their family’s farmhouse. While they cared for their ailing parents, their sister Masha (Weaver) has been gallivanting around the world as a successful actress and movie star, leaving Vanya and Sonia trapped and regretful. Their soothsayer/cleaning woman, Cassandra (Grant), keeps warning them about terrible things in the future, which include a sudden visit from Masha and her twenty-something boy toy Spike (Magnussen).
The play is presented in association with the McCarter Theatre in New Jersey, where the production received its world premiere in September.