As the curtain rose on opening night for the first performance of the year, a thunderous applause of a thousand claps begin and FAU theater students realized that for the next three hours they had the opportunity to be somebody else, somebody from another time and place.
Directed by special guest Director Jana Tift, FAU’s first production of the year is Anton Chekhov’s “Three Sisters,” a play that follows the lives of three Russian women and how they all long for greater things in life. Set in a Russian provincial town between 1897 and 1900, this play precedes what is now known as the Russian (or Communist) revolution in Russia, and many of the ideals of the women reflect this in this play.
Both an actor and a Director, Tift is a veteran when it comes to life on the stage, and her enthusiasm for the love of the theatre has not once withered. Tift says she was about four when she first decided she wanted to be an actress.
“When graduating from Nursery school we got to put on a show,” she says. “After that, that was it, this is what I want to do.”
Tift is very proud of FAU’s production of “Three Sisters” and commends her students for being very dedicated.
When curtain rises for “Three Sisters” the audience is introduced to Olga (played by Susan Cato) a teacher and the eldest of three sisters (28), Masha (played by Rebecca Simon) the middle sister (21), and Irina (Julie Daniels) the youngest of the three sisters (20).
“Father died exactly a year ago” Olga states to her other sisters (while wearing a brilliant blue dress) in the prozorov household.
This first line of the play is significant because later in the same act (and same scene) we are introduced to Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vershinin (played by Trent Blanton) who has known the sisters’ father. In this same scene we are also introduced to the educated Andrey (played by a striking Aaron Scott) who is the brother of the three sisters.
“Three Sisters” is a drama which follows these lives of Olga, Masha, Irina, and Andrey, who in their own lives all strive for their own “Holy Grail” however they all seemingly fail and or seem futile in their attempts. Set in a small suburb of Moscow, it is seen as that Moscow is the proverbial “Emerald City” and that if one is to be successful or happy one has to live there. However this is hindered as the well-educated Andrey falls in love and marries a middle class woman, thus hindering the sister’s chances of leaving their small town.
Anton Chekhov a short storywriter and playwright is widely considered next to Shakespeare, one of the most popular and influential writers of our time. Born and raised in his home country Russia, Anton lived through a pre-revolution Russia, which he reflects heavily in his works including “Three Sisters.” A friend of Leo Tolstoy (of “War and Peace” fame), Chekhov to this day highly thought of, or in Tift’s words “one of the greats.”
Performances run through Sunday Oct. 7. Tickets for FAU faculty, staff and alumni are $10, general admission is $16. FAU students however will be admitted free at the door or given reservations ahead of time for a refundable $5 fee. Tickets and reservations can be purchased at www.fauevents.com, by calling (800) 564-9539, or at the theatre itself two hours prior before each performance.
