THE CHERRY ORCHARD

By Anton Chekhov
Directed by Jessica Jennings

THE CHERRY ORCHARD
Dalrymple award-winning director, Jessica Jennings, sets this seminal work of Anton Chekhov in the USA, 1965. Features Monica Blaze Leavitt,* Johnny Blaze Leavitt, Elizabeth Chappell, Alexander Chilton, Jane Culley,* Joy Foster, Cait Kiley Eli Douglas LaCroix, Joyce Lao, Shayna Lawson, and Susan Ly.

Director’s Notes about the adaptation.  

The story was not changed at all. Mainly the context and some turns of phrase: I did Anglo-size some of the names.  

Lubova became Luba; Varya became Velma; Yermoli became Emrol; Dunyasha and Yasha became Francesca and Frankie (the actors were involved in the change of name); Simeon became Simon – noted in the Program.

Pischin and Yasha (Frankie) were originally male characters that I cast as female.

Roubles changed to Dollars and we added an additional zero  ‘0’ to the financial figures, increasing them to make sense of the time change;  city names changed from Russian to American.

Chekhov’s mentions of Emancipation were changed to the Civil Rights – and therein was the largest change to the wording to make sense of the time change.  

The phrase “Two-and-Twenty Troubles” about the clerk Simeon became “Simple Simon”;  The songs sung by Simon were changed to recognizable tunes from the 1960’s.

July 2018