comedy, n.
the genre of dramatic literature dealing with the comic or with the serious in a light or satirical manner
irony, n.
the use of words to express something other than, and especially the opposite of, the literal meaning
topsy-turvy, adj.
with the top or head downward
tragedy, n.
a serious drama typically describing a conflict between the protagonist and a superior force (such as destiny) and having a sorrowful or disastrous conclusion that elicits pity or terror
It’s uncanny how much art imitates life. It’s well known that Anton Chekhov went to medical school, but Chekhov’s family had worked their way out of serfdom to the merchant class. In 1857, his father Pavel owned a grocery store but struggled to keep the business afloat. Pavel fled Moscow to avoid his creditors but left behind his two sons, one of whom was Anton. Because of the debts, the family home was auctioned off, and the business went bankrupt. From then on Chekhov lived alone, making ends meet by tutoring young students. Fast forward to 1903, Chekhov had begun writing what would become his mostproduced work, The Cherry Orchard. The imitation of Chekhov’s life can be seen through the lives of Lopakhin, a child of lower-class parents, Trofimov, a tutor to students, and even Ranevskaya, with her family fortunes in flux. Many of Chekhov’s plays also have that quality of life’s imitating art with The Cherry Orchard the most realistic of them all. Consider that Chekhov anticipated with such precision, and 14 years in advance, the end of Russian serfdom. In fact, in this work, he imagines a civil unrest that presages not only 1917 in Russia, but 1994 in South Africa or 1989 in Berlin, to name just a few.
The Cherry Orchard
Unlike in his earlier works, Chekhov was committed to writing a comedy here, but as his health took a toll, this play grew more sorrowful throughout the acts. The Cherry Orchard is technically subtitled, “a comedy in four acts.” And while the tragedy in the play might make an audience feel too guilty to laugh, these characters are written with such frankness, vulnerability, and love that the comedy is born out of irony. We laugh not because of the circumstances but because our humanity is so magnified onstage; we are reminded that none of us suffers alone. There’s a topsy-turvyness about the play—the poor inherit the earth; the end is the beginning; and the tragic is hilarious. Today, we flip the play too, bringing this grand work that started in the Moscow Art Theatre to the Kondoleon Studio, inviting our audiences to join in one of the most famous stage directions ever written: “laughing through tears.” —Ashley M. Thomas, Production Dramaturg
A 2022–23 SEASON STUDIO PRODUCTION