Envisioning the Future While Dreaming of the Past The Three Sisters draws us into a world in transition, where the past is rapidly receding, and the future remains uncertain. The Prozorov siblings—Olga, Masha, Andrey, and Irina—are stuck in rural Russia at the turn of the twentieth century. As the Empire inches toward revolution, the Prozorovs, like their native land, are pulled between the poles of past and future. In Russia’s major cities, Moscow and St. Petersburg, philosophers dreamed of Utopian futures and the transcendence of mankind, while social reformers mapped out visions of progress. Yet the move toward change was fraught and uneven. Workers suffered abysmal conditions, and women, whose traditional role was subservient to men’s, fought (often unsuccessfully) for basic rights such as education and land ownership. For those living in the countryside, the situation was harsher; although the serfs had been emancipated almost half a century before, most remained mired in poverty. All four of the siblings dream of returning to the Moscow of their childhood. The city they yearn for has grown more potent in their minds with each passing year. But the Moscow they dream of no longer exists; it has been swept along in history’s current with the rest of the country. As the family grows older, one central question—no less compelling to us today—looms ever larger for each of them: How do we fulfill the promise of our younger years? As the dream of going back gives way to the necessity of looking forward, everyone in The Three Sisters strives to create meaning, love, and joy…where they can.
—LYNDA A.H. PAUL, PRODUCTION DRAMATURG
THE
THREE SISTERS Thursday, September 29 at 4PM Friday, September 30 at 3:30PM and 8PM Saturday, October 1 at 4PM Iseman Theater, 1156 Chapel Street
The Studio Series productions are designed to be learning experiences that complement classroom work, providing a medium for students at Yale School of Drama to combine their individual talents and energies toward the staging of collaboratively created works.
2016–17 SEASON <<1>>