Or: Absurdity Is The Human Condition!
The American Players Theater is currently offering Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya in a new adaptation by long time APT stalwart, Nate Burger. This production is part of World Premiere Wisconsin, a statewide festival celebrating new plays and musicals running throughout 2026.
What do we gain from Burger’s new adaptation? Well a surprisingly contemporary look and feel and dialogue for a well known and well loved play. I suspect that some of his more contemporary attributions results in a bit more humor and audience laughter than the original Chekhov. But we don’t lose a moment of the internecine family squabbles that were so important to Chekhov here and also surprisingly we don’t lose the sense of time and place either…being 1880s Russia. And director Brenda DeVita read Burger’s intent clearly and ignored a typical urge when doing Chekhov of using Russian accents. So Burger’s refreshing take on Uncle Vanya comes through clear and crisp indeed. But never fear, the action is still vodka fueled through and through. And yes there is still plenty of whining by nearly everyone on stage.
All of the family interactions take place in the living area in the home of their rural estate. The photo just above shows scenic designer Takeshi Kata’s simple while elaborate interpretation of just such a space. It certainly draws in the audience’s attention as we enter the theater and permits the actors a working space that aligns with their actions as our story unfolds. And watch the later photos to see the elaborate and signal costumes that Holly Payne has fashioned to depict the character and activities of each role. Despite the quite contemporary dialogues we are hearing, Payne’s costumes settle us into the right place and time.
The relationships and atmosphere are somewhat complicated and hostile/united all at once. Director DeVita writes in her notes that many of the characters remain and accept their ‘fate’ and relationships out of a sense of duty and as the play unfolds you have a clear sense of that. The relationships are complicated you say? Yes, we have a variety of father, mother, daughter, son, uncles, neighbors, doctors, and hired help. Each with a longing for something more, something better, balanced against a sense of loss or a misspent life. Such dreams and loss of dreams are dramas built on.
The original turmoil is based on the return to the estate by an elderly and retired professor, Alexander Serebryakov. The professor’s arrival has thrown the entire household into a tizzy as his presence and demands have changed their lifestyles significantly and most all of them are very resentful. Brian Mani plays Serebryakov as a self-centered, self-important, arrogant old man. His take control persona doesn’t sit well and often belies his supposed superior intellectual abilities. And to make matters worse, he has shown up with, in American vernacular, his trophy wife, Yelena Andreyevana Serebryakova. For ease of my typing and for clarity, let’s just call her Yelena. Tracie Lane’s Yelena is fluid, cool, elegant, and aloof. And depending on how you read her interactions with the others, she may be a bit ditzy and opportunistic? Or may be not. She isn’t unfeeling however and how Lane portrays her sincerity in trying to make peace with her step-daughter, Sonya, is a clear indication of that. And although I said ditzy, Lane also shows that Yelena has some common sense and experience in dealing with the male gaze as she brushes off the advances of the doctor and Vanya. And she offers to use her experience to open the doctor’s eyes to Sonya’s love, although that may in part be to divert his attentions.
Mikhail Lvovich Astrov is the local doctor and a family friend. Astrov often spends time at the estate but even more time now that the professor is in residence. He is often called because of some malady being experienced by the professor but the professor refuses to see him. But he comes anyway…sense of duty? No because he is crushing on Yelena. Casey Hoekstra plays Astrov for all he’s worth. A very passionate man about the environment and documenting the changes over the past 50 years and trying to foresee what will change in the future. Hoekstra is vibrant in this role…active and feeling but lets his feelings for Yelena get in the way of his other duties. Hoekstra’s very effectively portrays Astrov as Vanya’s drinking buddy and another lost soul despite his respected role as the local doctor.
Sonya Alexandrovna Serebryakova is Alexander’s daughter and the niece of, well, Uncle Vanya. Her late mother was Alexander’s first wife who was Vanya’s sister. Sonya and Vanya have been working the estate and sending money to Alexander to maintain his lifestyle. Maggie Cramer is a marvel as Sonya. Girlish in an exciting way when around her family and the doctor about also immensely mature when it comes to running the estate. But being young she is a bit naive and can’t quite come to express her feelings for the doctor. Although when she finally has enough, Cramer is there in the moment when she forces Astrov to quit drinking. And Cramer also shows the more mature side of Sonya when she agrees to accept Yelena’s offer to make peace.
Marcus Truschinski is Uncle Vanya, I mean, Ivan Petrovich Voinitsky. Truschinski instills Vanya with all of the brio and angst that Chekhov and Burger have called for. And his wooing of Yelena is more direct and sloppy than Astrov’s. But his feelings for his niece and mother feel genuine and concerning and as DeVita said, full of duty. And Truschinski too effectively portrays a man in the thralls of vodka and he explodes with rage at the apex of the dramatic arc, when Alexander suggests (well assumes actually) that they sell the estate. But here too he is able to bring Vanya back to reality and settle for the old/new status quo after Alexander and Yelena decide to leave the estate.
The glue holding the household together while managing to hold her tongue is Marina, the old nanny. And everyone on set loves the nanny. Karen Janes Woditsch quietly and calmly takes most everything in stride, not without some comment mind you, but just as calmly with a sigh of relief says this should have happened a long time ago, when the professor decides to go.
There are two other characters, Maria Vasilyevna Voinitskaya, the mother of Alexader’s first wife, the mother of Vanya, and Sonya’s grandmother. Leslie Brott gives Maria a regal and maternal bearing. And ‘Waffle’s, an impoverished landowner who helps out on the estate and helps out with drinking the vodka. David Daniels gives him a solid presence and a delicate sense of self worth but sometimes he seems to be a bit of comic relief.
In her notes, DeVita hopes that we will fall in love with these characters. And with Burger’s script and her direction I can honestly say that I did, particularly Sonya who seems the most beset of the characters but at most times the most tolerant. Well expect for one: Alexander Serebryakov! I have no time for that man.
Contains adult themes and language. This performance also uses theatrical, blank-firing firearms and gunshot effects.
American Players Theatre presents Uncle Vanya at their Hill Theatre from now until Sept. 5th, 2026. Run Time: 2 Hours 45 Minutes, including one 20-minute intermission.
Additional information and tickets can be found here.
A side note on our particular evening at Uncle Vanya. Well…there is a scene where there is a storm and there is some thunder in the sound for the play. Except when the storm scene ended we could still hear thunder and it turned into the real thing just before intermission. So our intermission was a bit longer than planned and the scenic crew covered the set and later mopped the stage. And the show went on despite a steady but light rain that continued through to the end. The result was any number of wags in the audience stating as we left the theater, I need a vodka!
