THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 2019 // 9
way their lives have turned out —
or not turned out,” Brown said.
The play is also about choices.
“Sometimes choices are
foisted upon us; we don’t make
those choices,” Brown said. “I
think that is very much the case
of Sonia and Vanya. I don’t think
they ever considered there was a
choice to take care of their parents
or not, they just did. I don’t think
they saw a way out.
“Masha, on the other hand, is
the oldest — that says something
about making choices. She did
make choices. But she has regret-
ted some of her choices because, I
believe, it has made her into a per-
son she didn’t want to be. It took
this visit home to fi gure that out.”
From left: Rick Grey,
Katrina Godderz and Daric
Moore run through part
of ‘Vanya and Sonia and
Masha and Spike.’
Photos by Bob Kroll
Knotty problems
While the siblings become
entangled in their familial ties,
three other characters present
some knotty problems of their
own.
Spike is Masha’s bouncy, ener-
getic boy toy, who “doesn’t really
understand about subtlety, so he’s
really just out there.” said Daric
Moore, who plays the young,
struggling Hollywood actor.
“He’s the driving force behind
what Masha is doing to some
degree,” Moore added. “She’s try-
ing to show him off, she’s trying
to impress her siblings.”
Much to Masha’s consterna-
tion, Spike shows an interest in
Nina (played by Ann Branson),
a young star-struck woman who
desires to be an actress.
In her own way, Nina brings
the family closer together by per-
ceiving each person’s talents they
never recognized themselves,
Branson said.
“She sees them all as individu-
als. So it helps break them out of
this routine they have been in for
so long, to see themselves differ-
ently. And this helps them relate
to each other differently,” she
said.
But Cassandra, the cleaning
lady who accurately prophesizes
the family’s future with elabo-
rate pronouncements or short out-
bursts, adds a supernatural ele-
ment to the play.
“She’s the foreshadower,”
said Katrina Godderz, who plays
Cassandra. “She’s an impartial
observer of the family, but she
cares about them. So she’s some-
body, who, in a sense, ties them
together.”
Although there are references
to Checkhov plays, those who
haven’t seen or read the writer’s
works won’t have trouble follow-
ing “Vanya and Sonia and Masha
and Spike.”
The cast includes experi-
enced actors: Rick Gray (Vanya)
is new to the Coaster, but has an
extensive background in regional
and professional theater; Sheila
Shaffer (Sonia) and Gigi Chad-
wick (Masha) have performed
in numerous Coaster plays, and
Shaffer has directed several.
The cast, Brown added, under-
stands the themes Durang pursues
in the play.
“Durang is a little daunting; it’s
not a Neil Simon comedy,” she
said. “There’s a lot to think about
when you’re taking on Durang.
But this cast has dealt with it very
well.” CW
Rick Grey
and Katrina
Godderz act
out a scene
from the play.