A10 • Friday, February 8, 2019 | Cannon Beach Gazette | CannonBeachGazette.com
‘Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike’: a comedy about connections
By NANCY MCCARTHY
Cannon Beach Gazette
Vanya bemoans a lost
past. Sonia laments that she
is a “wild turkey.” Masha
lusts after what could have
been. No one is satisfi ed
with their lives.
But they are connected
by the ultimate tie that
binds: the family tie.
Their story is told in the
play “Vanya and Sonia and
Masha and Spike,” which
opened at the Coaster The-
atre Playhouse Feb. 1 and
runs weekends through Feb.
23.
Winner of the 2013
Tony Award for Best Play,
the comedy was written by
Christopher Durang, who
incorporated
references
from Anton Chekhov’s
plays. It takes place in the
morning room of a farm-
house in Bucks County,
Pennsylvania. Vanya and
his adopted sister, Sonia,
grew up in the home and
took care of their parents,
who both suffered from
Alzheimer’s disease for 15
years.
Now alone and wonder-
ing what happened to their
lives, they are visited by
their older sister, Masha, a
glamorous screen and stage
star, who brings along her
lover, the much younger
Spike.
Director Susi Brown,
who has directed several
productions at the Coaster,
says the play is “very much
about family and the sense
of home.”
“Every family has their
squabbles and moments
of pulling together … and
I think Durang has really
explored that in terms of
fi nding and creating two
middle-aged, very dissat-
isfi ed people with the 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
Cast members Gigi Chadwick, Rick Grey and Sheila Shaff er.
IF YOU GO
What: “Vanya and
Sonia and Masha
and Spike”
Where: Coaster The-
atre Playhouse
When: Perfor-
mances weekends
through Feb. 23
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 mak-
ing choices. She did make
choices. But she has regret-
ted some of her choices
because, I believe, it has
Bob Kroll Photography
Rick Grey, Katrina Godderz and Daric Moore in “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.”
made her into a person she
didn’t want to be. It took
this visit home to fi gure that
out.”
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, energetic boy toy,
who “doesn’t really under-
stand about subtlety, so he’s
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Daric Moore, who plays the
young, struggling Holly-
wood actor.
“He’s the driving force
behind what Masha is doing
to some degree,” Moore
added. “She’s trying to
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show him off, she’s trying
to impress her siblings.”
Much to Masha’s con-
sternation, 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 perceiving each
person’s talents they never
recognized
themselves,
Branson said.
“She sees them all as
individuals. So it helps
break them out of this rou-
tine they have been in for
so long, to see themselves
differently. And this helps
them relate to each other
differently,” she said.
But Cassandra, the
cleaning lady who accu-
rately prophesizes the fam-
ily’s future with elaborate
pronouncements or short
outbursts, adds a supernatu-
ral element to the play.
“She’s the foreshad-
ower,” said Katrina God-
derz, 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 ref-
erences 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 expe-
rienced actors: Rick Gray
(Vanya) is new to the
Coaster, but has an exten-
sive background in regional
and professional theater;
Sheila Shaffer (Sonia) and
Gigi Chadwick (Masha)
have performed in numer-
ous Coaster plays, and Shaf-
fer has directed several.
The cast, Brown added,
understands the themes
Durang pursues in the play.
“Durang is a little daunt-
ing; 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.”
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