2018 \ Sept 21 - Oct 21
Uncle Vanya
Family Baggage Minus the Handles
By Anton Chekhov
Translated By Paul Schmidt
Directed By Paige Rogers
The 2018/2019 Season begins with Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov, in a translation by Paul Schmidt. Uncle Vanya will be directed by Cutting Ball's Founder and exiting Artistic Director Paige Rogers.
About the play:
Vanya was once a brilliant intellectual but now, suddenly, he realizes that he’s squandered twenty years managing his family's farm. Eschewing love and personal acclaim can take its toll on a psyche, so is it any surprise that he eventually cracks, especially with all these family members under one roof? Comic, caustic, and true to life, Uncle Vanya challenges us to find value in the things that we take for granted.
Run time: 2 hours with a 10-minute intermission
PRESS
"In Cutting Ball’s production of Uncle Vanya, all the vile qualities in Chekhov’s provincial gentry become strangely lovable. Paige Rogers’ direction of the 1898 play … makes something delicious out of every prattling complaint, every doomed overture, every teeth-gnashing, floor-pounding fit." – Lily Janiak, San Francisco Chronicle
"This is a Vanya that mixes, to just the right degree, modern effects with a hint of another time and place, bringing to life an unhappy family that is, contrary to Tolstoy’s axiom, unhappy in the deep way of all unhappy families." – Jean Schiffman, San Francisco Examiner
"Vanya, excellently played by Pittsburgh-based actor George Saulnier, explodes in vitriol over his ruined life, wasted in service to the estate." – Steve Murray, For All Events
"Adam Magill plays a lanky country doctor with an incredible Freddie Mercury mustache and the penetrating stare of a man awaiting execution while actually just waiting for tea." – Adam Brinklow, EDGE Media Network
Haley Bertelsen (Sónya) is pleased to be making her Cutting Ball debut in Uncle Vanya. Originally from Seattle, Bertelsen moved to San Francisco after receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Performance from Central Washington University. Previous roles include Claire Ganz in Rumors at Novato Theater Company, and Angie in Mercy Killing at Pianofight. She has also been in various other Bay Area productions including Gertrude Stein and a Companion (Theatre Rhinocerous), and Comedy of Errors (Curtain Theatre). Film and modeling credits include Wives with Knives, Lookout Security, Cartier, and Sonoma County Tourism.
Virginia M. Blanco (Yeléna) is thrilled to make her Cutting Ball debut. Originally from Argentina, she has performed in Spanish in both classic and contemporary plays. Regional credits include Aria’s (Orinda Starlight Village Players), The Grapes Of Wrath (Ubuntu Theater Project), The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Shelton Theatre), and more recently Between Us – La Profesora (TheatreFirst) and Power Plays (Theatre of Yugen). Virginia studies drama at Studio ACT and BerkREP Theatre School.
Adam Magill (Mikhaíl Lvóvich Ástrov) is a graduate of the Foothill Theatre Conservatory. Recent productions include Dry Land (Shotgun Players) and Shakespeare in Love (Marin Theatre Company).
Doug Nolan (Alexánder Serebriakóv) is thrilled to return to Cutting Ball! He recently appeared on Cutting Ball’s stage in Uncle Vanya and Timon of Athens. Other credits nclude: Hecuba/Helen (Stanford Repertory Theater); Enrico IV, Threepenny Opera (American Conservatory Theater); Kean, Love’s Labour’s Lost (Shakespeare Santa Cruz); Romeo and Juliet (Marin Shakespeare Company, Half Moon Bay Shakespeare Company), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Marin Shakespeare Company, Half Moon Bay Shakespeare Company); Balm in Gilead, Scattering Poems All Through the Night (Magic Theatre); Arrivals/Departures (Shotgun Players); Macbeth (Half Moon Bay Shakespeare Company); August: Osage County, Coney Island Christmas, Every Christmas Story Ever Told (Coastal Repertory Theatre). MFA: American Conservatory Theater. Next appearing as ‘Touchstone’ in As You Like It at Half Moon Bay Shakespeare this summer.
Omar Osoria-Peña (Hired Man) is honored to be working on this show with such a talented and hardworking cast and crew. He is a recent graduate of San Francisco State University’s Theatre Arts Program. Previous shows he has worked on include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Laramie Project at SF State and Oedipus El Rey at Diablo Valley College.
Merle Rabine (Ilyá Ilych Telégin) is a retired attorney and former chair of the California Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board. He plays viola in Symphony Parnassus, a community orchestra.
Miyoko Sakatani (Mrs. Voinítsky (María Vasílyevna)) is honored to be making her debut with CBT in this brilliant production of Uncle Vanya. She is humbled to be working with a fabulous cast and crew and awesome director Paige Rogers. Favorite shows include, Vanya, Sonia, Masha and Spike, The Free Speech Movement and Distracted. Miyoko performed her own solo piece about her family’s immigration and internment at the Marsh Theatre. Films include the award winning feature, East Side Sushi. She is currently Executive Director of Playland Productions.
Nancy Sans (Marína) is a writer, director and actor. She is an Emmy-winning writer for Sesame Street, and the founder and director of Young Will, a Shakespeare program for kids.
George Saulnier (Iván Petróvich (Ványa)) has been acting professionally for more than 30 years. He studied at Emerson College, Trinity Rep Conservatory, Shakespeare & Co., Harvard University, and with Anna Deveare Smith. He was a long time member of one of Boston’s most talked about and beloved companies, Rough & Tumble Theatre performing and helping to create work for them in 11 of their productions. Favorite roles include Mason Marzac in Take Me Out for which he was nominated for an IRNE award for Best supporting actor, Hamm in Endgame, Krapp in Krapp’s Last Tape, and George in Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf? George won the award for Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actor in Stage Right’s production of Once Upon a Mattress Store at the Pittsburgh New Works Festival. He is more than honored to join Paige and The Cutting Ball’s production of Uncle Vanya.
Design Staff:
Scenic Designer: Fred Kinney
Lighting Designer: Ted Boyce-Smith
Costume Designer: Alina Bokovikova
Sound Designer: Jaren Feeley
Properties Designer: Stephanie Dittbern
Associate Costume Designer: Ge Jia
Stage Management Team:
Stage Manager: Michaela Byrne
Assistant Stage Manager: Eteya Trinidad