During the first rehearsal of almost any play, the cast and director do a "table read."

During the first rehearsal of almost any play, the cast and director do a "table read" at which the play is read once or more.
And that's just what happened at the first rehearsal for the Thalian Association's production of the comedy "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike" by Christopher Durang, the 2013 Tony-winner for best play that opens Thursday, May 29, at the Red Barn Studio Theatre. Except, director Nicole Farmer didn't have her cast read Durang's play. She had them read Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's "The Seagull" instead.
"I wanted them to have that frame of reference," said Farmer, who was named Best Director of a Play at the Wilmington Theater Awards in January for helming "William and Judith" for Browncoat Pub & Theatre. "I think people mistake Chekhov for being serious, (but) he was making fun of people in his day, and not many things have changed."
Durang has written that his play "takes Chekhovian characters and themes and puts them in a blender." The playwright, who has produced a slew of well-received comic one-acts and full-length plays over the course of his long career, is known for parodying famous writers including Tennessee Williams ("For Whom The Southern Belle Tolls," a send-up of "The Glass Menagerie") and Charles Dickens ("Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge," a musical parody of "A Christmas Carol").
But while "Vanya" has a certain Chekhovian rhythm to it, it's not a parody of Chekhov. Rather, it uses the playwright's work as a reference point in telling a highly original story of its own, albeit one in which cherry orchards are name-checked and a neighbor girl refers to one of the main characters as "Uncle Vanya."
Set in the present day, it's about three middle-aged siblings named after Chekhov characters by their late parents, who were college professors active in community theater. Gentle, genial Vanya (Mike O'Neil) lives a somewhat depressing existence in Bucks County, Pa., with his adopted sister, the malcontented Sonia (Holli Saperstein). Their humdrum lives get stirred up when paid a visit by their movie star sister, Masha (Tamara Mercer), who arrives with her much younger boyfriend, Spike (Jacob Keohane).
"I fell in love with it as soon as I read it," Farmer said. "Friends of mine had seen it in New York and told me how great it was. I had literally just ordered it from Amazon and (outgoing Thalian Association artistic director) Tom (Briggs) called me two days later and asked if I'd direct it. It was kismet."
As is often the case with Durang's plays, "Vanya" is filled with laugh-out-loud dialogue and outlandish situations. In this case, many of them are manufactured by a soothsayer of a cleaning woman named Cassandra (Mirla Criste), whose name portends her ability to foretell doom.
But while Durang's humor often tends toward the absurd, it's an absurdism that bears the ring of truth, especially in the complicated relationships between the siblings in "Vanya."
"It's a commentary about what it is to live in the modern day," Farmer said. "It's very funny but it's also very poignant."
To wit, Vanya (the character) has a four-page monologue in which he decries the state of the modern world that also serves as an exhilarating takedown of every obnoxious, texting-at-the-dinner-table-yahoo in existence. In that sense, the play is about mourning the past, and its connection to Chekhov evokes a yearning for bygone "days when things were simpler," Farmer said, when people were more articulate and society less crude.
In the buildup to staging "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike" the Thalian Association has been dealing with some off-stage drama due to an ongoing fight between the theater company's board of directors and artists who have worked with the company, a dustup sparked by the consolidation of two artistic director positions that resulted in Briggs and Jason Aycock losing their jobs. Farmer said rehearsals haven't been weird because of the situation.
"It was so wonderful to have Tom there. He was there at auditions," Farmer said. "But then (new artistic director) David (Loudermilk) came in and he's been a delight to work with. I don't think it could've gone any better … If we do our job well, people will be wowed by the story we have to tell."
‘Wizard of Oz'
Opera House Theatre Co. kicks off its season of summer musicals with "The Wizard of Oz." The family-friendly classic opens on Wednesday at Thalian Hall.
Based on the novel by Frank Baum and the universally known movie, the show features all of the songs you know ("Over the Rainbow," "If I Only Had a Brain") plus a number cut from the movie, "The Jitterbug." Suellen Yates directs.
Opera House's summer season continues with "On the Town," opening July 2; "Kiss Me, Kate" opening July 30; and "Into the Woods," opening Aug. 27.
Details: 8 p.m. June 4-7, 13-14 and 20-21, 3 p.m. June 8, 15 and 22 at Thalian Hall, 310 Chestnut St., downtown Wilmington. $29. 910-632-2285 or www.ThalianHall.org.

John Staton: 343-2343
On Twitter: @Statonator