Yōji Sakate series. In 2010, these adapted plays were collected into "The Contemporary Nō Collection" (現代能楽集 "Gendai nōgakushū"). Although Chekhov and Ibsen were not part of the "nō" style, Sakate took these works and created them to fit the general view of "nō" and also making unique adaptations to create his own style. Plays of Chekhov he translated include "The Seagull", "Uncle Vanya", "The Cherry Orchard", and "Three Sisters". Through his plays, Sakate challenges a plethora of contemporary issues such as social and political issues, censorship, and sexuality. In "Epitaph for the Whales" (くじらの墓標 "Kujira no bohyō", 1993), he presents the issues
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike Nielsen and Liesel Allen Yaeger. In September/October 2013, a separate production ran in the Phoenix Theatre, Indianapolis, produced by Bryan Fonseca. In 2014, the show ran at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, and in Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona. The show was produced in Seattle at the ACT Theatre from October 17 – November 16, 2014. Playwright Durang starred as Vanya alongside Marilu Henner as Masha in a production at the Bucks County Playhouse from July 17 to August 10, 2014. Although "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike" is a comedy, it has some darker elements that pervade its themes.