Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike Ben Brantley of "The New York Times" described the play as a "sunny new play about gloomy people". Patrick Healy of "The New York Times" described it as a "black comedy about unhappy siblings". According to Robin Pogrebin of "The New York Times", "The play sets characters and themes from Chekhov in present day Bucks County, PA." The characters Vanya, Sonia and Masha are middle-aged siblings named after Chekhov characters. Their deceased parents were "college professors who dabbled in community theater". The character names are borrowed from Chekhov plays. Vanya is the protagonist in "Uncle Vanya" and Sonia is his
The Orchard Keeper The Orchard Keeper The Orchard Keeper is the first novel by the American novelist Cormac McCarthy. It won the 1966 William Faulkner Foundation Award for notable first novel. "The Orchard Keeper" is set during the inter-war period in the hamlet of Red Branch, a small, isolated community in Tennessee. Its story revolves around three characters: Uncle Arthur Ownby, an isolated Woodman, who lives beside a rotting apple orchard; John Wesley Rattner, a young mountain boy; and Marion Sylder, an outlaw and bootlegger. The novel begins with Marion picking up a hitchhiker named Kenneth Rattner, who attacks Marion with a tire