{"id":15992,"date":"2017-05-04T09:35:06","date_gmt":"2017-05-04T14:35:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/?p=15992"},"modified":"2017-05-04T09:35:06","modified_gmt":"2017-05-04T14:35:06","slug":"vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike\/","title":{"rendered":"This Chekhovian Black Comedy is a Hysterical Romp"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"vanya<\/a>Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike<\/em> by Christopher Durang is a 2013 Tony Award-winning play that creates a laugh-out-loud show of literary proportion. Whether or not you react to the many Chekhov references at Citadel Theatre\u2019s final show of the season, such as the names of the characters or the \u201cCherry Orchard\u201d in the backyard, you\u2019ll laugh at the antics and traditional sibling rivalry of the two sisters and a brother who share the home of their deceased parents.<\/p>\n

\"vanya<\/a>Replacing the traditional Chekhovian country estate is the setting of a farmhouse in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Vanya and his adopted sister, Sonia, named by their English professor parents, haven\u2019t done much with their lives. Thankfully, their sister, Masha is a successful actress who pays the bills and their upkeep. Adding comic relief, although none is needed, is the psychic housekeeper who can tell the future. When Masha arrives home with Spike, \u201cthe boy toy,\u201d and then a young neighbor who attracts the dim-witted Spike, it all adds to the fun and hilarity ensues.<\/p>\n

Mention must be made of Ellen Phelps as Sonia. When she goes to a costume party dressed as Maggie Smith, accent and all, she is hysterical. But going deeper, when someone from the party calls her for a date, you can watch her s-l-o-w-l-y evolve from someone who\u2019s never had a date in her life to someone who realizes her true worth. This suitor can now change her life and makes her hope a better life is waiting. She is superb.<\/p>\n

The show runs through May 28 at the Citadel Theatre, 300 South Waukegan Road, in Lake Forest. Visit www.CitadelTheatre.org or call 847.735.8554. Next up for the 2017-2018 season is Light Up the Sky<\/em>, Scrooge and the Ghostly Spirits<\/em>, Sex with Strangers<\/em>, and The Explorer\u2019s Club<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike by Christopher Durang is a 2013 Tony Award-winning play that creates a laugh-out-loud show of literary proportion. Whether or not you…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":16024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[2153,2041,33,2113,2152],"class_list":["post-15992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-category-arts-culture","tag-citadel-theatre","tag-stageplay","tag-theatre","tag-theatre-in-chicago","tag-vanya-and-sonia"],"yoast_head":"\nThis Chekhovian Black Comedy is a Hysterical Romp | UrbanMatter<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is a Tony Award-winning play that's chock full of Chekhovian references and laugh-out-loud performances.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This Chekhovian Black Comedy is a Hysterical Romp\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is a Tony Award-winning play that's chock full of Chekhovian references and laugh-out-loud performances.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UrbanMatter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/Pluggchicago\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-05-04T14:35:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/ellen2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1170\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"796\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mira Temkin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@UMatterChicago\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UMatterChicago\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mira Temkin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mira Temkin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/adc708c890905b656fbdc3eb5be4ef85\"},\"headline\":\"This Chekhovian Black Comedy is a Hysterical Romp\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-05-04T14:35:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike\/\"},\"wordCount\":310,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/ellen2.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Citadel Theatre\",\"stageplay\",\"theatre\",\"theatre in chicago\",\"Vanya and Sonia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Theater\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike\/\",\"name\":\"This Chekhovian Black Comedy is a Hysterical Romp | UrbanMatter\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/ellen2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-05-04T14:35:06+00:00\",\"description\":\"Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is a Tony Award-winning play that's chock full of Chekhovian references and laugh-out-loud performances.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/ellen2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/ellen2.jpg\",\"width\":1170,\"height\":796,\"caption\":\"vanya and sonia and masha and spike\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Theater\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/category-arts-culture\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"This Chekhovian Black Comedy is a Hysterical Romp\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/\",\"name\":\"UrbanMatter\",\"description\":\"For What Really Matters\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/#organization\",\"name\":\"UrbanMatter Chicago\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/UM_Logo-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/UM_Logo-1.png\",\"width\":371,\"height\":99,\"caption\":\"UrbanMatter Chicago\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/Pluggchicago\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/UMatterChicago\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/adc708c890905b656fbdc3eb5be4ef85\",\"name\":\"Mira Temkin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ccc07e5121eb0c320115cf53748cf0ee?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ccc07e5121eb0c320115cf53748cf0ee?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mira Temkin\"},\"description\":\"Mira Temkin is a Chicago-based journalist who has a passion for travel and writes about destinations, hotels, food, theatre and events. She is currently a blogger for Orbitz, Travelocity, Splash Magazines Worldwide as well as other print and online publications. Her articles have appeared in Red Tricycle, Highland Park Landmark, Food Wine Travel, JUF News, Modern Jewish Experience and more. When she's not up in the air or on the road, she can be reached at miratemkin@gmail.com.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/miratemkintravel.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/author\/mtemkin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"This Chekhovian Black Comedy is a Hysterical Romp | UrbanMatter","description":"Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is a Tony Award-winning play that's chock full of Chekhovian references and laugh-out-loud performances.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"This Chekhovian Black Comedy is a Hysterical Romp","og_description":"Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is a Tony Award-winning play that's chock full of Chekhovian references and laugh-out-loud performances.","og_url":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike\/","og_site_name":"UrbanMatter","article_publisher":"http:\/\/facebook.com\/Pluggchicago\/","article_published_time":"2017-05-04T14:35:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1170,"height":796,"url":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/ellen2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Mira Temkin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@UMatterChicago","twitter_site":"@UMatterChicago","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mira Temkin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike\/"},"author":{"name":"Mira Temkin","@id":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/adc708c890905b656fbdc3eb5be4ef85"},"headline":"This Chekhovian Black Comedy is a Hysterical Romp","datePublished":"2017-05-04T14:35:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike\/"},"wordCount":310,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/ellen2.jpg","keywords":["Citadel Theatre","stageplay","theatre","theatre in chicago","Vanya and Sonia"],"articleSection":["Theater"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike\/","url":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike\/","name":"This Chekhovian Black Comedy is a Hysterical Romp | UrbanMatter","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/ellen2.jpg","datePublished":"2017-05-04T14:35:06+00:00","description":"Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is a Tony Award-winning play that's chock full of Chekhovian references and laugh-out-loud performances.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/ellen2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/ellen2.jpg","width":1170,"height":796,"caption":"vanya and sonia and masha and spike"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Theater","item":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/category-arts-culture\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"This Chekhovian Black Comedy is a Hysterical Romp"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/#website","url":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/","name":"UrbanMatter","description":"For What Really Matters","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/#organization","name":"UrbanMatter Chicago","url":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/UM_Logo-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/UM_Logo-1.png","width":371,"height":99,"caption":"UrbanMatter Chicago"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/facebook.com\/Pluggchicago\/","https:\/\/x.com\/UMatterChicago"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/adc708c890905b656fbdc3eb5be4ef85","name":"Mira Temkin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ccc07e5121eb0c320115cf53748cf0ee?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ccc07e5121eb0c320115cf53748cf0ee?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mira Temkin"},"description":"Mira Temkin is a Chicago-based journalist who has a passion for travel and writes about destinations, hotels, food, theatre and events. She is currently a blogger for Orbitz, Travelocity, Splash Magazines Worldwide as well as other print and online publications. Her articles have appeared in Red Tricycle, Highland Park Landmark, Food Wine Travel, JUF News, Modern Jewish Experience and more. When she's not up in the air or on the road, she can be reached at miratemkin@gmail.com.","sameAs":["http:\/\/miratemkintravel.com"],"url":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/author\/mtemkin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}