Tickets for THE CHERRY ORCHARD are now on sale, click here!  

November 22 – December 15
THE CHERRY ORCHARD
By Anton Chekhov
Directed by Bill Peters

The Russians adore their past, hate the present and fear the future.  How sad it would be if we forgot that the future we fear turns slowly into the present we detest, and the past that we adore.
– Anton Chekhov

Stanislavsky, the seminal director of the Moscow Art Theatre, proudly communicated a message to Chekhov after the first reading of The Cherry Orchard: “We all wept!” The news greatly depressed the writer: “I have written a comedy,” he replied. The French have a term for Chekhov’s comic vision: la comédie humaine. It refers to a work of art that embraces the whole variety of life.

The Cherry Orchard deals with dislocating events in the life of a Russian family of landowners, their neighbors, and the people who work for them. Powerful social forces are in motion, and everyone is altered by them. Despair seems pervasive, and yet joy persists. Chekhov makes each of his characters simultaneously likable and infuriating, credible and foolish. It was his great gift as a writer to make each life in his plays complex, vivid, and necessary.

“The Cherry Orchard” will be guided by highly respected director and professor Bill Peters, who most recently directed Julius Caesar for MCT. “I’m excited to be directing this play for MCT. It takes actors of great soul and skill to embody this material, and I have been blessed with an exceptional cast.” The production includes many Santa Cruz favorites including Sarah Albertson, Jocelyn McMahon-Babalis, Nat Robinson, Scott Kravitz, Helene Simkin Jara, Sequoia Jones, Jim Goldrup, David Leach, Rick Kuhn, Alie Mac, Aki’o Nanamura, David Halper, and Tom Goldrup.

The production opens Friday November 22nd and runs four weekends through Sunday December 15th at Ben Lomond’s historic Park Hall, 9400 Mill Street. Friday and Saturday performances are at 8 p.m.; Sunday matinees are at 2:00 p.m.  Community Night is Saturday night, November 30, when all tickets are two for $20.   There will be a post-show champagne reception on opening night Friday, November 22nd, and talk-backs with the cast and director after the performances on Sunday November 24 and Saturday November 30. General tickets are $20; Senior and Student tickets are $17.