A new adaptation of 'Uncle Vanya' at American Players Theatre

Rebecca Jamieson, Isthmus

Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya has been produced countless times over the last 129 years, but a Broadway run in 2024 and a surge of other new productions prompts the question: Why does it feel so important right now?

A new adaptation from Nate Burger attempts to answer that question. It provides a fresh mirror for modern audiences, while staying true to the spirit of Chekhov’s original. American Players Theatre’s production, running through Sept. 5, is part of World Premiere Wisconsin, a statewide festival celebrating new plays and musicals running throughout 2026.

Perhaps part of the play’s relevance is that the characters in Uncle Vanya are so messily human. Just like us, they stress about work and relationships, worry about life’s big questions, and carry anxiety about the future. “What will they think of us?” country doctor Mikhail Lvovich Astrov (Casey Hoekstra) mournfully asks his friend, elderly nanny Marina (Karen Janes Woditsch). “People a hundred years from now…I mean, we’re supposed to be building a world for them. What will they think? I think they might hate us.”

Astrov’s concern for future generations is especially gut-wrenching in 2026, as severe storms have pummeled Wisconsin and record-breaking heatwaves scorched Europe and Asia. As Astrov, an avid and prescient environmentalist, says: “Because of us, forests are dying, rivers are drying up, whole species are disappearing, the climate is decimated, and every single day, our planet — this lonesome, verdant miracle — inches closer to oblivion.”

Yet, as compelling as is its concern for the big picture, Uncle Vanya’s true power hits on a more intimate scale. Themes like fear of wasting one’s life, anxiety about aging, longing to escape the drudgery of work while barely getting by are just as relevant now as they were in 1897 when the play was first published.

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