APT Presents A New Adaptation of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya

Ed Heinzelman, An Intuitive Perspective

Or: Absurdity Is The Human Condition!

The American Players Theater is currently offering Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya in a new adaptation by long time APT stalwart, Nate Burger. This production is part of World Premiere Wisconsin, a statewide festival celebrating new plays and musicals running throughout 2026.

What do we gain from Burger’s new adaptation? Well a surprisingly contemporary look and feel and dialogue for a well known and well loved play. I suspect that some of his more contemporary attributions results in a bit more humor and audience laughter than the original Chekhov. But we don’t lose a moment of the internecine family squabbles that were so important to Chekhov here and also surprisingly we don’t lose the sense of time and place either…being 1880s Russia. And director Brenda DeVita read Burger’s intent clearly and ignored a typical urge when doing Chekhov of using Russian accents. So Burger’s refreshing take on Uncle Vanya comes through clear and crisp indeed. But never fear, the action is still vodka fueled through and through. And yes there is still plenty of whining by nearly everyone on stage.

All of the family interactions take place in the living area in the home of their rural estate. The photo just above shows scenic designer Takeshi Kata’s simple while elaborate interpretation of just such a space. It certainly draws in the audience’s attention as we enter the theater and permits the actors a working space that aligns with their actions as our story unfolds. And watch the later photos to see the elaborate and signal costumes that Holly Payne has fashioned to depict the character and activities of each role. Despite the quite contemporary dialogues we are hearing, Payne’s costumes settle us into the right place and time.

The relationships and atmosphere are somewhat complicated and hostile/united all at once. Director DeVita writes in her notes that many of the characters remain and accept their ‘fate’ and relationships out of a sense of duty and as the play unfolds you have a clear sense of that. The relationships are complicated you say? Yes, we have a variety of father, mother, daughter, son, uncles, neighbors, doctors, and hired help. Each with a longing for something more, something better, balanced against a sense of loss or a misspent life. Such dreams and loss of dreams are dramas built on.

The original turmoil is based on the return to the estate by an elderly and retired professor, Alexander Serebryakov. The professor’s arrival has thrown the entire household into a tizzy as his presence and demands have changed their lifestyles significantly and most all of them are very resentful. Brian Mani plays Serebryakov as a self-centered, self-important, arrogant old man. His take control persona doesn’t sit well and often belies his supposed superior intellectual abilities. And to make matters worse, he has shown up with, in American vernacular, his trophy wife, Yelena Andreyevana Serebryakova. For ease of my typing and for clarity, let’s just call her Yelena. Tracie Lane’s Yelena is fluid, cool, elegant, and aloof. And depending on how you read her interactions with the others, she may be a bit ditzy and opportunistic? Or may be not. She isn’t unfeeling however and how Lane portrays her sincerity in trying to make peace with her step-daughter, Sonya, is a clear indication of that. And although I said ditzy, Lane also shows that Yelena has some common sense and experience in dealing with the male gaze as she brushes off the advances of the doctor and Vanya. And she offers to use her experience to open the doctor’s eyes to Sonya’s love, although that may in part be to divert his attentions.

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