Season Select: Uncle Vanya

Uncle Vanya

By Anton Chekhov

Adapted by Nate Burger

Directed by Brenda DeVita

Fast Facts

Playing: Hill Theatre | June 19 - September 5
Featuring: Leslie Brott, Maggie Cramer, David Daniel, Casey Hoekstra, Brian Mani, Marcus Truschinski , Karen Janes Woditsch
Genre: Period Family Drama
Last Seen at APT: 2001
Go if You Liked: Anna in the Tropics (2025), Dancing at Lughnasa (2024), Anton’s Shorts (2023)

About Uncle Vanya

In true Uncle Vanya-style, Chekhov’s first attempt at the pensive family drama was a magnificent failure. In 1889, 29-year-old Anton Chekhov had written a string of plays met with tumultuous premiere productions. His play Ivanov (1887) had an infamously bad opening night in Moscow, followed soon after by crushing reviews for his latest work, The Wood Demon (1889). The Wood Demon told the story of a dysfunctional family on a rural estate, and was mocked for being too “long and limp.”

A disappointed Chekhov would rework The Wood Demon into what would become Uncle Vanya (1897), slimming down the large ensemble cast to a much smaller group of complicated individuals. Through this process, Chekhov developed what would become his signature style: natural depth, unsentimental dialogue and a dedication to realism.

When an artistic clash between Chekhov and Moscow’s Maly Theatre — the original theater with plans to produce Uncle Vanya — caused Chekhov to withdraw his play, he turned it over to the avant garde Moscow Art Theatre, where Vanya premiered in October of 1899 and enjoyed a run of middling-success.

Chekhov’s shockingly passive style ushered in a new era of drama. His six rules for a great story and theatrical philosophy continue to inspire writers and artists in their own pursuits today. Uncle Vanya has received countless revivals and adaptations in the 125 years since it premiered, cementing its place in the world canon.

The New York Times Culture critic Jason Zinoman reflected on Vanya’s impact: “What is it about Anton Chekhov’s incessantly complaining, self-pitying sad sack that makes him return anew to the theater more than any other dramatic protagonist maybe short of Hamlet, that other great melancholy inaction hero?... Uncle Vanya ages well because it changes with age.”

And Vanya’s been having a bit of a moment recently. Actors Steve Carell, Toby Jones and Andrew Scott have all taken on the iconic role in the last few years. Films like Drive My Car (2021) and Vanya on 42^nd Street (1994) present contemporary spins on the play’s look at art and loneliness. New theatrical adaptations like Fires, Ohio, by Beth Hyland, Uncle Jack by Michael Hammond and Life Sucks (2018) by our good friend Aaron Posner have brought the characters of Vanya and Sonya into the 21st century.

This year, Core Company member Nate Burger joins the ranks with his own adaptation of Uncle Vanya, first read at APT's Winter Words play reading series in 2023. His playwright bio keeps it simple: "He is deeply grateful to Brenda for her faith and generosity and to Anton Chekhov who did it best."