Uncle Vanya

The arrival of Professor Serebryakov at his country estate, along with his young wife, Helena, reveals the many frustrations of a not-so-distant past as well as a number of unknown desires in the present. Sonya,  the professor’s daughter,  feels the thrill of first love for a local physician, Dr. Astrov, while he competes tacitly against Vanya, the estate caretaker (and the professor’s former brother-in-law), for Helena’s favor. Step by step, we discover the immortal story of destinies shattered by the longing for impossible loves, along with the almost absurd existence of idealists facing ennui, regret and the agony of premature old age.

Neil LaBute revisits Chekhov’s classic play to explore the human condition, past and present, in a dynamic and sensitive performance that brings to the audience a timeless and universal metaphor for the struggle with our own demons.

About Neil LaBute

Neil LaBute is a director, a screen writer and one of the most innovative American playwrights. His plays are translated and staged extensively in the United States of America and Europe: Bash: Latter-Day Plays (1999), The Mercy Seat (2002), Autobahn (2003), Fat Pig (2004), Some Girl(s) (2005), In A Dark Dark House (2007), Reasons To Be Pretty (2008), Helter Skelter (2008), Land of the Dead (2008), The Break of Noon (2010), The Furies (2009), In A Forest, Dark and Deep (2011), Lovely Head & Other Plays (2013), Reasons to Be Happy (2013), Money Shot (2014), The Way We Get By (2015). He wrote the script for several feature films: In the Company of Men, Your Friends & Neighbors, Nurse Betty, Possession, The Shape of Things, The Wicker Man, Lakeview Terrace, Death at A Funeral, Some Girl(s), Some Velvet Morning, Dirty Weekend and for some short films: Tumble, After-School Special, Sexting, Denise, Double or Nothing, Bench Seat, Sweet Nothings, BFF, It’s Okay. In 2013, LaBute receives the Literature Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. 

In 2023, he becomes a Fellow of the International Association of Theatre Leaders (IATL).