PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
November 12, 2013
PRESS
Lauren Lovell, PR Manager
llovell@zachtheatre.org
Reviewers Note: Press night is June 5, 2014. Please RSVP.
ZACH Theatre Announces A New Addition To The 2013-14 Season
VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE
Central Texas Premiere Of The Tony Award-Winning Comedy To Debut At ZACH!
AUSTIN, TX – ZACH Theatre is proud to announce the addition of CHRISTOPHER
DURANG’S Tony Award-winning comedy VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE to
the 2013-14 season. In this hilarious parody, Christopher Durang riffs on a mash-up of Anton
Chekov's great works, like Uncle Vanya, The Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard, while
upending Chekov's themes of heartache and regret to gleeful results. ZACH Theatre’s
production stars BETH BRODERICK of ZACH’s 33 Variations, TV’s Sabrina, The Teenage Witch
and NBC's 2013 Steven King series Under the Dome. VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND
SPIKE performs May 28 – June 22, 2014 at ZACH’s intimate Topfer Theatre under the
direction of ZACH Theatre’s new Associate Artistic Director, ABE REYBOLD.
“Deliriously funny,” declares the New York Times. “The theater erupts in booming gusts
of laughter... I can imagine many satisfied patrons leaving the theater muttering, ‘Now if only
real Chekhov plays were this funny maybe I wouldn’t keep falling asleep.’”
"The kind of full-on comedy that's rare on Broadway. It makes you laugh out loud, and
repeatedly at that," says The New York Post.
“Brainy and witty and clever and cute,” raves Variety. “In this hilarious mash up, classic
themes of existential loss and longing are given both a modern spin and endlessly inventive
comic twists.”
Vanya and his sister Sonia live a quiet, country life in their childhood home with plenty of time
for self-reflection, and humorous counsel from their housekeeper Cassandra, who believes she
has the gift of prophecy. Their pastoral world is upended by the return of their dazzling sister
Masha (Beth Broderick), a high-maintenance Hollywood movie star, and Spike, her young
uber-hot boy-toy. Together this unlikely foursome is plunged into an absurd weekend of
sibling rivalry and regrets that are triggered by a wacky costume party.
"There are no shortage of edgy dramas being written by contemporary playwrights these days,
but finding a new laugh-out-loud comedy is rare. Durang has written a smart, delicious play
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that lampoons contemporary life with genuine affection for the foibles of reaching middle
age. He has written six razor-sharp comedic roles that actors dream of playing and I can't wait
to get this one on the Topfer stage under Abe Reybold's masterful direction," says Dave
Steakley, Producing Artistic Director.
VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE enjoyed critical acclaim in 2013, winning the Tony
Award for Best Play, New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play, Drama League Award
for Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play, Drama Desk Award for
Outstanding Play and Off Broadway Alliance Award for Best New Play.
ZACH’s production of VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE stars BETH BRODERICK
as “Masha”, the glamorous, self-absorbed movie star who sweeps through the bleak lives of
her siblings and shakes up their world. Beth made her ZACH Theatre debut this past spring
starring as "Katherine Brandt" in 33 Variations. Beth has a distinguished career which includes
Off Broadway, TV and film roles including Sabrina, The Teenage Witch and NBC's Under the
Dome. Beth is also a script writer, voice-over artist, featured contributor to the Huffington Post
and a founder of MOMENTUM, one of the country’s first organizations to help people with
AIDS.
VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE is directed by ZACH Theatre’s new Associate
Artistic Director, ABE REYBOLD. Abe comes to ZACH Theatre from Birmingham, AL.
Productions under his direction include; Evita, Nite Club Confidential, No Way To Treat A Lady,
The Melody Lingers On, Little Shop Of Horrors (The Broadway Rose Theatre Company), Bat Boy,
Singin In The Rain, “...Spelling Bee” and Disney’s Beauty And The Beast (Red Mountain Theatre
Company). His direction of new musicals recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts
include; 13 Alabama Ghosts, Tuxedo Junction, Back To The Dream (Co-director) and Ripper. For
the Texas Shakespeare Festival, Abe directed and choreographed Camelot and Blood Brothers
and provided dances for The Comedy Of Errors (Directed by Chuck Ney). For the Birmingham
Children’s Theatre (BCT), Abe created Sacagawea, adapted and staged Peter And The Wolf,
was a co-creator of BCT’s successful touring hip-hop fable Time Takers, and staged The Snow
Girl, Scrooge and Zorro. Abe was an actor for 17 years, appearing in numerous Broadway, OffBroadway and touring productions.
CHRISTOPHER DURANG’S work has appeared on Broadway, off Broadway, across America,
and around the world. His many plays include The Actor’s Nightmare, Baby with the Bathwater,
Betty’s Summer Vacation (Obie Award), Beyond Therapy, For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls,
Laughing Wild, The Marriage of Bette and Boo (Obie Award), Media Amok, Miss Witherspoon
(Pulitzer Prize finalist), Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge, Sex and Longing, Sister Mary
Ignatius Explains It All For You (Obie Award), and Why Torture is Wrong and the People Who
Love Them. Durang earned a Tony nomination for Best Book of a Musical with A History of the
American Film and also wrote the book for Adrift in Macao. He co-wrote The Idiots Karamazov
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with Albert Innaurato, and co-wrote and performed the cabaret Das Lusitania Songspiel with
Sigourney Weaver. Durang has been co-chair of the playwriting program at the Juilliard School
since 1994. Additional honors include membership in the Theatre Hall of Fame,
Dramatists Guild Hull Warriner Award, the Harvard Arts Medal, and the PEN/Laura Pels Award
for a Master American Dramatist.
Tickets are $25 to $65 available on-line at www.zachtheatre.org, by phone at 512-476-0541 ext.
1, or in person at the ZACH Theatre Box Office, in the Topfer Theatre, 202 South Lamar Blvd.
(corner of Riverside Drive and South Lamar Blvd.) Monday through Saturday, 12 noon – 8
pm. ZACH Theatre is wheelchair accessible. Discounts are available for groups of 8 or more.
Student Rush Tickets are $18 one hour before show time (with valid ID). ZACH’s full bar
opens 90 minutes prior to show time and remains open for one hour post-show. Performances
are Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7:30 pm, and Sunday at 2:30 pm.
Special events in celebration of VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE include:
 Champagne Opening and Press Night: June 5th. Reception with the stars of the show
immediately follows the performance.
 ZACH’s GLBT Wilde Party: Thursday, May 29th includes a pre-show mixer for Austin
Gay, Lesbian and Transgendered communities.
About ZACH Theatre
ZACH Theatre is Austin’s leading professional producing theatre, employing more than 600
actors, musicians, and designers annually. Founded in 1932, ZACH is the longest running
theatre company in Texas, and serves 95,000 adults and youth every year. ZACH creates its
own nationally recognized plays and musicals that ignite the imagination, lift the spirit, and
engage the community under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Dave Steakley and
Managing Director Elisbeth Challener. Now in its 81st year, ZACH continues to expand and
engage with Austin, adding the new 420-seat, 32,000-square-foot Topfer Theatre to its
performing arts campus, nearly doubling ZACH’s capacity while retaining its hallmark intimate
theatre-going experience. Visit www.zachtheatre.org for more information.
ZACH Theatre is sponsored in part, by Applied Materials, Austin Catering, Four Hands Home,
Holiday Inn-Lady Bird Lake, Kirk Tuck Photography, Marquee Event Group, OnRamp Access,
Schlotzsky’s and KXAN TV 36; and by grants from Junior League of Austin, The Shubert
Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, Texas Commission on the Arts, and the
City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division, which believes an investment in the arts is an
investment in Austin’s future. Visit Austin at NowPlayingAustin.com.
For real-time updates on ZACH Theatre news, events and happenings, visit
http://www.zachtheatre.org/blog, be a fan of ZACH Theatre on Facebook
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http://www.facebook.com/zachtheatre, and follow ZACH on Twitter @zachtheatre
http://www.twitter.com/zachtheatre.
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