dn6 Draft

Initial Staging:
Where: I want to stage this in the Kawaihao recital hall. The

thrust is optimal for realist pieces because the audience
feels as if they are a part of the stage. I want my audience to
feel connected to the experience and to be a part of the
experience. I want them to laugh, cry, and emote with the
characters and transport them to a world beyond the
constraints of their lives in 2016 in Hawaii. I plan to achieve
this by focusing on the universal themes of the play while
staying true to the plays cultural context.
What the play will be about: Three Sisters is about the
constant struggle between competing classes, search for
love, and the destructive nature of vivacious dreams.
Playwrights Intentions:
Playwrights intentions- Anton Chekhov wrote Three Sisters to point out
the Russian aristocracys inability to adapt to changing times (in
particular reference to the Russian revolution/Rise of communism).
He represents this through the insertion of
The antique grandfather clock. The clock is a family heirloom and
a representation of the familys wealth and historical past
(residents of Moscow). When Chebutikin, the only working man in
the play, smashes the clock on the floor, it symbolizes that time
is up for the aristocrats. The working class will replace them and
the aristocrats will be obliterated into nothingness.
In two or three hundred years from now speech (Vershinin,
referenced by Chebutikin) Speech talks about how what may be
meaningful in our lifetime will be worthless in the future. And
what we thought worthless may indeed become significant.
*Cultural context is extremely important. Cannot be removed or
the entire piece is compromised.
Although Chekhov was very much a product of his time, he clearly
implements universal, timeless themes. For example
Dreams
Dreams can be destructive. In the process of intense longing,
one forgets to live.
Time
Time makes steamy, passionate love run dry, our complex lives
meaningless, and one can never fully know what will be
significant in the future.
Love
Family love is stronger/prevails longer than steamy, passionate
affairs. In the end, its only family that you can count on.
Love isnt something you can look for.
Existential Crisis
Our existence cannot be proven.
Two Possible Directions/Audience:

Direction 1- Comedic, Older
Audience
-From a standpoint of a person
over the age of forty, the play is
extremely funny. The three sisters
are barely into their thirties and
are convinced their lives are over.
Older individuals tend see, in
particular Irinas monologue, as
comedic because of the sisters
naivet.
Direction 2- Tragic, Younger

Audience
-From a standpoint of a person
under the age of forty, the play is
tragic. Three Sisters realize at the
end of the play that they will not
achieve their dreams, go to
Moscow, or find love. This
revelation is disheartening. The
sisters have seemingly nothing to
look forward to.
*In yellow, my focus moving forward. Note final years of youth can also be tragic for
older audience.
My target audience will be high schools students/ young adolescents. Given that I
have an abundance of these people/group in my class.
My Focuses:
I want to focus on the ongoing motifs of time, love, and

dreams (Chekhov has interesting things to say here).
In two or three hundred years from now
(uncertainty of our existence
I was young and in love then. Now its different
(love fades over time, the things we once loved become
dull, undervalued, etc.)
One day we shall know why there is all this suffering,
but now we must work (The sisters realize for the
first time at the end of the play that they will not find
love, go to Moscow, and that their dreams will not be
realized).
I think that focusing on the universal themes while
highlighting the cultural aspects of the setting will help my
audience to fully understand Chekhovs writing style,

themes, and commentary on the human condition.
Lighting focuses:
Because Chekhov plays are realist plays, the lighting should
not be too dramatic or distracting from the on-stage slice of
life. However, lighting can be particularly dramatic with
slight changes. I want the lighting to start off as a soft white
daylight lighting in Acts 1 and 2; the sisters are young, there
is love in the air, and there is still time to go to Moscow. In
Act 3, the scene occurs very early in the morning/late at
night, therefore, the lighting should be a dark bluish
nightlight. I want faint tinges of red embedded within the
blues because there is a fire going on at this moment. Night
time is the time for dreaming (something the sisters do
throughout the play, however, Act 3 is a nightmare not a
dream {the regiment is leaving- Mashas only chance at
love, Irina settles for a man she does not love- gives up her
dream of finding love, the antique grandfather clock is
smashed- a representation of the fall of the aristocracy, run
out of time, sisters will most likely not reach Moscow). The
final act, I want the light to mimic an autumn dusk. The
sisters are reaching the end of their youth, the sun is setting
on love and hope. When Irina says Its autumn now soon
it will be winter, the lights should change to a gradient, dark
blue, nightfall; this is the first time when, the sisters realize
that they will never go to Moscow. This lighting will make the
audience feel disappointed, sorrowful, and empathetic for
the sisters. At the same time, they will laugh at the sisters
inability to live. They focus so hard on achieving one goal
that in the end, they all fail.
Design Focus:
I associate the lines, now we must work! to the Soviet
Union and their 5-year plan and development of factory and
field work. On the stage, I will place wheat and industrial
metals. (They will be interchanged throughout the scenes.
Specific moments for moving are not yet established).
What I want to show:

For my two staged moments, I have selected the final
moment of the play and the moment of the clock smashing. I
selected these two moments because the represent the fall
of the aristocracy and the first time when the sisters
acknowledge that they will never find love or go to Moscow.
Impact/What I want to Say/What I want my audience

to feel:
I want my audience to feel the disappointment and the
power struggle within the Russian class structure. I want
them to feel the opposition, the eternal, immortal
component of life: time. Moreover, I want them to
experience the passion, drive, and nostalgia of life.
I want my audience to ponder the power of memories,
dreams, and the past and the role that each of these items
play within the entirety of our existence.
I want my audience to feel confused, lost.
I want my audience to contemplate how one should live.
WHAT IS LIVING?
I want my audience to feel the longing, hurt, and the pursuit
of dreams.
The audience is the predator always hunting, scouring, and
searching for the prey that is within reach. I want my
audience to be hungry for knowledge, for power, for love.

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What are the playwright's intentions in writing Three Sisters?

What are some of the universal themes that Chekhov explores in the play?

Initial Staging:

Where: I want to stage this in the Kawaihao recital hall. The

Two Possible Directions/Audience:

Direction 2- Tragic, Younger

I want to focus on the ongoing motifs of time, love, and

audience to fully understand Chekhovs writing style,

What I want to show:

Impact/What I want to Say/What I want my audience

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