ROCK SPRINGS — Western Wyoming Community College’s Performing Arts Department will close the spring semester with four performances of the the play Uncle Vanya.
Performances will take place on April 7, 8, 9 at 7:30 p.m. with a public matinee on Saturday, April 9 at 2:00 p.m. The performances will be presented in an intimate black-box setting with the audience seated on the Western Theatre stage.
“Uncle Vanya”, by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov and adapted by Brian Friel, was first published in 1898, and first produced in 1899 by the Moscow Art Theatre under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski. It was one of the first plays to define early modernism, contemporary realism, and Method acting.
The play portrays the visit of an elderly professor and his glamorous, much younger second wife, Yelena, to the rural estate that supports their urban lifestyle. Two friends—Vanya, brother of the professor’s late first wife, who has long managed the estate, and Astrov, the local doctor—both fall under Yelena’s spell, while bemoaning their provincial existence. Matters are brought to a crisis when the professor announces his intention to sell the estate.
Raymond Garcia, a second-year musical theatre major from Green River, Wyoming, plays the role of Vanya (Ivan) Voynitski, manager of the country estate.
Vanya is a lot more dynamic character than I’ve gotten to play in the past. He goes from being sarcastic and exasperate in act one, to enraged and explosive in act three. Vanya can’t be described in one word, he is a thesaurus of emotion that changes with every line he says, and every line said to him.
Raymond Garcia, playing the role of Vanya (Ivan) Voynitski
Carly Cramer is from Winchester, Virginia and is currently taking classes at Western. She plays Maria Voynitsky, the widowed mother of Vanya.
“Maria at first seems to be a bit out of her mind, and is often the comic relief when she appears. However, I believe she has moments of lucidity where you can see another, more grounded side to her. I really like that about Chekhov’s characters, even the comic reliefs have a bit more depth to them lurking under the surface,” states Cramer.
Tickets are $13 for adults and $8 for youth and seniors. Tickets are available online or by calling the Box Office Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. at (307) 382-1721. For questions and tickets, please call the Performing Arts Office at (307) 382-1721, or visit: https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?ticketing=wwcct . For information on enrolling in the Musical Theater Program at Western Wyoming Community College, visit their Academic page at westernwyoming.edu/theatre.
