Asolo Conservatory tends to Chekhov's 'The Cherry Orchard'

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In the 10 years since he became the first-year acting teacher at the FSU/Asolo Conservatory, Andrei Malaev-Babel has spent a lot of time working with his students on the plays of Russian writer Anton Chekhov.

From left, Jordan Sobel, Joe Knispel and Lisa Woods star in the FSU/Asolo Conservatory production of Anton Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard." Frank Atura Photo/Provided by Asolo Conservatory

From left, Jordan Sobel, Joe Knispel and Lisa Woods star in the FSU/Asolo Conservatory production of Anton Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard." Frank Atura Photo/Provided by Asolo Conservatory

But it has taken that long for him to finally get a chance to put their class studies to work in a full production with his new staging of “The Cherry Orchard,” which opens Wednesday at the Cook Theatre.

In fact, it has been nearly twice as long since the Conservatory last produced a Chekhov play, which also happened to be “The Cherry Orchard.”

“How can it be 10 years without doing a Chekhov,” he wonders, “considering that the first year teaches a Chekhov project. We’ve done Chekhov scenes and characters for as long as I’ve been here.”

Malaev-Babel said the timing seemed appropriate for this year’s second-year students who seem to have a special affinity for the playwright. “It’s a logical step. It has to be the right year and the right group,” he said.

He’s not sure what made them connect with the material. “Maybe it was the experience of working in the first year with Chekhov. Maybe they resonate with it in a certain way,” he said. “But there’s really been a huge enthusiasm on behalf of this group, waiting for this opportunity all season. I guess Chekhov was a seed that was planted at some point.”

The entire class of 12 students is featured in the production, which the Russian-born Malaev-Babel said will be free of a high-concept approach.

Andrei Malaev-Babel is the director of "The Cherry Orchard" and the first-year acting teacher at the FSU/Asolo Conservatory. Herald-Tribune Archive

Andrei Malaev-Babel is the director of "The Cherry Orchard" and the first-year acting teacher at the FSU/Asolo Conservatory. Herald-Tribune Archive

“It would be strange to take it into an atmosphere of tragic farce. You have to be true to the human beings he created on stage, the nature of theater is so conventional to begin with,” he said.

But that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for symbolism in the set and music choices being made in this play about the impact on governmental and societal change within a family and community.

The play opens as Madame Lyubov Andreievna Ranevskaya (played by Lisa Woods) returns to her family estate after five years of living in Paris where she has been grieving the death of a young son. Her daughters have encouraged her to return as the estate is about to be auctioned off to pay the family’s debts. While there are proposals to sell off parts of the land for new cottages, they are rebuffed because it would mean the destruction of the family’s prized cherry orchard.

The family is “dealing with the same questions people today are dealing with,” Malaev-Babel said. “As we rehearse it and figure out what is going on, we find more and more parallels, and realize that the world didn’t change as much for humanity as we might think.”

The play first opened in 1904 on the verge of the first Russian revolution, and “the atmosphere of change is absolutely in the air. And one of the themes we identify is one of change,” he said. “We don’t live in a world that is relatively stable. And these characters are living in this very tricky time and in a situation where nothing is stable; everything they knew is changing.”

Malaev-Babel said Chekhov poses specific challenges for the student actors, but nothing radically different from what they’re asked to do in any kind of play.

Lisa Woods, left, and Joe Knispel in "The Cherry Orchard" by Anthon Chekhov at the FSU/Asolo Conservatory. Frank Atura Photo/Provided by Asolo Conservatory

Lisa Woods, left, and Joe Knispel in "The Cherry Orchard" by Anthon Chekhov at the FSU/Asolo Conservatory. Frank Atura Photo/Provided by Asolo Conservatory

“One of the biggest challenges is how do you bring a human being onto the stage. In many other plays and authors, you can maybe get by bringing on stage something schematic, symbolic or somewhat theatrical. But here, you have to find theatricality with a lack of theatricality. You can’t bring a mask onto the stage. You can’t bring a cardboard cut out. You have to really have the guts to show up.”

Woods, who was seen earlier this year in “The Water Engine” and as a comical goatherd in “As You Like It,” is joined by Ally Farzetta as her daughter, Anya; Kim Stephenson as her adopted daughter, Varya; Jordan Sobel as her brother, Leonid; Chris Alexey Diaz as Anya’s love interest, Petya; and Joe Knispel as Lopakhin, a wealthy merchant. The cast also features Kelsey Petersen as a housemaid who garners a lot of attention; Tom Harney as the governess, Charlotta; and Mark Comer as the aging caretaker, along with Kevin Barber, Josh James and Evan Reynolds White.

Though he has taught and worked on Chekhov for years, Malaev-Babel said that he, like his cast members, has to keep fine-tuning his approach to the work.

“We are looking for the truth. That is the basic thing. I also have to find a subtlety, the subtle weak currents in the play and the characters, which is not something that actors are often familiar with,” he said.

There’s also what he calls the “bogeyman of the classics.”

In auditions for the graduate acting program, he and other faculty members often see prospective students speak and perform in a normal tone and attitude when doing a contemporary scene. But when perform a scene from a classic play, “their voice changes, it becomes deeper, oily. It becomes fake. You can see them thinking how do I perform this Russian intelligentsia from the beginning of the century. It’s certainly not me.”

But the opposite approach is what Chekhov needs, Malaev-Babel said. “Chekhov is organic and natural and needs to be approached just the way you would approach any play.”

THEATER PREVIEW
THE CHERRY ORCHARD runs April 7-26 at the Cook Theatre in the FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Tickets are $28-$29. For more information: 351-8000; asolorep.org

THEATER PREVIEW THE CHERRY ORCHARD runs April 7-26 at the Cook Theatre in the FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Tickets are $28-$29. For more information: 351-8000; asolorep.org
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Jay Handelman

Jay Handelman is the theater and television critic for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, where he has worked since 1984. He also is President of the Foundation of the American Theatre Critics Association and a two-time past chairman of the association's executive committee. He can be reached by email or call (941) 361-4931. Follow him at @jayhandelman on Twitter. Make sure to "Like" Arts Sarasota on Facebook for news and reviews of the arts.
Last modified: April 3, 2015
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