By Taylor Jensen / entertainment editor
Anton Chekhov’s play Three Sisters arrives on South Campus April 11 and will attempt to portray the frustration people feel when stifled by the realization they can’t escape their past, present or future.
South drama instructor Richard Haratine is directing the production and said the play is familiar to him in a number of ways.
“First, I’ve acted in it twice,” he said. “More than that, it contains the thing that troubles me and inspires me the most in my life — embracing the mundane. To stare at, enter into and live out the very ordinary parts of life — that’s what draws me to this play.”
Three Sisters tells the story of the women of the Prozorov family who are still recovering from the loss of their father, are constantly at odds with their brother’s wife and dream of the day when they can unrestrain themselves from their
dissipating responsibilities and move together to Moscow.
Haratine said he has attempted to keep the production simple and true to Chekhov’s intent.
“No flashy, gratuitous, pyrotechnic, fluffy, high-wire nonsense,” he said. “[It’s] a direct story that invites you all to drink deep the ordinary.”
South student Shandra Leveritt, who plays Olga, one of the sisters, said her passion for acting was what originally tempted her to audition for the part.
“I am a grown-up, and I get to play pretend,” she said.
Leveritt said the play has a strong message and hopes audience members will recognize the importance of embracing who they really are.
“Be who you are and deal with life the most honest way you can,” she said. “There is real beauty in that.”
Another South student Lauren Kirkpatrick said her character Natasha may seem to be the manipulative, mean girl but isn’t as nasty as she appears.
“I think we can all relate to her,” she said. “At the surface, she looks like a bad person, but when you get down to it, she has been backed into a corner. She had to learn to fight for herself.”
Kirkpatrick said what she found most compelling about Three Sisters was the incapability to move on the three women had.
“Each of them is obsessed with a period of time,” she said. “They can’t see [the] past, present and future all together. It’s important to appreciate the now.”
Three Sisters runs until April 13. Performances are 7:30 p.m. in the Joe B. Rushing Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are $6 for general admission, $3 for non-TCC students and seniors and free for TCC students, faculty and staff.
South does not require reservations or allow late seating. For tickets and more information, call the South box office at 817-515-4717.
