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Monmouth College to stage one of Anton Chekhov's masterpieces, Sept. 29-Oct. 1

by Barry McNamara

Monmouth, Ill. (09/20/2023) — "Masterpiece theatre" is an appropriate description of the opening production of Monmouth College's 2023-24 season, as the first major work by one of the greatest playwrights will be featured.

Performances of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull will be staged Sept. 29 through Oct. 1 in the College's Wells Theater. Professor Vanessa Campagna will direct the play, which was written in 1895 and first produced in 1896.

"The Seagull is a late 19th-century modernist masterpiece by Anton Chekhov, but its themes remain relevant," said Campagna. "Identity, belonging, purpose/vocation, relationality and human agency are among the most salient. Our student actors are doing brave and compelling work with challenging material. The department has grown tremendously and we have the host of students that make doing this work possible."

Her theatre students, and college students, in general, are front of mind for Campagna as she directs The Seagull.

"Higher education is in a tremendous period of critical reflection and transition as we try to meet the needs of a student population that faces increasingly high rates of anxiety and depression," she said. "At the same time, we strive to prepare them for the demands that they will face in their careers, and the intensities and uncertainties of life."

Within that context, said Campagna, Chekhov's play has compelled her to think of her students as seagulls.

"They're just beginning to launch and explore possible paths of flight - often tentatively and with great fear of failure," she said. "Chekov, I believe, invites us to consider the efforts of young people and the fragile nature of their egos with more care and generosity. I daily encounter students who take my breath away because they're resilient and they're trying so hard in a world that does not encourage their failure. To my students, I see you and support you; keep flying."

Joining the students on stage are three guest artists, including recently retired music faculty member Carolyn Suda, who is returning to the stage after decades dedicated to her cello. Suda will play the role of fading actress Irina Arkadina. Guests Robert Thompson (who plays another of the leading roles, middlebrow storywriter Boris Trigorin) and John Henderson are the other guests.

Other leading roles in the production - "meaty roles," in the words of Campagna - include the ingenue Nina (played by Rayanne Shaul '27 of Bourbonnais, Illinois) and Irina's son, the symbolist playwright Konstantin Treplev (played by Celeste Lythgoe '24 of Lafayette, Colorado).

"Chekov demonstrates love for all of his characters, treating each with deep humanity, even as he laughs at their perpetual longing for that which is beyond themselves," said Campagna. "Whether it is to have their art understood, or their love requited, or to live elsewhere, or to remain young, beautiful (and) relevant, The Seagull's characters struggle to break attachments and to cease their external striving."

That struggle, ironically, is part of what makes The Seagull a comedy.

"This play is titled The Seagull, a Comedy in Four Acts," said Campagna. "One of the greatest challenges for me is to find the comedy. It's not a 'get the laugh' type of comedy. It's an intellectual comedy. All these characters, they're sitting in the country spending four acts thinking about and pining over all the things that will bring them happiness. Chekhov pokes fun at us for the ways that we have these external strivings, positing our happiness as something in the future - if only this, if only that. And Chekhov's like, 'Oh, we are so silly. Can't we all just go inward and do something in the now that will improve our lives?'"

Whether or not it's an LOL comedy, Campagna has found joy in the process of directing Chekhov.

"With sincerest thanks to the company for an artistic process that has provided, in the Act 2 words of Nina, 'sublime moments of happiness,' I am delighted to present to audiences The Seagull," she said.

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Monmouth College will present "The Seagull" at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 29-30 and at 2 p.m. Oct. 1 at the Wells Theater on the College's campus. Tickets can be purchased online at monmouthcollege.edu/box-office. Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and students, and $6 for students and faculty with a Monmouth College ID.

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Monmouth College will open its 2023-24 theatre season with three performances of Anton Chekhov's "The Seagull," Sept. 29 through Oct. 1.

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