SEAGULLS IN A CHERRY TREE
(A Fantasia in the Chekhovian
Style)
Comedy By William
Missouri Downs
WINNER OF THE 2005 - Larry
Corse Prize for Playwriting
This play will also be part of
the 2006 Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival
A comedy about two Hollywood writers (Stan, a recent graduate of USC film school, and his uncle Boris, a Hollywood veteran), who have been hired by Walt Disney to adapt Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard. In order to finish the stalled adaptation and get away from L.A.'s smog, they trek to an isolated Arts Colony located just outside Moscow, Idaho. The colony is full of Chekhovian characters. The problem is, Stan and Boris just don't get Chekhov. All plot points in Seagulls In A Cherry Tree come from Chekhov's plays (in particular The Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters, Uncle Vanya and The Seagull plus a touch of invention, all of which have been rearranged and shaped in order to form a new Chekhov play. In the end Stan and Boris (just like many Americans today) never realize that they are in fact living a Chekhov play. PLEASE NOTE: There is no need to have read or even understand Chekhov in order to enjoy this play.
(5 Men – 3 Women – Simple Set)