By Adanna Moriarty, Special to the Ojai Valley News
A new year brings a new comedy as the Ojai Art Center Theater’s season opener. Christopher Durang‘s “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” is a Tony-Award winner directed by Taylor Kasch.
Durang’s style pulls from Anton Chekhov to bring the absurd-yet-poignant to the stage. The play offers human realities under the guise of comedy, and it allows the audience to identify with the characters. The brilliance of “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” is relatable to young and old.
Kasch isn’t new to the Ojai theater scene. More than 25 years ago he founded the Flying H Group Theatre Company that worked out of the Ojai Art Center, producing the gamut from Beckett to Mamet to musicals and more.
Two of their most successful shows (which some may remember) were “Big River” and the world premiere of “Beggars! The Musical.”
He later resurrected The Flying H Group in Ventura in a New York-style black box where the company produced more than 20 productions of seldom-seen works.
Kasch excitedly took up the mantle of director, throwing his unique spin at “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” after the original director dropped out due to COVID-19 delays.
“I have always been a fan of Christopher Durang’s work,” Kasch said. “Having won the Tony Award for Best Play, I found ‘VSMS’ to be a wonderful combination of wit, humor, and family. We’re all looking for laughter these days, a way to escape if only for a couple of hours, and Durang is a perfect fit.”
“VSMS” is escapism. Durang pulls from the dark comedy Chekhov brought to his plays and essentially threw his work in a blender (Durang’s own words). Letting the audience be immersed in the family drama on the stage before them, the play is beautifully acted by a top-notch cast of local favorites under the helm of Kasch.
“I have found directing professional actors vs. non-professional actors is much the same,” Kasch said of his very talented cast. “One may have more experience, but the director’s task is still the same. A play is like a band. Each musician plays their individual notes, forming a song. It is a director’s job to bring these notes together into a sense of harmony.”
“Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” is a dark but funny comedy — a can’t-miss opener for an excellent 2022 season ahead for the Ojai Art Center Theater.
“Dark comedy has a way of taking the most depressing subjects and making them laughable,” Kasch said, which is certainly what we all need right now in these uncertain times.
The play will be performed Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, from Jan. 21 to Feb. 13, at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and at 2 p.m. on Sundays. To purchase tickets call 805-640-8797 or click here.