By Adanna Moriarty, Special to the Ojai Valley News
Theater returns to Ojai and, with it, brings acclaimed actors and a director for the Tony award-winning “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.”
The comedy that follows middle-aged siblings, played by Peter Schreiner (Vanya) and Laurie Walters (Sonia), living together, will be performed Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, from Jan. 21 to Feb. 13, at the Ojai Art Center Theater, 113 S. Montgomery St. Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and at 2 p.m. on Sundays.
While being supported by their movie-star sister Masha (Tracey Williams Sutton), siblings Vanya and Sonia bemoan their rather Chekhovian lot in life. The play is set in an ancestral cherry- orchard home in Pennsylvania. Playwright Christopher Durang brings family drama to the stage in a relatable yet over-the-top comedy. Durang takes pieces of Anton Chekhov’s work and puts them in a blender for this dark family comedy. The play is the first 2022 season production for the Ojai Art Center Theater.
The actors have worked together before doing “Romeo and Juliet” at the Skylight Theater in Hollywood. However, Schreiner and Walters have been away from acting until now.
“My late husband, John Slade, and I produced a staged reading series called ‘A Potluck and Play Reading,’ ” Walters said. “One of the plays we did was ‘VSMS,’ and everyone had so much FUN! When Richard Camp was artistic director, I suggested this play to him, and lo and behold, it happened!”
“I love theater in Ojai,” Schreiner said. “You can tell stories in community theater that are not accessible in any other format. The story of ‘VSMS’ captures both the evolution and devolution of the last generation, and Christopher Durang explores this in a comedic and poignant way.”
“Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” brings forward a dysfunctional yet profoundly loving family with lots of drama and comedic flare. It puts a glaring light on modern culture — or maybe that’s modern cultural loss — and things held tightly to the past and identity, and what happens if those things, like that gorgeous ancestral home, are threatened.
“We have learned through culture, entertainment, and experience that relationships come in all shapes and sizes,” Schreiner said. “How we manage our values can have great commonality across generations and idiosyncratic expression. We are both similar and individual in all that we do. I identify with Vanya’s ability to connect with different people from very different walks of life.”
“Hmmm, I’m not sure this family is more dysfunctional than most, really,” Walters said. “Each character struggles to be seen and appreciated. Plus, dysfunctional families like this one can be hilarious! That’s especially true when you know they love each other deep down. As for inhabiting self-deprecating Sonia, I remember the power of my nasty inner critic and the life force I must summon to overcome it.”