[NEohioPAL] FREE Great Lakes Theater Premiere at The Alcazar 2-17-09

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FREE Great Lakes Theater Premiere at The Alcazar 2-17-09

TWO BY CHEKHOV: The Harmful Effects of Tobacco and The Brute

Great Lakes Theater Festival (GLTF) will premiere its free outreach 
touring production of two Chekhovian comedies, entitled TWO BY CHEKHOV: 
The Harmful Effects of Tobacco (Tobacco) and The Brute (Brute) at The 
Alcazar in Cleveland Heights, Tuesday, February 17 at 8:00pm.  The 
Alcazar, Cleveland Heights’ historic dwelling and bed&breakfast, is 
located at 2450 Derbyshire Road (at Euclid Heights Boulevard.)  No 
reservations are required for the performance, which will be held in 
the Madrid Dining Room and is free and open to the public.

In the first play to be presented, Chekhov’s The Harmful Effects of 
Tobacco, Ivan Ivanovich Nyukhin’s wife has insisted that he give a 
speech on the dangers of tobacco, and although he himself is a smoker, 
he relents. However, his speech quickly devolves from the intended 
topic into a series of revealing personal confessions, as the psyche of 
Nyukhin is laid bare to great comedic effect. This short play is a 
rarely produced gem highlighting Chekhovian humor at its quirkiest.

The tour’s second play, The Brute, focuses on Yelina Ivanovna Popova, a 
widower who is visited by one of her late husband’s creditors seeking 
repayment. But Smirnov’s attempt to reclaim his old debt is waylaid 
when he unexpectedly falls in love with the hostile widow.
 Perhaps 
Chekhov’s funniest farce, The Brute is an excellent companion piece to 
Tobacco and an excellent bridge to Chekhov’s The Seagull, the 
Festival’s upcoming main stage production at the Hanna Theatre, 
PlayhouseSquare, April 8 – May 2, 2009.

TWO BY CHEKHOV is a seventy-minute program that includes an 
introduction and post-performance discussion.  It is designed for 
audiences of all backgrounds and ages.

The three-actor touring company features Cleveland actors Michael 
Gatto, David Hansen, and Elizabeth Wood.  The design trio of Terry 
Martin (scenic design), Melanie Boeman (costume design) and Richard 
Ingraham (sound design) complete the play’s production team.  “It has 
become somewhat of an annual tradition to bring this team of talented 
artists together for our touring play, and I am so excited to have 
their skills utilized again this year, under the skilled direction of 
Great Lakes Theater Fesival’s Associate Artistic Director Andrew May,” 
said Daniel Hahn, GLTF’s Director of Education, when asked about the 
Festival’s annual tour.  “These two comedies give a fascinating context 
for viewing Chekhov’s The Seagull, and will afford our audience a rich 
theatrical experience, right in their own backyard.  Now more than 
ever, we believe it is important to share free, professional theatre 
with people out in their own communities.”

After premiering at T
he Alcazar this pair of comedies will visit 
twenty-six other venues throughout northern Ohio.

For more information, visit the Great Lakes Theater Festival website at
www.greatlakestheater.org/education/surround/ or call the Festival’s 
education department at (216) 241-5490 x307.