The Rude Mechanicals resident at Greenbelt Arts Center present
The Seagull
Directed by Melissa Schick
Adapted by Melissa Schick & Liana Olear
The Rude Mechanicals are known for concept Shakespeare, but concept Chekhov? Well that’s not something people do. Or is it? Our next production of The Seagull transports these drama queens of the Russian theatre in the late 1800s to the American music industry of the late 1900s. 1979 to be exact. In this production we aim to explore how the revolutionary revamping of theatre that occurred during Chekhov and Stanislavski’s era bears similarities to the way the birth and rising popularity of punk rock revolutionized music in the late 1970s. Come and witness new forms in music taking shape.
Constantine is a tortured songwriter involved in founding the punk rock movement in the late 1970s. She’d love nothing more than to prove her worth to her rich and famous but cold and withholding mother, the famous diva, Arkadina. Constantine is in love with Nina, a young aspiring singer who wants to make it big. Nina is a little star struck by the wildly successful Trigorin, who is dating Arkadina. Masha, the gothiest goth who ever gothed, is in unrequited love with Constantine and soothes the pain of unreturned love with substance abuse and witty denial. Medviedenko the schoolteacher is in unrequited love with Masha. Everyone at Sorin’s estate is clearly very, very happy.
Chekhov. Where comedies end with suicide.
Performances:
8PM Fri & Sat Jan 24, 25, 31, 1
matinee: 2PM Sun Jan 26 (audience masking required)
Pay What You Will 8PM Wed Jan 29
Greenbelt Arts Center, 123 Centerway, Greenbelt MD 20768
Content warning: drug use, suicide references, and the discharge of Chekhov’s Gun.
The Rude Mechanicals 
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