The Cherry Orchard

WRITTEN BY: Anton Chekov
TO BE PERFORMED AT: Science Ampitheater, Corning Community College
TO BE PERFORMED ON: April 26, 27, 28, 29
DIRECTED BY: James B. Nicola
SPONSORED BY: Two Bit Players, Corning
CAST:
MADAME RANEVSKY- Mary Guzzy
ANYA RANEVSKY- Felisha Noble
VARYA RANEVSKY- Mary Milliken
LEONID GAYEV- Irving Cook
YERMOLAY LOPAKHIN- James B. Nicola
PETER TROFIMOV- Rob Lavarnway
SIMON YEPIKHODOV- Adam Gerych
DUNYASHA- Maureen Mines
YASHA- Daniel Richards
FIRS- Peter Ladley

PLOT: An aristocratic Russian woman and her family return to the their orchard estate, just before it is auctioned off to pay the mortgage, and must decide whether and how they wish to save it. A drama in four acts.

HISTORY: While costume hunting with Cindy and Amanda at the Salvation Army store in Bath, Felisha was at her second day of auditions for "The Cherry Orchard" at her new alma mater, Corning Community College. Calling us on her celphone, she asked us to meet her at the college. Next thing I knew, I was auditioning on the stage of CCC's ampitheater for the first time since I was a college student. That failed "As You Like It" audition of nine years ago was where then-professor Clare Reidy said I should be trying out for comedy instead of Shakespeare.
This time out, however, I was auditioning for the current theater prof, Mary Guzzy, who was so pleased with my cold reading, that she cast me as businessman Yermolay Lopakhin. As a result, I received my first Two-Bit Players role in ten years (since 1997's "Romeo and Juliet"). Having felt silently blacklisted from CCC productions during my '97-'98 final year at the college, the news of this role made me feel as if a black cloud had finally lifted from my history with the Players.
However, long before my sudden audition for this show, I'd planned to try out for Elmira Little Theater's "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde". Although the April performance dates for "Cherry Orchard" were two weeks before those of "Jekyll" in May, I later realized that rehearsals for both shows would start in mid-March, creating certain schedule conflicts. So, even though I had yet to audition for "Jekyll", I decided to turn down my lead in "The Cherry Orchard" (but still offering to help with ensemble, crew, publicity, and/or videotaping). I was turning down a lead role for a show I wasn't guaranteed to be in, but I had to take a chance, and follow my original plan to do "Jekyll". The worst that could happen was that I would wind up in neither play, giving me more time during the Spring to write scripts for the Market Street Irregulars' fall and winter lineup.
In the end, I got the role of Oliver in "Jekyll", with my Lopakhin role in "Cherry" going (after two other tentative replacements) to the show's director. And though she hadn't initially gotten a speaking part, Felisha ended up as Anya, a female lead.
At Felisha's request, I attempted to video-tape the next to last performance, which seemed doable since A) I'd been able to videotape CCC shows before, and B) the script for "The Cherry Orchard" is in public domain. However, the director stopped the show in the middle of his opening scene, to tell me to turn off my camera. Suddenly, every bad memory I'd had of doing shows in that building had come rushing back. Having seen much of the show already during a previous week's rehearsal, I left halfway through the first half of the performance.
If I'd given up "Jekyll" to play Lopakhin--what would have been one of my largest roles ever--only to be kept from having a video of it, I would have been livid, especially considering the length and intensity of the rehearsals. It was only further proof that I'd made the right choice by sticking with ELT, and a sign that there may never be a place for me on the CCC stage ever again.