Anton Chekhov’s THREE SISTERS Director: Rose Schwietz

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Playwright: Anton Chekhov
Director: Rose Schwietz
Group: One World Theatre, Nepal
Language: English
Duration: 2 hrs 15 mins

The Play
The story takes place in a modern, provincial town that is in the Russian countryside and simultaneously far away from it. The three Prozorov sisters, Olga, Masha, and Irina, are celebrating the 20th birthday of Irina, the youngest. Moods are light and festive, despite this also being the first death anniversary of their father. The play is a window opening into four moments across four years of their lives, showing the emotions that humans experience in a lifetime. The sisters spend their days longing for their youth in Moscow and staving off malaise with the officers from the nearby artillery post. As the years pass, the sisters fall in and out of love, attempting and failing to create the beautiful life they dream of. Unfulfilled in work and in love, they face despair as Moscow becomes a continually more distant dream.

Director’s Note
Though set in a traditional 1900s provincial Russian town, this production is reimagined into a modern, less classically Russian setting to make it relevant for South Asian audiences. One thing I adore about the play is that the Prozorovs’ world is as real and full as the one we know in our daily lives, and that is the lasting beauty, and heartache, of this show. We cannot help but see ourselves in each character. We cannot help but feel what they feel. Whether Russian or Nepali or somebody else, this play speaks to what it means to work, to suffer, to love… to be human.

The Director
Rose Schwietz is a director, actor, musician, and teacher currently based in New York City. She has directed five shows—most recently Chekhov’s Three Sisters and Stoppard’s Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead—with high school and professional actors. Acting credits include notable stage roles (Mrs. Edith Frank, Lieutenant Colonel Vershinina) as well as leads in ads, short films, and one feature length film. She is an accomplished musician, with years of training in voice, saxophone and piano, and performs regularly in Kathmandu and New York City. She teaches in theatre workshops for students and professional theatre-makers in the US, Nepal, and India. She also works with the Wooster Group and SITI Company. Her interests include discovering new cultures and places, literature, crossword puzzles, and taekwondo.

The Playwright
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860-1904) was a Russian medical doctor, short-story writer, and playwright. He is considered one of the originators of early modernism in the theatre. He worked closely with Stanislavsky and Moscow Art Theatre later in his career. He is most famous for his four classics: The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard.

The Translator
Paul Schmidt (1934-1999) was an American translator, poet, playwright, and essayist. His work as a translator led him to serve in the US Army Intelligence; his work in mime and acting with Marceau and Charon led him back to the theatre. He taught at a Texas university and at Yale. He wrote several plays, and is best known for his translations of Euripides, Chekhov, Brecht, Genet, Gogol, and others.

The Group

One World Theatre (OWT) is a non-profit English and Nepali language theatre company in Kathmandu, Nepal, dedicated to presenting intercultural, social justice productions, especially plays from South Asia, the Western canon, and contemporary American plays that are affordable, professional, experimental, and relevant.

Cast & Credits
Olga: Loonibha Tuladhar
Masha: Akanchha Karki
Irina: Samapika Gautam
Chebutykin: Rajkumar Pudasaini
Tuzenbach: Utpal Jha
Solyony: Sandeep Shrestha
Anfisa: Surabhi Sapkota
Ferapont: Saroj Aryal
Vershinina: Rose Schwietz
Andrei: Bijay Tamrakar
Kulygin: Hemanta Chalise
Natasha: Pooja Lama
Fedoti:k Razen Thapa
Rohde: Amrit Dahal

Stage Manager: Saraswati Adhikari
Sound: Ragendra Shrestha
Lights: Diljung Gurung

Producer: Deborah Merola
Playwright: Anton Chekhov
Translator: Paul Schmidt
Director: Rose Schwietz

Manohar Khushalani

Manohar Khushalani

Prof. Manohar Khushalani is a former Visiting Faculty at Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi. The courses he taught were: Animation & Graphics, Non-Linear Editing for Film and Radio and Theatre Appreciation.  He has won a total of nine Excellence in Teaching awards for all the courses he has taught at IIITD Earlier he retired from Government of India as Director Environment Management, Central Water Commission and held many senior positions in the Government Based on a Belief that Culture and Environment are the two keys to global sustainability , Manohar Khushalani has launched two portals: A Portal on Environment and Water called One Vorld at url: www.onevorld.org and two Ezines on Culture called Stage Buzz at url: www.stagebuzz.in He has taught extensively in varied subjects such as Dam Safety, Instrumentation, CAD, IT, Animation, Theatre, Newspaper Editing. He has conducted Courses on Environment Management, Water Shed Development, Team Building and Personality Development. He was an Expert Member of Prasar Bharti’s Committee for Grading & Short listing Films for Telecast on all channels of Doordarshan.  He is a Radio Anchor for All India Radio and has moderated several programs for the Rajdhani Channel He is a well-known Theatre Actor/Director and Critic, has been involved in theatre since 1977. He has worked as an actor in over 50 plays with almost every leading director/Actor in the Country including Badal Sircar, Feisal Alkazi, Amal Allana, M.K. Raina, Anuradha Kapoor, Maya Rao, Manohar Singh, Prasanna, Rati Bartholomew and Sushmita Mukherji. He has been active in the social sector as a street theatre activist. As a member of Workshop Theatre, Theatre Union and Prayog, Khushalani has participated in street plays taking up major social issues such as dowry, bride burning, Sati, banned medicinal drugs and communalism. Dario Fo’s Accidental Death of an Anarchist and Can’t Pay Won’t Pay, both directed by him, received rave notices from critics and audiences alike. Other plays directed by him include Badal Sircar’s, Sagina Mahato and Boris Vian’s Empire Builders for Ruchika Theatre Group. Khushalani has also acted in a few films such as Sudhir Mishra's Hazaron Khwaishen Aisi , Shoojit Sircar’s Madras Café and Pradeep Krishan's Annie Gives Those Ones. He is an Animator & Graphics Designer and has directed a number of documentaries. He also held a number of Honorary positions and was President of North India Films Association, He was the Chairman of  Jury for UGC CEC Educational Films Competition and has been on their Preview Committee since last many years. He was on the preview committee of Door Darshan Channel 3, was a visiting Professor at National School of Drama, New Delhi, and Film & Television Institute of India, Pune, AJKMCRR, Jamia Milia Islamia and Professor in Media at FICT, Delhi  He has judged a large number of Drama Competitions and conducted a number of Theatre / Management Games Workshops with Institutions such as AIIMS, NTPC, CWPRS, NWA, Karve Nari Prakshishan Sansthan, FICT, IIT, MAMC, Gargi College, KNC, Tagore International School and Vivekananda School. He is a Theatre Critic for IIC Diary, has also been a Columnist with Midday and Pioneer Daily and wrote Column's Called Culture Cocktail and Footlights Respectively. He was also the Guest Editor for an issue on Folk Theatre of ICCR Journal Horizons. He has written for Times of Indian, Hindustan Times, Blitz, Hard News, Hindu Business Line, Theatre India & Art Times. He has designed dams and hydraulic structures for the Government. He is a programmer and has developed Engineering design software in Fortran. He is a co-author of Irrigation Practice & Design (Vol 1 to5 - 1500 pages) published by Oxford & IBH and sponsored by National Book Trust. He has been a Director, Environment and Sociology, at the National Water Academy, Khadakwasla and Director, Environment Management Directorate, Central Water Commission and Member Secretary, National Environmental Monitoring Committee for River Valley Projects. He was also Director of Instrumentation Directorate in the Dam Safety Organisation. He was Chief General Manager and Head of Water Resources at Scott Wilson and is an accredited consultant with numerous other organizations He is a Delhi Public School, BITS Pilani, IIT Delhi and FTI Pune Alumini. He was also the President of BITS Pilani Alumni Association, Pune.

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