Three Sisters, So Much More than Cast Mates

Last night Heidi and I attended Three Sisters.  It was a pretty packed house which was fabulous for a Thursday night performance.  We were somehow placed in the nosebleed section of Dows, top row on the second level.  At first we thought this would be problematic because we were so high up.  But as the play went on we actually discovered this wasn't a bad spot: we had lots of leg room and could make commentary if needed because there was no one around us.  And some commentary was necessary because we knew pretty much everyone in the play (this point pretty much emphasizes how awesome the Coe community is).

So as Alison warned me, the play was long.  Along with two intermissions the play lasted a good three and a half hours.  But it was unique.  Chekhov had a lot of narration, sometimes people are just describing events but not really having any dialogue.  Also, every character had multiple Russian names which confused me from time to time.  There was no rhyme or reason to when each name was used so that got complicated.  And sometimes the action was really slow, the characters would just talk and talk.  But I figure that's part of Chekhov's charm.  

The strongest part of the play was its cast.  Even if Alison wouldn't have told me her favorite part was becoming close with the cast, I could still tell the cast was close.  You could tell everyone wanted to be in the play and everyone got along well.  The dynamic between all the characters was fantastic; the three sisters acted like real sisters which really enhanced the play.  Their relationships seemed real which made the play more interesting and more entertaining to watch.

Heidi and I also just loved the play because we knew a lot of the people in it.  It was composed of people from the Writing Center, mutual friends or just people we see around campus all the time.  We were entertained last night and also knew we were supporting our friends.  Great feeling.