UIS Theatre Spring 2025

VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE
by Christopher Durang

  • Directed by Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson
  • Scenic Design and Technical Direction by Dathan Powell
  • Costume Design by Guest Artist Caitlin O'Donoghue

Performances in the Studio Theatre, Level 1, Performing Arts Center, UIS Campus

Friday, April 4; Saturday, April 5; Sunday, April 6 & Thursday, April 10; Friday, April 11; Saturday, April 12. (All performances at 7:30pm, except for the Sunday, April 6 Matinee at 2:00pm)

New UIS Ticket Office Location

Please visit the NEW location (Level 1 of the Performing Arts Center, in the old Bursar's Office location, near the main "tear drop" entrance to the PAC) of the UIS Ticket Office, M-F: 10-5, for buying your tickets to this production. You may call the UIS Ticket Office at 217-206-6160.

The Story of the Play

In this 2013 Tony Award winning play, middle-aged siblings Vanya and Sonia share a home in Bucks County, PA, where they bicker and complain about the circumstances of their lives. Suddenly, their movie-star sister, Masha, swoops in with her new boy toy, Spike. Old resentments flare up, eventually leading to threats to sell the house. Also on the scene are sassy maid Cassandra, who can predict the future, and a lovely young aspiring actress named Nina, whose prettiness somewhat worries the imperious Masha.--Dramatists Play Service, Inc.

  • Broad comic acting is raised to the level of high art. . . deliriously funny. . . a heedless good time." --The New York Times
  • ". . .riotous. . . the show's a ton of fun even if you can't tell your Seagull from your Uncle Vanya. . . This is the kind of full-on comedy that's sadly rare on Broadway." --The New York Post
  • Hugely entertaining. . . few contemporary playwrights have proven as deft as Durang at mining both the absurdity and the dangers of human folly. . . in its own deliciously madcap way, the new work offers some keen insights into the challenges and agonies of twenty-first-century life." --USA Today
  • Everyone has a monologue that is nothing short of hilarious. (You'll find yourself using that word a lot.) . . . You've only spent a weekend with these people, but you might want to spend the rest of your life with Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike." --HuffingtonPost.com

The Time and Place in the Play

  • A lovely farmhouse in Bucks County.
  • Set in the present. (The Acting Edition of the play was published in 2014)

More About The Play

The play is set in the present day in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in a farm house Vanya and his step-sister Sonia have lived in all their lives.  They jointly took care of their ailing, doddering parents for many years while their movie star sister Masha was gallivanting around the world, having a life.  The play takes place on a weekend when Masha shows up with a new twenty something boy toy named Spike. 

Vanya, Masha and Sonia were named after Chekhov characters by their college professor parents.  And the play, which is a mix of comedy and drama, takes Chekhovian characters and themes, mixes them up and puts them in a blender. 

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike won the 2013 Tony Award for Best Play

The play was written on commission from the McCarter Theater in Princeton, New Jersey, and then it became a co-production of the McCarter and The Lincoln Center Theater in New York City. 

The play premiered at the McCarter in early September 2012 and played until October 14, and then the same production (including director Nicholas Martin and the cast) moved to Lincoln Center’s Mitzi Newhouse Theater.  The play began previews on October 25, opened on November 12, and was extended until January 20, 2013.

The original Broadway cast included: David Hyde Pierce as Vanya, Kristine Nielsen as Sonia, Sigourney Weaver as Masha, Billy Magnussen as Spike, Shalita Grant as Cassandra, and Genevieve Angelson as Nina.