The Traveler

Media Credit: Larry Ash Will Grayson (left) and Emily Osborne are two of the main characters of Anton Chekhov's "The Seagull," a UA Fine Arts Theatre production. The play will run through Sunday afternoon.

The audience watches, hushed and absorbed, as Konstantin places the dead seagull at Nina's feet and tells her, "I intend to shoot myself one of these days, just like this."

Who thought that love could be so complicated?

Anton Chekhov wrote "The Seagull" as a comedy in 1895 in Russia. The play is about a young man, Konstantin Treplyov, who strives to become a writer, to be accepted by his mother and to be loved by Nina Zarechnaya, a young woman who dreams of becoming a famous actress.

Yet, nothing is that simple. Nina becomes captivated by the writer Boris Trigorin, who is the lover of Arkadina, a great actress and the mother of Konstantin. The complications only augment as the play takes the audience through four acts of love, laughter, difficulties and pain.

"After Shakespeare, Anton Chekhov is the greatest play writer in history," said Roger Gross, director of 'The Seagull.' "He has only produced four full-length plays, and all of them accurately portray human experience."

"This year seems to be the year of 'The Seagull' - there were two major productions of this play in New York," he said.

Gross has produced other Chekhov plays, but this is his first time directing "The Seagull."

"When we work on Chekhov, we get the feeling that we're working on life as it really is, with no distortions for dramatic effect," Gross said, according to the director's program notes. "In each role, it's possible to find a real human being with all the frailty, virtue and self-contradiction of the people we meet every day. This puts us to the test. Our old tricks won't work. We either penetrate fully into the experience of those very human characters or we flop. It is frightening and exciting. The feeling we get when we succeed is very rich, but succeed or not, we always grow as performers and as people when we do Chekhov."

The crew said they enjoyed working on this production.

"As stage manager, I keep the communication through all departments," said Molly Carroll, stage manager of the production. "I am the organizer for the company and make sure everybody is doing their job. This is my first time managing, and I have been really lucky to work with such a great and talented company."

Emily Osborne, who plays Paulina, said her character is in constant pursuit of finding happiness through love. Paulina is the wife of Ilya, yet she is in love with the doctor, Yevgeny Dorn.

"For me, the best part of this play is the enjoyment from working with this group of people," she said.

Through this play, Chekhov shows the nature of human beings - that people are simultaneously ridiculous and pitiful, Gross said.

"In 'The Seagull,' every character is foolish, yet understandable. Watch out - this is the story of many souls, desperately in love, but nobody is in love with the right person," he said.

"The Seagull" will play 8 p.m. through Feb. 21 and 2 p.m. Feb. 22 at the University Theatre in the Fine Arts Center. Tickets for the show can be purchased through the box office in front of the theater. Adult ticket prices are $14; tickets are $12 for faculty, staff and seniors; and tickets for children and non-UA students are $5. For UA students, the production is free of charge on Sunday and $3 today and tomorrow.

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