YSU Theater opens with Durang play ‘Vanya and Sonia’

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Youngstown State University Theater will launch its season with the comedy “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.”

The play, written by Christopher Durang, opens Friday in Spotlight Theater, in Bliss Hall, on Wick Avenue, and runs weekends through Oct. 9.

Curtain times are 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays.

Guest director for the run is Lisa Ann Goldsmith.

Tickets are $16 ($8 for non-YSU students, YSU faculty and staff with valid ID, senior citizens, Penguin Club members and groups of eight or more). Call 330-941-3105, or go to ysu.tix.com.

An informal art walk, Blissful Beginnings, which will showcase the arts in the College of Creative Arts & Communication, will take place from 6 p.m. until curtain time on opening night. Patrons are invited to view current exhibits in Bliss Hall’s Judith Rae Solomon Gallery on the second floor and the McDonough Museum of Art. Musical entertainment will be in the theater lobby prior to the show opening. There is no additional cost.

“Vanya” takes place in Bucks County, Pa., where adult siblings Vanya and Sonia reside in their old family home, mourning their lost dreams and missed opportunities. When their often-wrong, fortune-telling maid warns of impending dangers, and their movie star sister, Masha, arrives unexpectedly with young, sexy, boy toy Spike, the family is launched into a rollicking weekend of one-upmanship, exposed nerves, and a lot of broken mugs.

The cast includes veteran community theater actors James McClellan and Molly Galano, and YSU students Mia Colon, Theresa Leonard, Quincy Carrier and Jessica Joerndt.

Scenic/lighting designer is Ellen E. Jones; production manager is Todd Dicken; costume designer is Katherine Garlick; and costume shop supervisor is Rebel Mickelson.

Goldsmith, the guest director and sound designer, of Pittsburgh is a professional actor with many New York and regional credits. She is accomplished in radio plays and Foley sound effects, having worked as a performer with Bricolage’s Midnight Radio Series since 2008.

Goldsmith directed last year’s production of “It’s a Wonderful Life Radio Play” at YSU Theater.